To this day I have used the dutch oven for everything from chili, to pot roast, roasted chicken, mac and cheese, even a breakfast casserole. You can use the dutch oven on the stove top to brown meat, and add the rest of your ingredients and throw it in the oven. Most dutch ovens are finished with a ceramic coating to resist food from sticking to it at high temperatures. It also makes clean up much easier, inside and out. The pot is designed to keep and hold heat in.
There is only two negative things about using a dutch oven. First it is heavy and cumbersome when you are cleaning it and storing it. But this weight comes in to play by holding in the heat when you need it. Secondly, the cost can get a little ridiculous when it comes time to purchase one. I would recommend shopping around online or stopping by a discount store like TJ Maxx or Marshall's.
Here a few things to try when using your dutch oven:
- Making a roast? Gently heat you dutch oven on the stove top with some canola/vegetable/olive oil. Don't heat it to fast or to high. When it is heated gently place the roast in the dutch oven and sear each side of the roast. When one side of the roast is seared it will release from the bottom of the dutch oven if it is sticking.
- Do you like garlic flavor? Warm your dutch oven with olive oil in the bottom and add some whole garlic cloves. Don't heat to high or you will burn the garlic and it will be bitter. After about 5-10 minutes you oil will be infused with garlic flavor.
- The dutch oven is my best friend in the winter months. One of my comfort foods is baked chicken. You can grab a whole chicken at the store pretty cheap. Take some garlic cloves and shove them between the chicken skin and meat. Place some quartered lemon slices inside the chicken with some rosemary or dill. Throw the chicken in the dutch oven and rub the chicken with olive oil and then salt and pepper. Toss it in the oven and forget it
- Here is tip that my mother taught me when I first started cooking with her years ago. As a child I was always impatient when waiting for something to boil or cook on the stove top. So I would turn up the heat to high. As soon as I would turn the dial up she would be right behind me to turn it down. She taught me to almost always gently heat whatever I was cooking. Gently heating whatever your cooking accomplishes several things. Most importantly it preserves the life of your pot or pan by not warping the vessel. It also will preserve the life of your non-stick surface as well. More often than not, whatever your cooking will cook better if the temperature is raised gently. There are exceptions though, your recipe will let you know when high heat is required.
