Whenever we have a staff trip we fight over who gets to be in Jeff's food group.  The man is a wizard with the dutch oven, and here are a few of his recipes to get you started with your own.  Jeff recommends a 10" size for feeding groups up to six people and the 12" size for larger (or exceptionally hungry) groups.  The following recipes have quantities appropriate for a 10" dutch oven.

Creamy Baked Brie with Naan

This is a great appetizer if you have hungry campers hanging around the fire long before supper time.  Simple to make, SO fun to eat.

Ingredients:

• I Naan per person (add a few for hungry folks)
• Brie cheese wheel (small for fewer folks, large for more folks)
• toppings: chives, hot peppers, diced olives, herbs (oregano, rosemary), diced garlic, white wine, mushrooms, use your imagination - what's in your food barrel ?

Directions: 

Place Naan in the dutch oven, put on the lid and cover lid with live coals. Wait 10-15 minutes, the desired effect is the naan will be piping hot and tender (cool naan will be chewier). Put naan aside and cover to stay warm (pot lid and tea towel will keep it warm).

Line dutch oven with foil or parchment paper. Place brie in the dutch oven, slicing the wheel on top to admit toppings. Sprinkle with toppings of your choice. Put the lid on the dutch oven and load with coals. Wait 10 minutes (if you can), remove lid, slide brie onto plate and enjoy. 

If you want to reduce your carbs, enjoy with veggies of your choice. Carrots can last a long way into your trip.

I also did this over a stove in the dutch oven, grilling the naan 2 at a time, and then heating the brie over very low heat.

Breakfast Scrambler

Breakfast or supper - it doesn't matter when you make this one, scramblers are always a hit.  They appeal to all ages and you can pretty much throw in whatever you want.

Ingredients:

• Hash browns (regular or dehydrated - Costco sells very handy cartons of dehydrated hash browns) .
• Diced small onion (fresh or dehdrated)
• 1/2 cup diced cooked bacon (precook and dice before the trip - it can last a long time that way)
• Sliced peppers (1 bell or 2 pickled jalapenos or 1/4 pickled hot banana - pickled peppers dehydrate and rehydrate very well)
• 4 eggs  - scrambled (or dehydrated egg mix reconstituted)
• Oil (or bacon fat for a lot more flavor - this can last a long time too) 
• Old cheddar (or tasty cheese of your choice)

Directions:

If using dehydrated hash browns, re-hydrate as per instructions. Re-hydrate other ingredients as required (15 minutes should be adequate).

Over a stove or fire brown hash browns in oil, stirring frequently.  When hash browns are nearly ready add veggies to potatoes, stirring for another 5 minutes. Add eggs, cook until just shy of preferred level of egg moistness, top with cheese, cover and let stand 5 minutes so cheese can achieve gooiness. 

I sometimes add 3/4 cup corn to the scramble - its a nice counterpoint to the hot peppers. Corn dehydrates really well too!

Enjoy but make sure you've got some exercise planned for that day.

Teriyaki Pork Chops 

Impress your meat-eating family and friends with this dish, which is a good option for night #1.  It appeals to the primal side and you'll have everyone drooling by the time these hit the plate.

Ingredients: 

• Teriyaki marinade
• Pork chops - 1 per person. If chops are small better go with 2 for the hungry man (or woman).

Directions: 

Before Camping:

Marinate chops for 8 hours. Drain excess marinade. Double bag chops to ensure no leakage and pop into the freezer so chops will keep for the first day (or maybe 2nd or 3rd day of the trip if you have an IceMule Cooler!).

Use your favorite teriyaki marinade or make up your own - that's what I do, using lots of sesame oil and a bit of sriracha for zip.

At camp:

Put dutch oven over fire or stove. Add 2 tbsp oil per pot. Add 1 layer of chops, brown 1 side, flip, then cook till done. 

Best enjoyed with some cheesy garlic mashed potatoes with chives, garden green beans, and a glass of red wine. 

Fruit Cobbler

A hearty dessert or breakfast, cobbler is one of those comfort foods that appeals to almost everyone.  The balance of slightly salty dough with sweet fruit is irresistible, especially when you've been outside all day.

Ingredients:

• 1.5 cups bisquick (or homemade biscuit mix - I used bacon fat in my mix for better flavor) 
• 1.5 cups milk (or water if you've pre-mixed milk powder into the biscuit mix) 
• 1/4 cup sugar (for biscuit topping)
• 5 cups fruit can be dehydrated or fresh: apples, saskatoon berries, peaches, blueberries, rhubarb (just not all rhubarb) all good
• 1 cup water (save water from re-hydrating fruit for this) 
• 1/2 cup sugar (for fruit mixture)
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 2 tbsp flour

Directions:

Rehydrate any dehydrated fruit with warm water for 20 minutes.

Mix fruit, water, sugar, flour, cinnamon in dutch oven. Combine biscuit mix, sugar, and milk, mix only until all biscuit mix wet through. Dough can be just slightly thicker than pancake batter consistency to allow easy spreading over fruit mixture. Spread dough over fruit mixture.

Place lid on dutch oven. Heap coals on top. Bake for 30 minutes. Add more coals as required to maintain heat. Can place on top of SMALL amount of coals for 5 minutes at start of cooking to get fruit cooking, but most cooking should be done from the top. Cobbler is done when top is lightly browned, and fruit mixture bubbling through.

In fire ban situations, I've done this stovetop using a head diffuser disk under the dutch oven and outback oven lid over the dutch oven, cooking on low heat. Top won't brown but it will still taste good.

Serve and enjoy. At breakfast, maple syrup can be a nice addition. For dessert, a brandy sauce never goes wrong (make this at home - heat 1/2 cup butter with 1/2 cup brown sugar till it comes to low boil - stir in 2 tbsp brandy - or more, to taste) .

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Happy dutch-ovening folks!  But that's not all - for Jeff's Dutch Oven Pizza recipe, click here.  It's another gooder.