There are all kinds of different cooking methods--steaming, braising, boiling, broiling, sauteing, frying, what-have-you. All of them can be done while camping or backpacking. Rather than making this an all purpose cookbook for beginners, the focus will be on how to translate these skills to the great outdoors.

Section last updated/reviewed 22 Feb 10.
Please note that the images and logos here, as on all our pages, are © (copyright) their respective owners and used by gracious permission. See our Special Thanks! page for details and links.

by Susan Kane

There is nothing quite like waking up at a campsite to the smell of bacon cooking over an open fire. Yet campfire cooking can produce so much more than bacon. A simple grill over a bed of coals can yield a variety of wonderful meals, and cooking options aren't just limited to grilling. With a few pots and pans, a Dutch oven and a fire pit - even a tin can stove - the possibilities are limitless.

The following primer on campfire cooking explains how to set up and start a simple fire, build a suitable fire pit, and cook virtually anything that you would in your own kitchen.

Building A Campfire Back to top of section

Once the food items, recipe, and cooking method have been selected, the fire should be built to suit the recipe. Let's start with a basic fire, which should cover the majority of your grilling and frying needs.

Pick a safe area to build the fire. If camping on public land, be sure that the area and fires in general are both approved. Make sure the ground is level, and that nothing is hanging overhead that could catch fire. Remember to always have water handy.

Then dig out a small, shallow pit in the ground in which to build the fire. Surround the pit with rocks, keeping them the same size if possible so that a grill can be placed evenly on top. Without a level grilling surface, food may not cook evenly, and even worse, it may slide off the grill. If you can carry charcoal to the campsite, that makes things very easy, but if not, follow the simple fire making plans below. (Take plenty of matches or a strong lighter. It may look like fun to rub sticks together to start a fire, but it is often difficult and always time consuming, so give yourself a break.)

A "teepee" or "tipi" fire is a common and effective to start many types of fires. Build a pyramid with a few short sticks, each about 1 inch in diameter and 8 inches long, with one end of the sticks touching one another at a point on top. Stick the other ends in to the ground, forming a tepee shape. There should be enough space between the diagonal sticks to allow adding small, dry sticks, pine needles or scraps of paper for kindling. Make sure to leave room for air to circulate.

Once you have built the basic tepee starter fire, you can surround it with a log cabin fire, which provides a great bed of coals for cooking. Layer several logs of roughly the same length and diameter in a miniature log cabin frame. As you build up the wood, lay the logs nearer the center as you go up. Eventually the fire will resemble a log cabin base that, as it gets higher, looks more like a pyramid. The tepee will be in the middle of the log cabin. Once this burns down it will give you a nice bed of coals. Place the grill on the rocks around the coals and you can start cooking. The grill will allow you to cook anything that a barbecue at home would allow.

Tin Can Cooking Back to top of section

Tin can cooking is limited to small-scale cooking for one or two people, but it works well in camping situations where wood fires are prohibited or where firewood isn't readily available.

Start with a clean 1-gallon tin can; new, empty paint cans work well and are available in many hardware stores. Cut a small flap into one side, big enough to allow a tuna can to be inserted (about 3 inches by 4 inches). Pull the flap open. With a punch-type can opener, punch three or four holes on the other side of the can.

The heat source will come from a buddy burner, about the size of a tuna can. Buddy burners can be found in some sporting goods departments but are fairly simple to make on your own, and it costs next to nothing. Just take a clean, empty tuna can; cut corrugated cardboard into strips no higher than the tuna can; and roll the cardboard and place it in the tuna can. Then pour melted paraffin wax over the cardboard until the can is filled with wax. Adding a small wick in the center will allow quick and easy lighting.

Place the tuna can into the tin can and light. The flame produced by the wax and cardboard will burn hot and long enough to cook a variety of meals in a skillet or saucepan on top. To modify the heat to your needs, a damper can be created by attaching a coat hanger wire to the lid of the tuna can. Temperature can be adjusted by covering the tuna can with its lid. Remember that metal will get hot, so use oven mitts when moving the damper.

Pit Cooking Back to top of section

This cooking method takes time, but once the pit is set up and the food is placed in it, the work is done. A cooking pit works by retaining heat in rocks and coals that are buried in the ground. The pit starts off very hot but as time goes by the coals cool down allowing the food to cook until done. This method works especially well with Dutch ovens and other covered cast iron cookware. Food that is simply wrapped in aluminum foil also cooks well in a pit.

Dig your pit two to three times larger and deeper than the cookware being used (or the amount of foil-wrapped items). Line the pit with flat rocks. Build a fire in the pit, with enough wood to produce a lot of coals, and let it burn rapidly for at least one hour. Logs between 2 to 4 inches in diameter work best. Large foods like a turkey or ham will need bigger coals from bigger logs, but the bigger the log, the longer it takes for coals to produce. Generally, it takes about one hour to heat the rocks and to fill the pit with coals, and then you're ready to cook.

Waiting for the coals to form is a good time to get the food ready, adding whatever seasonings are needed, mixing ingredients, and wrapping the food twice in heavy-duty aluminum foil or placing in a Dutch oven or other cast iron cookware.

Push the hot coals from the center of the pit and place them to the side. Starting with the food items that need the greatest amount of cooking time, lower them into the pit. Make sure each item doesn't touch another, which will cause them not to cook as well. Cover each item with coals and continue layering the food and coals as needed. Cover the coals with 4 to 6 inches of dirt.

As mentioned before, this method does take time and it takes practice to get everything cooked at the same time. An average chicken will take about 3 to 3 1/2 hours to cook. An ear of corn, however, takes less than 30 minutes. Judge the rest of the food and food placement with this in mind. When the time is up, uncover the food using a small shovel, but be sure to not pierce the aluminum foil or jostle the lid on your cookware.

Cook Virtually Anything Back to top of section

When you prepare food outdoors, there are several ways to duplicate indoor cooking using the methods described above. By duplicating the cooking method that you need, you can cook all your favorites at your campsite.

Follow this simple guide to match the type of cooking you want to do:

Bake (cooking with dry heat)

• Tin can stove
• Dutch oven
• Pit cooking

Boil (cooking with water/moisture)

• Tin can stove
• Dutch oven
• Pots or cans on a grill over coals

Braise (sauté in a small amount of fat, then finish in a covered pan with liquid)

• Frying pan on a grill over coals
• Dutch oven

Frying (cooking with a small amount of fat)

• Frying pan on a grill over coals
• Aluminum foil Dutch oven (Personally I think this is wrong)

Roasting (cooking with dry heat)

• Tin can stove
• Dutch oven
• Pit cooking

More Back to top of section

Free-Camping-Recipes.com    Excellent overview of many facets of outdoor cookery--start here!

Back to top of page
Section last updated/reviewed 22 Feb 10.
Please note that the images and logos here, as on all our pages, are © (copyright) their respective owners and used by gracious permission. See our Special Thanks! page for details and links.

Braisenly borrowed from Troop 780. Thanks guys! (Why re-invent the wheel? Especially since they've done such a great job of it!)

Introduction  |  Selecting  |  Seasoning  |  Cleaning  |  Restoring  |  Regulating  |  Tools  |  Tips  |  Recipes

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Introduction

Welcome to the Troop 780 Dutch Oven Cooking Page. Troop 780 consistently wins dutch oven cook offs at Klondike events, camp-o-rees and other events. Any time the troop is at an outing, someone always asks the adults or the boys "What are you guys cooking tonight?, Mind if I stop by?". Well we've taught the boys many recipes most of which you won't find here. The page is really dedicated on how to cook in a dutch oven, not what to cook. We do have some recipe links at the bottom of the page. Whatever recipe you decide to cook, knowing how to cook it properly is probably the most important thing you can learn. Personally I never look for "Dutch Oven" recipes, I simply look for "recipes", because what ever you can cook in your house, you can cook in a Dutch Oven, and for some unknown reason it tastes better.

OK Lets get started. There are two basic kinds of Dutch Ovens; Cast Iron and Cast Aluminum. This page will focus solely on Cast Iron. You need to pick a quality Dutch Oven, there are hundreds of brands out there but only two I'd recommend; either Lodge or Maca. Buying cast Iron can last a life time. I have 3 pieces that I use regularly which were my great grandmothers from the early 1900's, still as good as the day she bought them.

This is what you need to look for no matter what brand you decide on:

• The walls of the oven should be the same thickness all the way around.
• There should only be three pieces in your Dutch Oven; The Body, The Lid and The Bail
  • The Bail should be thick and sturdy and should not be attached to a riveted tang. The Tang should be molded into the body of the oven.
  • The lid should fit securely in the body but able to come off without resistance.
  • The Bail should extend beyond the rim you you can get lid lifter on it easily.
  • The Lid Loop should be welded to the lid on both sides.
  • For outdoor Dutch Oven cooking (Is there any other kind?) the Body should have legs on it, normally there will be three legs.
• The roughness of the Dutch is often controversial, I like my new ovens to be rough, it gives the seasoning something to stick to. If your oven is too smooth, then you might experience a peeling of the seasoning under some cooking conditions. Also you'll find if the ovens don't have that roughness, sometimes the seasoning will never completely stick to it and you'll be left with a grayish spot where its smooth.
• Don't get ovens with really short legs (No issue for Lodge or Maca) this makes it real hard to get coals underneath them and makes it harder to do stacked cooking.

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Selecting a Dutch Oven

Dutch ovens come in all sizes and shapes; round oval, deep, shallow, skillets, deep fryers, specialty ovens for bread, corn bread, fish, etc. Remember you cook on the top and the bottom in allot of cases, so the shorter the oven the more heat will penetrate the middle of the oven and the taller it is will be the opposite.

Taller ovens are good for large stews, casseroles, bread and other dishes where the heat needs to be more controlled. Dutch ovens are typically measured by their circumference and depth. Typically Lodge Dutch Ovens are the most common you'll find, but when you need to feed ALOT of people, nothing touches a MACA.

I recommend a 12" Lodge Dutch oven for anyone just starting out. If you're a Boy Scout Troop, 12" Lodge's are a really good size for patrols. (Follow the patrol method !) It is a very versatile oven and one that is not overly large. Also, most Dutch oven recipes are written for a 12" or 14" oven. A 12" Deep or 14" Deep Lodge or 13"; MACA Dutch oven would be my next choices.

My favorite Dutch Oven, Hands down is a Lodge 14" Deep; Stews, breads, roasts, chili for the masses. Very versatile for top cooking when the coals don't need to be so close to the food.

Back to top of section

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Seasoning a Dutch Oven

There are almost as many techniques for seasoning your new Dutch Oven as there are owners of Dutch Ovens. Practically every book on Dutch Ovens includes a section on seasoning your Oven. Also, Lodge and Maca includes directions on this subject with their Ovens. I tend to listen to my grandmother. I have dutch ovens that her mother had from 1910 and I still use them every day. I've adapted their techniques to my own because I have more technology available to me than they did.

1. Wash your new Dutch Oven thoroughly with soap and a sponge or plastic scrubber. DO NOT use a Brillo pad or other metal scraper, this will smooth the finish on your oven and make it hard for the seasoning to properly stick to it. As a matter of fact (opinion) the rougher the better. There is a protective coating on new Dutch Ovens that must be removed. The coating is there to prevent them from rusting. Dutch Ovens are cast iron. Rust will appear in a matter of minutes if water is left on them. The coating stops that while they are in shipment. But it must come off before use. This is the absolutely only time you will ever use soap on your dutch oven.
   • If your oven comes pre-seasoned you may not need this step, but I do it anyway. I like to know what's been in my pots before I use them. Pre-seasoned isn't really that good anyway.
   • Don't wash your pot unless you are ready to season it. Even the slightest bit of moisture can rust a naked pot.
2. After washing, dry the Oven with lintless clean white rags. Don't use paper towels, they are horrible and leave remnants all over your pot. I tend to head out to Lowes™ and buy "Rags in a Box". I used these for all my cleaning methods.
3. If you have a gas range turn on a burner and place the lid on the burner for about a minute or two. This will complete the drying process. Do this separately for both sides of the lid and both sides of the "pot." If you have an electric range turn the oven on "warm" and place the lid and pot in the oven, with the door open. This is a routine you should get into for every time you rinse your Dutch Oven. The heat will pretty much insure no moisture is left on the Dutch Oven.
4. My grandmother always seasoned her cast iron in the house. This is where I differ from her, you can if you want but the house will stink and chances are you'll set off the smoke detector. I use my outdoor propane grill. I happened to own a full sized stainless steel Duncane™ with a full hood. Depending on the size of the cast iron you trying to seasoning it should fit under the hood and the hood should completely close.
5. We are ready. Before starting you'll need the following
   1. Start your oven or grill preheating. Crank it up as hot as it will go with the lid down.
   2. Oven Mitts
   3. Dutch Oven, Cast iron, pot, etc
   4. SOLID shortening, I use Crisco (The white kind) or even better, pure lard.
   5. >A Sturdy Lid/Pot lifter or two
   6. A lid/pot Rack for placement between seasoning steps
   7. Resting bars. I use to 1/4' stainless steel pipes to keep my cast iron OFF the grill surface. You want as little of the cast iron touching your grill as you can. This makes for a better finish and better circulation.
6. Take a cloth rag and some Crisco and coat the inside and outside of the lid and the pot or the pan. Put the thinnest coat you can get on and still get full coverage. Most others will tell you to really put it on thick, but you'll end up with problems if you do. If you put it on really thick the grease will bubble potentially creating hard black pockets instead of a completely smooth finish. These pockets, if poked will break and you'll end up with a divot that will only collect food and make what you're cooking stick.
7. Place the cast iron on the metal resting bars in your grill and close the lid. There is no real set time for how long it should remain there, but here is what to look for. As the cast iron gets really hot, the grease will start to burn leaving a hard carbon based finish. As it burns smoke will begin to appear just above the surfaces. Wait until ALL the smoke has stopped, this will let you know that it is finished for this round. Carefully (Because it's really hot at this point) remove the pot/pan/lid using oven mitts and the lid lifter and place it on the Lid/Pot rack. Do not put it on the ground, even with legs, hitting the cold ground could crack your pot.
8. When the pan is still warm but not hot. You should be able to touch it without getting burnt. Please don't try touching it while it is hot, you'll have a nasty burn. Once it is barely warm, re-coat the pan with Crisco, again (and always) with the thinnest coat you can and still get complete coverage.
   1. As a side note, every scouter should have a tube of toothpaste in their first aid kit. If you should burn yourself during this process, completely cover the burn with toothpaste and let it dry. It immediately takes away the pain, you won't blister and by the next day you won't be able to tell you've been burned. Over the years I've found that regular UltraBrite™ toothpaste works hands down better than any other.
9. Repeat this process 4-5 times and don't think it looks good after three rounds, keep going. The more you do it the better the season will be. I've had pots for 10 years that have never had to be "re-seasoned" and the nothing sticks to them.
10. Finally, when you are done let the pot get cold. Place another THIN, THIN, THIN layer of grease all over the surface (inside and out). Cover in a dutch oven case or cloth bag and store until ready to use.

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Cleaning a Dutch Oven

Items Needed

• Spray Bottle
• White Vinegar
• Scrapers
• Cloth Rags
• Heat Source
• Water
• Lid lifter
• Lid rack

I have read more "techniques" about cleaning dutch ovens than I care to share. Most of the time I get a pretty good laugh at the effort people put into cleaning Dutch Ovens. Nothing drives me more crazy than people who don't know how to care for cast iron and resort to lining it with aluminum foil. UHG. Please don't do this, nothing causes a dutch oven to cook worst than putting aluminum foil in it. It doesn't heat evenly, makes it hard to get the food out, sticks to the bottom and worst of all, it causes a reaction that will actually remove your seasoning. Simply put, don't do it. Cleaning a dutch oven is easy.

Vinegar and water is the only thing you need to clean ANY cast iron.

Vinegar is one of the items I always take with me when I leave for an outside adventure, natural regular white vinegar. I mix the vinegar in a spray bottle at a 3-to-1 mixture 3 water, 1 vinegar. When your Dutch Oven is still warm, spray it on the entire inside surface and put the lid back on for a few minutes. You will notice that all the stuff left in your Dutch Oven is now nice and soft. Just take a scraper of some sort and scrape off the excess. Then wipe with a cloth rag. Repeat this process a couple of times, and you should have one clean Dutch Oven.

Pour the resulting mixture directly into your grease pit. Animals hate the smell of vinegar and they'll never go near your grease pit once it has vinegar in it. So you don't have to put your grease pit 2 miles from camp or dig until you hit water to keep the animals away.

Vinegar serves as a tenderizer and a disinfectant. As you know, anything tender cooks faster. Spraying the vinegar solution on meats and vegetable will kill all the bacteria that forms at room temperature. Spraying it on your pots will disinfect them and make them easier to clean. So spraying vinegar on your hands and on the cooking surface you use is also a safe way to go. Remember to heat your Dutch Oven after every cleaning and use to evaporate the moisture from the pores of the Dutch Oven.

After cleaning put back on a heat source until all the moisture is out of your Dutch Oven. Remember Dutch Ovens can get hot fast! Use a lid rack! Remember to coat it with a ultra thin layer of Crisco once it's cool if you plan on cooking in it again in the near future. If you don't plan on cooking in it again for a couple of weeks, don't put the Crisco on it, it will go rancid after a while. Cover the pot with a cloth rag with the edges hanging out and put the lid on it to store it. This lets some air get back inside.

If you had an "oops" and burned the bottom or have some real heavy caked on food in your Dutch Oven, fill it with water, heat it up real hot and put in a cup or so of vinegar. Put on the lid, within 10-15 minutes all the food will have disintegrated to the point that it'll almost wipe out with a rag.

Last cleaning tip. I don't usually advertise for products, but get yourself about 20 of the "Lil' Chizler". This is hands down the best non-marring Dutch Oven scraper on the market today and the only cost about $.75 - $1.00 apiece! The best ones I've found come from A Happy Camper

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Restoring Old or Rusty Dutch Ovens

This is kinda tricky... You can almost recover any cast iron cookware no matter how bad of shape its in, but there are many do's and don'ts.

It is a multi-stage project to get the job done correctly. Since there is no way of gauging how bad each oven is at the time of restoration, you kind of have to try a few different things to get positive results. Here is what has worked for me in the past. Any time you need to "start over" you can follow these steps.

Electrolysis is the best way to clean one, but since this web site is dealing primarily with scouting I won't approach that method, it can be hazardous.

1. On your next camp out, when the fire is blazing, place your dutch oven upside down in the fire and let it get red hot. By red hot I mean glowing red hot. This will burn off any food, grease, oil and even bad layers of metal which may remove allot of the rust if there is any. After doing this your cookware is naked, ANY water or moisture that gets on it will rust it immediately so take extreme caution. Also be really careful, when cast iron gets this hot it is dangerous and any sudden temperature changes will crack it.
2. After the fire treatment you may use COURSE steel wool, a wire brush or a drill with a very course cup base steel brush. Make sure it is very course. Remember is previous discussion we pointed out that the last thing you want to do is make the metal really smooth. When it is really smooth, the seasoning or curing process will tend to NOT stick very well. If using a wire brush or course steel wool, use an erratic pattern when removing the rust, this will help prevent the metal from becoming smooth.
3. After successfully removing the rust, immediately go into seasoning mode which is explained in detail in the Seasoning section of this document.

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Regulating Temperature in Dutch Ovens

Keep in mind the briquettes must be applied to both the top and the bottom. Use only quality charcoal briquettes for consistent temperature control. (We recommend Kingsford but not match light, they burn too fast, maybe use some match light to get the fire going) The chart below tells how many briquettes to use for a desired temperature. As a rule of thumb to achieve 325° use the following method. Take the size of the oven and take that number of briquettes less three for the bottom and that number plus three for the top. For example with 12" oven you would place 9 briquettes on the bottom (12-3) and 15 briquettes on the top (12+3). This works for Lodge™ Dutch ovens and GSI™ Aluminum ovens.

Note: Adding one set of briquettes (one on top and one on bottom) will raise the temperature of the Dutch Oven approximately 25°. Or conversely removing one set of briquettes will lower the temperature by 25°.

For the MACA Dutch ovens more briquettes are needed to compensate for the depth and thickness of the ovens. Take the diameter of the MACA Dutch oven and add three briquettes for the bottom heat. Then add six to the diameter of the Dutch oven to get the number of briquettes for your top heat. This gives you a temperature of about 325° F. For example with a 15" Dutch oven your will need 18 charcoal briquettes for the bottom heat and 21 charcoal briquettes for the top heat to achieve a temperature of 325° F.

I recommend Volcano Outdoors Cook Stoves as a means to cook on Dutch Ovens. The temperature regulation is quite different than described above, but once you get used to cooking on one, they are the best dutch oven cookers I've used and it's safe for your scouts!. It doubles as a grill and small fire ring. We use it to cook everything in Troop 780. Nothing makes better deserts than this tool! However, often we don't use briquettes to heat up our stoves, we use hot hardwood coals from the fire.

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Tools You'll need Cooking in Dutch Ovens

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Cooking tips using Dutch Ovens

When cooking with cast iron, heat the piece slowly. Cast iron works best when there is an even heat source spanning the piece's bottom. Old-fashioned wood- and coal-burning stoves are ideal for this, but very rarely does a modern gas or electric range provide this type of heat. The solution is to set your burner on very low and allow the cast iron to gradually warm up. You can then turn up the heat to medium or medium-high, as necessary. There is no reason ever to use the highest settings with cast iron, as it collects and conducts heat so readily.

Alternatively, you can evenly heat your ironware by popping it into an oven set on low. Once it's heated, simply transfer it to the range top and cook as usual

Be particularly careful when cooking with an electric range, because the burners create hot spots that can warp cast iron or even cause it to crack. Be sure to preheat the iron very slowly when using an electric range and keep the settings to medium or even medium-low.

Preheating is not a problem when baking or oven roasting, since the iron will heat evenly in the oven. However, you may find that you do not have to cook the food quite as long as the recipe calls for, because of iron's heat-retaining property.

Finally, be sure to use the appropriate iron for the task at hand. A three-legged Dutch oven is not the right choice for an indoor stove. Nor should a large baking dish be used on top of the range, unless you can perfectly balance the heat from the two burners it sits across.

Pick the right iron, treat it to the proper cure, dig out your favorite recipes and soon you'll understand why grandma spent so much time in the kitchen.

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Recipes and Recipe Links

• International Dutch Oven Society
• Byron's Dutch Oven Recipes
• Macscouter Dutch Oven Cooking
• Scout-o-Rama Camping Food & Dutch Oven Recipes
• About: Dutch Oven Cooking
• Dutch Oven Cookware
• Legends of America
• MacScouter
• Netwoods.com

Dutch Oven Dude.com is another superlative starting point for learning the ins and outs of dutch oven mastery. Way more than we could ever hope to repeat here! Go take a look!
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Section last updated/reviewed 25 Feb 10.
Please note that the images and logos here, as on all our pages, are © (copyright) their respective owners and used by gracious permission. See our Special Thanks! page for details and links.

Backpacking requires a little different perspective on how you look at food compared with what you might do at a base camp.
Some of the things to consider are: ease of preparation, ease of cleanup, and weight in and out. Remember the Leave No Trace guidelines!

The following links will help you get into the pack food groove:

QuietJourney.com     OnePanWonders.com     SectionHiker.com     FreezerBagCooking     GORP     Jerky Primer     Trail Cooking     Wild Backpacker
No Clean-Up Recipes      Dehydrating Food     Dehydrating food at home     Backpacking Menu & Recipes     Tasty Backpacking Recipes   
Backpacking Recipes     Easy Packing Ideas     Backpacking Recipes     PCT Thru Hiker     PackIt Gourmet     Chowhound     Backpacking Guide
Take It To Go     Backpacking food & meals     Trail Food Express    

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Section last updated/reviewed 3 Mar 10.
Please note that the images and logos here, as on all our pages, are © (copyright) their respective owners and used by gracious permission. See our Special Thanks! page for details and links.

That's the first line in the famous Chinese recipe for Tiger Tail Soup. It's all in the ingredients!

Some links to recipes for wicked good grub.

   Scout-O-Rama                      Camping Food & Dutch Oven recipes
   Growlies for Groups               Designed for kitchen use, but you can get good ideas for feeding your wild bunch
   MacScouter Cooking Index      Excellent resource and starting place for cooking ideas
   Recipe Source                       RecipeSource is the new home of SOAR: The Searchable Online Archive of Recipes and your source for recipes on the Internet.
   Chow Hound                         Backpacking recipe ideas
   Recipe Link.com                    Barbeque & Grilling
   BoyScoutTrail.com                Camping Recipes
   Netwoods.com                      Numberous cooking links
   Troop 101 WA                      Excellent questions to ask when planning your meals
   Net Commisioner                  All kinds of recipes & tips, Scout-tested
   Backpacking Light                 Trail Food: Keeping it Interesting & Energizing
   Netwoods.com                     Camp Cookery with pizzazz
   Netwoods.com                     Camp recipe cut outs
   Netwoods.com                     Favorites from the 130th Duggan
   Netwoods.com                     Supermarket Trail Foods
   Netwoods.com                     Assorted Recipes, part I
   Netwoods.com                     Assorted Recipes, part II
   Netwoods.com                     Jaffle Recipes--That's Pie Makers for you Americans
   Netwoods.com                     Bannock--Heritage & recipes
   Netwoods.com                     More recipes
   Netwoods.com                     Light cooking for the trail from the 17th Ottawa
  

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Section last updated/reviewed 25 Feb 10.
Please note that the images and logos here, as on all our pages, are © (copyright) their respective owners and used by gracious permission. See our Special Thanks! page for details and links.

Variety is the spice of life--so it is said. Variety is the life in spice--so I say!

How many of us have spice racks with jars of spices we bought years ago and never used, whose sole purpose is to collect the dust in your kitchen? Now is the time to dust them off (or replace them) and start adding flavor to your dishes. The correct spice or herb (whether it is fresh or dried) for any food is the one that tastes right for you. When you're at a loss about what to add to a dish, try something from the list below.

Which Food goes with which Spice?
Beans - cumin, cayenne, chili, oregano, parsley, pepper, sage, savory, thyme
Breads - anise, basil, caraway, cardamom, cinnamon, coriander, cumin, dill, garlic, lemon peel, orange peel, oregano, poppy seeds, rosemary, saffron, sage, thyme
Fruits - allspice, anise, cardamom, Chinese 5-spice, cinnamon, cloves, coriander, ginger, mint
Potatoes - basil, caraway, celery seed, chervil, chives, coriander, dill, marjoram, oregano, paprika, parsley, poppy seed, rosemary, tarragon, thyme
Salads and Salad Dressings - basil, caraway, celery seed, chives, dill, fennel, garlic, horseradish, lemon peel, lovage, marjoram, mint, mustard, oregano, parsley, rosemary, sumac, tarragon, thyme
Soups - basil, bay, chervil, chili, chives, cumin, dill, fennel, garlic, marjoram, parsley, pepper, rosemary, sage, savory, star anise, thyme Sweets - allspice, angelica, anise, cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, fennel, ginger, lemon peel, mace, nutmeg, mint, orange peel, rosemary, star anise Tomatoes - basil, bay, celery seed, cinnamon, chili, curry, dill, fennel, garlic, ginger, lemongrass, marjoram, oregano, parsley, rosemary, savory, tarragon, thyme Vegetables - chili, chives, curry, dill, marjoram, parsley, savory, thyme  

Which SPICE/HERB goes with what FOOD?
Allspice: An ingredient in many baked goods as well as "Jerk" sauces.
Anise Seed: Mild licorice flavor, used in cookies, or candies.
Arrowroot Powder: Use as a thickener in puddings, pies, soups, sauces, and gravies.
Basil: used in Italian and Mediterranean cooking, especially good with tomatoes.
Bay Leaves: Perfect use in stews, sauces, soups, and marinades.
Caraway Seeds: Great in baked goods and with fruits.
Cardamom, ground: A wonderful addition to Indian dishes.
Cardamom, whole: Dry roast the whole cardamom seeds for more flavor in your recipe.
Cayenne Pepper: Wonderful heat for any Mexican dish.
Chervil Leaf: Similar to parsley, a mild flavor for any meat, soup or vegetable dish.
Cilantro: Used in Mexican cooking & salsas; may also be used in Indian dishes.
Cloves, ground: Popular in desserts, syrups, and sweet vegetable dishes.
Coriander seed, ground: Citrusy, sweet & tart flavor to be used at the end when cooking.
Cream of Tartar: Adds consistency and stability to any cookie or cake.
Cumin Seed, ground: Wonderful with tomato dishes, chili, salsa & Indian dishes.
Dill Weed: Great in dressings and sauces and on potatoes.
Ginger, crystallized: Sliced ginger partially dried in a sugar syrup solution. For sweets.
Ginger, ground: A sharp, aromatic spice is used in many sweet baked goods and curries.
Lemongrass: A grass with citric oils, very popular in Thai cooking.
Marjoram: Like oregano & from the mint family, it has a sweeter and subtler taste.
Nutmeg, ground: A sweet, nutty spice is used in custards, pastries, and vegetables.
Oregano, Greek: A must for Italian cooking, Greek oregano has a mild, delicate flavor.
Oregano, Mexican: Slightly stronger than Greek and less sweet, used in Spanish cooking.
Paprika, hot: Mixed with cayenne, these red peppers make the Hungarians famous.
Paprika, sweet: This sweet, milder Paprika will add radiant color to any dish.
Parsley: This versatile herb can be used as a garnish or with anything other than sweets.
Poppy Seeds: Used in baked goods, breads & to flavor noodles.
Rosemary, ground: Use ground in sauces or stocks to avoid the "needle" look.
Saffron, whole threads: Use for saffron rice and Indian dishes.
Sage: Well known for use in stuffings.
Salt, Kosher: Coarser than regular granulated, easier to control in cooking.
Savory: Strong, peppery taste, good with veggies & stuffing.
Sesame Seeds: Used mostly for baking breads & rolls, nice for stir-frys.
Spearmint: A popular tea flavoring, used in sauces and veggie dishes.
Tarragon: Aromatic herb used to flavor vinegar, dressings, breads. Great with potatoes!
Thyme, ground: Great for Greek & Italian cooking, use ground for sauces & soups.
Thyme, whole leaf: Versatile in flavoring veggies, pizza, stews & herb blends.
Turmeric: Used as a natural yellow coloring for soups, sauces, rice, curry, & tofu scramble.

TIPS FOR USING SPICES/HERBS

• Store spices in a cool, dark place. Humidity, light and heat will cause herbs and spices to lose their flavor more quickly. Although the most convenient place for your spice rack may be above your stove, moving your spices to a different location may keep them fresh longer.
• As a general rule, herbs and ground spices will retain their best flavors for a year.
• Whole spices may last for 3 to 5 years. Proper storage should result in longer freshness times. Because the refrigerator is a rather humid environment, storing herbs and spices there is not recommended.
• To keep larger quantities of spices fresh, store them in the freezer in tightly sealed containers.
• For long-cooking dishes, add herbs and spices an hour or less before serving.
• Cooking spices for too long may result in overly strong flavors.
• Use restraint! In general, a teaspoon of spice is enough for 4 servings.
• Do not use dried herbs in the same quantity as fresh. In most cases, use ? the amount in dried as is called for fresh.
• Seasoning food is an art, not a science. Experimenting with herbs and spices can be fun and educational, and while you may occasionally be eating a less than perfect dish, you may also end up creating that recipe that will become a classic in your household.

Links to more spicy assistance:     Frontier Co-op.com    About.com     Netwoods.com

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Section last updated/reviewed 25 Feb 10.
Please note that the images and logos here, as on all our pages, are © (copyright) their respective owners and used by gracious permission. See our Special Thanks! page for details and links.

The abbreviations used:		Useful conversions:
oz - Ounce tsp - Tea Spoon lb - Pound Tbs - Table Spoon pt - Pint c - Cup (8 oz) qt - Quart pkg - Package gl - Gallon		1 Tbs = 3 tsp 1 Stick Butter = 1/4 lb or 1/2 c or 8 Tbs 2 Tbs = 1 oz 1/4c = 4 Tbs 1 lb bread loaf = About 17 slices 1/3c = 5 1/3 Tbs 1 1/4 lb loaf = About 20 1/2c = 8 Tbs 1 1/2 lb loaf = About 23 1 c = 8 oz 1 qt = 4 c 1 gl = 4 qt 2 c = 1 pt Stick butter Bread loaf, 1-1/4 lb loaf and 1-1/2 lb

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Section last updated/reviewed 24 Feb 10.
Please note that the images and logos here, as on all our pages, are © (copyright) their respective owners and used by gracious permission. See our Special Thanks! page for details and links.