Thinking of trying some Campfire Dutch Oven cooking, bought one (not a Lodge, will get to that as I progress)& got it seasoned, looks pretty good, I have a lot of recipes, but my first question is, everywhere I look, reference is made about X amount of briquettes on the bottom, X+ on top, how does briquettes transfer to campfire coals?Thanks in advance, I'm sure I'll be back with more questions later.

Briquettes are used to give a carefully measured amount of heat for a certain amount of time. Coals would just be a guessing game.

Here's a couple of charts I have found. Hope these help.

Briquettes are more consistent and last longer as well. I use a charcoal chimney to heat the coals and just place the whole thing in the fire pit when camping.

Good info so far. I might add - notice the dutch oven inside a barrel or container: that lets you get a closer match to the temp chart. Wind chill can reduce a d.o.'s temp in spite of the correct number of coals. Placing in a barrel or having a piece of flashing to block wind is a good idea on windy and/or cold days. The Southeast Campers of VA/NC hold dutch oven gatherings where the experienced cast iron chefs are more than willing to share their knowledge as well. Their NC/VA 2nd Dutch Oven Gathering is March 27, 2015. More info herehttps://www.facebook.com/2statedog?fref=nfStart with inexpensive dishes to get a feel for how your pot performs. A few dishes and you'll be cooking like a pro.

I'm a beginner also. Maybe 3 years. I cheat and use an IR gun on D/O as well as tires:CThis guy has some very good basic info on this page http://www.dutchovendude.com/campfire-cooking.shtmlAnd right here on this forum also has some very good info. And searchable by Dutch Oven. Someone took the time and a lot of work... http://www.rv.net/forum/index.cfm/fuseaction/thread/tid/13970283.cfmFolks, Cruzette and I developed a Recipe Archive. It took about 4 months to go through the 10,000+ posts to find recipes. We completed the task on 8/7/04. The work will continue to capture all new recipes as they are posted in Camp Cooks and Connoisseurs Forum.To-date we have captured over 2300 recipes thanks to all of you. The recipes are organized by categories and sub-categories and are shown in the Table of Contents webpage. The recipes spread over multiple webpages to keep each pages load time down. By clicking on a category in the table of contents, you'll be taken to the top of that category of recipes. If the category has sub-categories, hyperlinks are provided. The Recipe Archive is also searchable, using a word or multiple word search engine. My biggest surprise getting into D/O cooking was the room all of it took up. But worth it.P.S. welding gloves are 1/2 the cost as "dutch oven cooking gloves" are and better IMO.

Dutch Oven Beginner | Good Sam Community

magnusfide
Explorer II
Mar 10, 2015
Good info so far. I might add - notice the dutch oven inside a barrel or container: that lets you get a closer match to the temp chart. Wind chill can reduce a d.o.'s temp in spite of the correct number of coals. Placing in a barrel or having a piece of flashing to block wind is a good idea on windy and/or cold days.

The Southeast Campers of VA/NC hold dutch oven gatherings where the experienced cast iron chefs are more than willing to share their knowledge as well. Their NC/VA 2nd Dutch Oven Gathering is March 27, 2015. More info here
https://www.facebook.com/2statedog?fref=nf

Start with inexpensive dishes to get a feel for how your pot performs. A few dishes and you'll be cooking like a pro.
Wishbone51
Explorer
Mar 10, 2015
Briquettes are more consistent and last longer as well. I use a charcoal chimney to heat the coals and just place the whole thing in the fire pit when camping.
garmp
Explorer II
Mar 10, 2015
Here's a couple of charts I have found. Hope these help.
Artum_Snowbird
Explorer
Mar 10, 2015
Briquettes are used to give a carefully measured amount of heat for a certain amount of time. Coals would just be a guessing game.

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