Does anyone have a Dutch oven recipe that sounds good enough for me to consider the prospect of carrying in the weight of a Dutch oven?

NO!

Nothing, in my opinion, could taste good enough to justify the weight and space to bring in even an aluminum dutch oven and certainly not cast iron.

Bannock does just fine making outstanding delicacies with a lightweight reflector oven and baking pan. I bet it is not even 1/10th the weight of a dutch oven and is much more versatile.

I second that! You can also make a great "oven" using a metal jello mold and a metal lid- I make brownies, bisquits, cornbread, etc that are almost foolproof using this method. Lightweight, easy to use. I'm going to try cobbler this summer. If you want the details, let me know.

I also have a reflector oven that I like to use. I am really curious about a Dutch Oven though as I have never used one. I see the cast aluminum types in stores and think they are way too heavy for me to bring in. But then I read the story at this link and it makes me very curious as to how it tastes.

http://north-link.net/cmsakry/1pub/912bwj.htm

BigZig

I've made the same type recipe with just the foil (no dutch oven). Foil baked fish is a favorite.

I associate dutch oven with car camping, horse camping, permanent camps, or canoe trips without portaging (sand bar camping on the Wisconsin River for example).

Bogs knows of a certain informal rendezvous on an Iowa river. A friend/acquaintance who attends is known for her dutch oven baked treats. It is indeed good stuff. However, the key to baking in it is to get coals above and below the dutch oven. She uses briquettes.

Asside from the portaging issue, the problem I see for use in the BW is that a fire must be confined to inside the firegrate. There isn't room for a dutch oven. In the Q it wouldn't be so much of an issue, although the wood variety in the BW/Q tends not to make good coals.

Another down side to the dutch oven is that you can't see the bake goods to tell when it's done. When I've tried to use one, I tended to burn items. But it is like anything else, with practice you can become proficient. Certainly our friend makes great stuff. AND we all know that stuff cooked/baked in cast iron makes superior stuff.

How would you go about mimicking a dutch-oven recipe with only foil, or something easy? Do you just put a sealed foil pack on the DNR fire grate over a fire for a long time?

The sealed foil pack has to go into the the coals. The trick is to get hot coals all around your foil pack so that your fish cooks evenly just as it would in an oven. I use this method a lot for fish and I have even used the foil bake method for meatloaf with great success. I would never bring a Dutch oven into the BW. I think it is just as easy to bake with foil or a standard cook kit pot.

BR's boiling method described in the post titled "baking using a standard cooking kit" works really good, you can use a campfire instead of a stove to save fuel. it only works for a max of about 4 people though. DogwoodGirl's tip is also really good, but I havn't had a chance to try it out yet.

I cook with a dutch oven when camping, but you couldn't pay me to carry something that heavy into the BWCA. The Jello mold idea is great though thanks for the idea.

When you put the foil pack into the coals, do you put coals on TOP of the pack, too, or does that burn the food inside?

I'm reffering to fish when I say this, I just flip it. Maybe 10 minutes in the coals. Flip and cook for another 5.

BTW - I have also cooked fish this way on top of the grate and not on the coals. It takes maybe 5 minutes longer on each side.

Foil shinny side up. Squirt of margarine. Fish fillet. More maragarine. Some herbs/spices. Perhaps a sprinle of water. Seal it up. Cook.

Dutch Oven cooking is my favorite, but I will not carry them [I use several at a time for some meals] on my back. If I have to carry it I'll use a reflector oven, or nesting pots to make an oven.

Bannock, try this for regulating your "DO" temp. Trust the guide and don't peek.



butthead

WOW! I must be crazy I have always used an aluminum dutch oven on my trips. They are awsome used over a stove for cooking fish or for baking cobblers in the fire. I also use it as a warming oven when making breakfast. I would not go without it and as far as I can tell it weighs no more than the square aluminum frying pans that are not nearly as versatile. But to each there own.

I've never carted a dutch oven into the BWCA, but an aluminum model - used to store stuff in the pack so it's not wasted space - wouldn't be that bad. I think I'll pass, but I won't call you crazy for doing it. I portage stuff some others would call crazy, so if you're willing to carry it, good for you!

I always bring a dutch oven. However the one I bring is about 8" in diameter and made from alum. vrey thin and light weight. you have to time the meals just right but it works great. I dont think you can get them like that anymore, I have not seen them for sale anywhere. I got mine from my parents, we used it when I was a wee lad some 30 years ago. Now a little black but still works excellent, and it stores bottom inside the top (bottom and top are equall depths) for easy storage. Fresh chocloate cake is awesome about your 6-7th day in and everything is so moist, better than home cooked. I also have a large 12-14" alum. oven but it must weigh 5-8 pounds, much to heavy to portage around the woods.

I bring a aluminum dutch oven and my 22 year old 6'0" 195lbs son to carry it for me.
I'm a southern boy and believe me pinto beans and corn bread taste real good in Minnesota and Georgia.
We cook the beans all day on a low fire with a big ol' slab of country ham in them. I actually make the corn bread in a backpacker oven.
I have never had a complaint when I served it up.
We also buy dehydrated raspberries from Honeyville Grain Company and make cobblers. Again no complaints from the crew.
If the blueberries or thimble berries are ripe you can make cobblers from them also. My lips are smackin!
It all comes down to what makes your experience in the BWCA special for you. I wouldn't go without one!

Here's a few a friend of mine has made. Scrapple is by far my favorite one.

http://www.csupomona.edu/~rosenkrantz/personal/dutchoven.htm

I made an ultralight dutch oven once that was good for baking but was too shallow for stew type dishes. I used three round cake pans. Two pans I nested and drilled three holes in the bottoms. I would then put the two pans bottom to bottom and used small bolts and wing nuts to hold them together. Line the undrilled pan with baking paper, add the biscuts or whatever, cover with the two pans and then add coals to the top pan. Worked pretty good.

We always bring a nine inch square aluminum Dutch oven. Since it's square it's easy to pack and we eat like kings. Cakes and deserts at every dinner, and what we don't eat that night we save for breakfast treats. The Dutch oven also doubles as a fry pan for other cooking such as breakfast sausage or hash browns, or for just keeping food warm until everything is ready to serve.