Reseasoning a Dutch oven

Never use soap on a D.O., as stated above rinse with water, dry and lightly oil.
I have some cast iron that belonged to my Great Grandparents and I still use them. My newer ones are made of cast aluminum and need no break in, I use these for canoe camping as they are lighter to carry.

Agreed; don't use soap unless you want to re-season it. Sounds like you may be OK just rinsing and lightly scrubbing with a brush in hot water. Here is a great site for DO care and much more information, including recipes. Happy cooking!

Ok, here we go again.

The seasoning on a Dutch oven is OIL! Do not use soap on a seasoned oven.

However, if you want to make sure about how well seasoned an oven is, re. season it. You know, very thin coat of oil, plant oil like olive oil or safflower oil...., lightly gone over with a light rag to make sure it's a thin coat. Put in oven for 2 hours at high temperature, I use 410'F. Turn oven off and leave oven there until cool. Then on to step 2.

Do that 3 times. and it will be well and truly seasoned.

Enjoy. Post some photos of your cookings, s.v.p.

:C

shadows4 wrote:
Ok campers, I am guilty of being a slacker. I haven't used my Dutch oven in a couple of years. Opened it up and I still looked good and smelled ok. But, should I clean off the old seasoning or just go ahead and use it? And if I am to clean it off, how do I do that?

I want to get back into cooking with it so I bought a new 10 inch one, the old one is a 12 inch. Just Momma and I so I thought the smaller one might be a better fit. Thanks, John

Also can any one recommend any good Dutch oven cooking recipe books?

A 10" sounds like a good size for 2 people and could prolly accommodate a few more if need be:).

Guessing you have a pre-seasoned cast iron D.O. so I'd just wipe it out to remove the surface dirt, wash with warm to hot water with liquid dish soap and then allow it to dry on a low flame before using it for the first time. No need to remove the existing finish IMO. As for recipes, like others, I no longer acquire cookbooks since the internet is readily available. Another good Google search is "low and slow". Currently, my favorite sites and shows are Epicurious, Fine Cooking, Cooks' Illustrated, Martha Stewart, S. Raichlen and BBQ Brethren.

Just do a web search for "Dutch Oven Recipes". There is scads of information about them.