This was one of the funnest dishes I have made in my Camp Chef Dutch oven. My inspiration came from a dozen different recipes that I didn’t like so I decided to throw my own version together. This Pork Chile Verde recipe can easily take on a life of it own as you add or remove ingredients to make it you own classic dish.

This is my 2 part Dutch oven Pork Chile Verde video from my new “Cooking Everything Outdoors” video series, hope you enjoy it.

Dutch oven Pork Chile Verde recipe

Prep time: 15 min

Cooking time: 55 min

Ingredients

12″ Dutch oven

1/2 tsp Crisco for Dutch oven

1 lb of pork loin, cubed into 1″ pieces

2 large onions chopped

1 c all purpose flour

1 tsp dried oregano

1 tsp dried cilantro

1/2 tsp cumin

1/2 cup red wine

1 – 12 oz jar Salsa Verde

2 small cans diced chile’s (as hot as you like) undrained

2 – 15oz cans of pinto beans undrained

1 - 28 oz can of diced tomatoes, skin on and undrained

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

2 large cloves garlic diced

1 – 1 gal zip-lock bag

20 – 30 coals

Preparation

Heat Dutch oven on bottom only with approximately 15 coals. Place cubed pork in a 1 gallon zip-lock bag. Add 1/2 of salt, 1/2 of pepper and  flour to bag, close bag and mix well to coat pork. Grease bottom of heated Dutch oven with 1/2 tsp of Crisco. Brown pork till done, add onions cook with pork till translucent, then garlic for a minute more, don’t over cook!

Add oregano, cilantro and cumin, remainder of salt and pepper. Mix well. Add chiles, pinto beans, tomatoes and salsa verde, stir well. Place lid on Dutch oven, posistion approximately 15 coals on the lid.

Cook for 40 minutes.

Serve with rice and warm tortillas.

Video notes: I did not add the chicken broth from the video. It would have made it Pork Chile Verde to watery. I stated 1/4 cup then a 1/2 cup of red wine – I used a 1/2 cup.

Easy to make and it make a ton of food. We had this over the course of a few weeks. Heat up your tortillas and enjoy!

Gary

“Get out of the kitchen! Light the fire! Start cooking outdoors”

You have heard me talk about this breakfast dish and I have posted about it a few times but I have never showed you how to do it on video. This is one of the first of many videos in my new series that I will be releasing every week or so. Dutch oven cooking at it’s best…

 I hope you enjoy this! A lot of work goes into these productions, let me know what you think.

Gary

“Get out of the kitchen! Light the fire! Start cooking outdoors”

Grill, Cast Iron, Dinner, Side dish, Drinks, check, check ,check … whoops!

There is always a component or two that is forgotten at the time of execution or more simply put, I forgot to make dessert and was reminded of it half way through eating dinner. The boys never miss this detail and quickly make a, suggestion .

Ever the clutch player, I simply stated “No worries” and proceeded to grill up some dessert. Grilled dessert is with out a doubt one of the most visually pleasing sight to behold, akin to a beautiful sunset, a crystal clear lake, ah … well a poet I am not, but it sure is fun to watch.

My attempt was to say the least was fantastic! Of course I quite often say that as positive re-enforcement is necessary to my fragile grilling ego. I literally threw this together!

I threw in some butter!

I threw in some Brown sugar!

I threw in some Honey!

I threw in some Cinnamon!

I threw in some Bananas!

Sounds like a Winnie the Pooh story …

But thats all there was to it and it was the best dessert I have thrown together in along time! Ok, a couple of weeks to be sure …

I did slice the bananas and everything was measured by the handful, oh, the butter was half a stick. I know not very precise but why? I had my Cast Iron skillet to cook it all on the grill and it was a toss and cook dessert. The bananas took all of three or four minutes to get heated and coated, you can cook them till there mush if you want.

All of this was poured over some Vanilla Ice Cream and served Outdoors on a beautiful evening. Oh so good!

Here are a few other picture on my Flickr photo page: Grilled Banana Dessert

Enjoy!

“Get out of the kitchen! Light the fire! Start cooking outdoors”

This poem was written by a friend of mine Dee McMillian at the 2010 IDOS World Championship Dutch oven Cook-offs a few weeks past. Just had to share it with all of my Dutch oven fans.

The Life of a D.O.G.

A real dog. I’m not talking about

but Dutch oven Gathering which are also known as a cookout.

It is where friends gather around and cook in cast iron pots over charcoal

and you can do it any time, in heat or the cold.

Yep all seasons, summer, winter, spring and fall,

and it is a lot of fun had by all.

All kinds of cooking you can do like boiling, baking, and cooking stew

and that’s just to name a few.

New things folks are always trying

Roasting, steaming and even frying.

It is something folks have been doing for hundreds of years

and from its popularity it will be going on a whole lot longer it appears.

Just throw a few coals together and get them hot

and prepare what you are going to cook and put them in the pot.

Put some hot coals on the ground

and then place your pot down.

Cover with some more coals and just sit back and wait

and when it’s done just grab a plate.

You are never to young or old to learn

and it doesn’t even matter if it burns.

It is about being outdoors and being with friends

and it looks like it will never end.

Yep, I imagine when you get to heaven and beyond the pearly gates,

you will see some of your old cooking mates.

And Dutch ovens they will be gathered around

that’s where your old friends will be found.

But in heavn a Dutch oven will no longer be made of cast iron, but of gold

so I guess Dutch oven Gatherings will never get old.

Dee McMillian 3/18/2010

“Get out of the kitchen! Light the fire! Start cooking outdoors”

Awhile back I reviewed the Skookie cookie maker from Santé Cookware, you can see the post here: Skookies, It’s Cookie Heaven. Basically you are baking a giant cookie on the grill. It’s a lot of fun for the kids and it adds a really unique flavor to the cookie itself.

I, of course had to take it to the next level and make  Giant Ice Cream Sandwiches out of two Skookies! The boys loved them so much we had to take them to the Cub Scout meeting that night and share with everyone.

Here are the pictures showing how I made a Giant Skookie Ice Cream Sandwich:

I hope you enjoy this!

“Get out of the kitchen! Light the fire! Start cooking outdoors”

It’s a good day when something new arrives at the front door! My Dutch oven friends at Camp Chef sent me one of their new Camp Chef 20th Anniversary Limited Edition Dutch ovens to try out.

You see, they have been in business for 20 years and wanted to share this with everyone by releasing a limited edition Dutch oven! Becuase they are turning 20 in 2010 0nly 2010 units will be produced.  My limited edition is number 440.

This Anniversary Dutch oven is a 6 qt 12″ Dutch oven and is made from their advantage cast iron. It’s pre-seasoned so it will be ready to go, just wash and cook.

Order your Model #SDO12CC Limited Edition 20th Anniversary 12″ Dutch Oven now, because once they’re gone, they’re gone.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=NyWFXpCQU9E

“Get out of the kitchen! Light the fire! Start cooking outdoors”

Really good Pulled Pork takes hours of low and slow cooking and it worth every second! When your camping or just cooking outdoors you may not have a smoker available or the time. Thats where those trusty Dutch ovens come in!

Here is an article I wrote for Camp Chef about cooking Pulled Pork in a Dutch oven, hope you enjoy it!

Camp Chef  Blog – Pulled Pork

Ingredients
4lb Pork shoulder roast with bone in
6 cloves of garlic sliced into slivers
1 bottle of beer
12” Camp Chef Dutch oven
Favorite BBQ sauce
Sandwich buns
Approximately 100 coals

Rub
¼ cup coarse salt
¼ cup (packed) dark brown sugar
¼ cup paprika
3 tablespoons freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon dried onion flakes
½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
½ teaspoon celery seeds

“Get out of the kitchen! Light the fire! Start cooking outdoors”

Do you love Cornbread? One of my readers, Laura from Dallas, Texas,  does and she wants to know how to do it on a stove top! Not something I have ever done with Cast Iron before so I dug up some help and I thought I would share the info with you.

From Laura:

Question for you–by the way, LOVE your website.  I get really jazzed about cooking outdoors when we go camping and motivated to do more on our giant hibachi at home.

I want to try cornbread in my cast iron skillet on our camp stove (may not be possible to cook it on the big community campfire on our camp out). I do not have  a dutch oven though. Do you think it would work to cover the skillet with a couple layers of foil and cook it on the stove/fire for a bit? How long?

Thanks for any advice you might be able to offer.

Laura

Here is where I contacted my friend Natalie Brown from Camp Chef

Gary,

I’m not sure how well it would work with just the tinfoil, but I think if she used it with the Dutch oven dome it should work.  We have never done it over an open fire, but we have done it on one of our stoves, and it worked great.  We used our trivet on the bottom http://www.campchef.com/store/item/156/TRDO_Dutch_Oven_Trivet.html#, and then put the pan on that and then covered it with the Dutch dome.  The trivet allows more heat to circulate around the pan, so you will get a more even heat and won’t completely burn the bottom.  

I hope this helps!  Let me know if you have any other questions. 

Natalie

Thanks Natalie!!

And here are my final thoughts:

Laura,

Did some fast research and came up with this: http://www.deltablues.net/cbread.html

Great article and it should do what you want to. I am going to try this myself.

Also you could use a “Dutch oven Dome” or try flipping the bread in the pan if you don’t want a pale top. I don’t think the foil will help much and I wouldn’t place coals on the foil. But it will keep the bugs and flora out! 

Another thought would be to make corn bread cakes like a drop biscuit.

Give it a try, good luck!

Send me a couple of pictures if you can.

Laura’s final comments: 

Thank you for the very helpful information. I like your idea about dropping the dough like biscuits. I think I may try this, flipping them for even coloration.

“Get out of the kitchen! Light the fire! Start cooking outdoors”

Some of you may have seen my pictures and live updates via Twitter awhile back. I was creating my new Bacon Weave Meatloaf recipe and updating everyone as it progressed. Well it turned out so darn good that I decided to share it over at Camp Chef so they could post it on their blog. Now it’s time to show you all where to find this recipe so you can try it also.

Camp Chef Blog

Ingredients:

Bacon Weave Meatloaf

1pd ground Turkey (or beef)

1pd ground Pork

1 egg

1 cup bread crumbs

1 tsp pepper

½ tsp garlic salt

1 small onion diced

4 cloves garlic minced

1 tsp Worcestershire sauce

½ cup favorite BBQ sauce for the meatloaf mix

½ cup favorite BBQ sauce for the topping

3 – 4 slices Bacon

“Get out of the kitchen! Light the fire! Start cooking outdoors”

Have a big day of smoking ahead of you? 10 – 12 hrs for your brisket? Having a special day for the family? You can have it all with some very simple preparation and grilling execution. I personally am one of those people who think breakfast is a 24/7 meal and I would be quite content if that was all I ever ate. Not that we are going to have that debate today and I would be willing to debate the merits of breakfast everyday all day anytime.

I enjoy a day of grilling and I enjoy mixing things up on the grill. Brunch is the perfect time to do so and Grilled Mini Frittata’s were the solution for this Sunday morning brunch. You don’t need anything special to make this and quite often I just throw stuff that sitting in the fridge together to make my Frittata’s. Whip it all together and bake it, it’s that simple!

Let’s take a look at what a Frittata is. According to a quick Google search we find the following explanations:

·       Italian omelet with diced vegetables and meats; cooked until bottom is set then inverted into another pan to cook the top
wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn

·       A frittata is a type of Italian omelete that frequently features fillings such as meats, cheeses, and vegetables. …
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frittata

·       a form of omelette in which vegetables, cheese etc are mixed into the eggs and cooked together
en.wiktionary.org/wiki/frittata

·       An Italian baked omelet.
www.italian-cooking-made-easy.com/cooking-terms.html

·       An Italian dish made of eggs and other ingredients. Similar to an omelet, but the ingredients are combined with the eggs rather than folded into the center. Recipe: Frittata con gli Spinaci
southernfood.about.com/library/info/bld_f.htm

·       A flat Italian style omelet that is baked and not folded.
cookingwithanne.com/terms.html

·       An open-face omelet, made entirely on top of the stove, or started on top of the stove and completed in the oven; usually flavored with vegetables, herbs, meats or cheeses.
www.foodnetwork.com/regional-international/italian-cooking-glossary/index.html

Yep, just a fancy omelette cooked different ways with the end result being a baked egg dish. Easy …

Here’s what you need and how I created my Mini Frittata Brunch:

2 small Cast Iron dishes (I used Lodge 9 Ounce Oval Mini Server)

Ingredients

2 eggs

1 green onion sliced

4 mushrooms sliced

¼ red bell pepper diced                                           

1 tsp capers (no juice)

¼ cup sharp cheddar cheese

1 tbls parmesan cheese

½ cup shredded hashbrowns (frozen)

1 tsp dried parsley flakes

Garlic salt (to taste)

Pepper (to taste)

½ cup milk

Preparation

Scramble eggs and milk together in a bowl then add all the other ingredients (except the cheeses) together and mix. Take your Cast Iron pan (2) grease well and pour in mixture. Keep in fridge until barbecue is ready to go.

Cook with indirect heat for approximately 15 minutes at 350°

Side dishes, yes I had to have my bacon and toast with my meal, basic requirements as you know. Bacon is really easy on the grill, direct heat with any size Cast Iron skillet will get the job done. I have found through experimentation that a “ribbed” Cast Iron skillet works best. Keeps that burning grease away from the bacon! That is important because the bacon cooks really fast on the grill; you’re frying and baking at the same time. I know that sounds strange but you will know what I mean when you try it and watch out when you remove that skillet!! Hot!! A 350° skillet full of hot grease is worthy of respect, use thick leather glove to remove any Cast Iron from your grill.

Toast is the easy part, place your bread over direct heat and stay there and watch it. It will cook faster than your toaster will!

Now you have a great grilled breakfast that will have the uniqueness that only a barbecue grill can provide, a slight smoky grilled taste that can’t be duplicated in the kitchen. I hope you give this a try!

Lodge 9 Ounce Oval Mini Server

“Get out of the kitchen! Light the fire! Start cooking outdoors”