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Gaelen
07-21-2007, 07:04 PM
This is a different kind of grilling, but it's a lot of fun (once you get used to the routine...)

I've been experimenting with campfire Dutch oven cooking, using a 6 quart Camp Chef dutch oven I picked up at Dick's Sporting Goods on clearance for $24. It's a little tricky to find low carb dutch oven recipes, so I'm experimenting with my own low carb recipes and working out the cooking times. The first meal I made in it is a variation of 40-clove Chicken, that I called 40-clove Turkey thighs. It was really, really tasty. I didn't do carb counts, but each clove of garlic is about 5g ecc. You could just stick to the carmelized celery...but the garlic DOES taste wonderful cooked this way. Just don't overdue, and let the carmelized garlic flavor the poultry but not be your side dish. One or two cloves, no more. ;)

If you didn't want to experiment with this type of grilling, I've also made this recipe in a casserole in the oven, a deep skillet on the top of the stove, and in a crockpot. I usually do this recipe with a whole 3-4 lb. chicken, cut up into pieces, but turkey thighs were on sale this week. And I didn't have enough fresh lemons, so I cut up a lime, too.

40-Clove Turkey Thighs
2 tbsp olive oil
3 lbs. turkey thighs
~ 40 cloves of garlic (about two heads), smashed and peeled
half a head of celery, cut into two-inch pieces
1/4 cup dry vermouth (use chicken broth if you don't want the alcohol)
a whole lemon, unpeeled and cut into quarters
3 Tbsp. fresh parsley, chopped
salt and ground black pepper to taste

Serves four very generously, or six people normal sized portions.

In a 12" six-quart Dutch oven:
-- Start with around 24 briquets in the firepan (ok, I didn't go nuts counting. 24 briquets more or less fills up the pan I was using as a fire pan, give or take one or two...)
-- Put the DO over the coals to heat it up, and add the oil. Stir in the garlic, celery and parsley.
-- Salt and pepper the skin side of the poultry, and lay it skin side down in the hot pan. Cook 5-8 minutes or until skin starts to brown. Turn the poultry to the unbrowned side.
-- Pour in the vermouth or broth. Squeeze in the juice from the lemon quarters and then toss the quarters into the pot, too.
-- Cover the pan and set it off to the side. Pull 12-14 of the briquets from the firepan and put them on the DO lid (leave around 10 briquets in the firepan to heat the bottom).
-- Every 15 minutes rotate the DO lid a quarter turn in one direction, and rotate the whole oven on the coals in the firepan a quarter turn in the opposite direction. I added five or six coals to the top of my DO after about a half-hour; it was windy and my top fire was burning down too quickly.
-- Check the poultry after at 30 minutes and 45 minutes (two turning cycles.) My turkey thighs were done and the celery and garlic cloves were carmelized after 45 minutes.
-- Remove the meat from the pan, arrange the vegetables on the side of the meat, and discard the lemon quarters. Pour the pan juices over the poultry and serve.

I'd upload a pic, but I just moved all my stuff from yahoo! photos to photobucket, and haven't sorted through them yet. :rolleyes:

Karole
07-25-2007, 07:49 AM
That sounds really tasty Gaelen, I love garlic flavor in most meat dishes. I will have to try it soon.

Ammy
07-25-2007, 07:55 AM
I have wanted to buy a dutch oven for camping for a LONG time, but didn't know what to make (other than the high carb stuff)!

Thanks! Now I have a good reason to buy one!!!!

Gaelen
07-25-2007, 09:49 AM
Ammy, you might want to try this link: http://www.outdoorcookingmagic.com/

A lot of the DO recipes do have added carbs, but there are a LOT of tricks for converting your own recipes or the low carb recipes you rely on to DO cooking, and general tips for cooking outdoors. I'm really liking my DO. I made my chilaquiles recipe in it, too, and they tasted just wonderful.

Ammy
07-25-2007, 09:56 AM
Awesome! Thanks!

We do a big car-camping trip in October! I'm going to FIND one, BUY it, and MAKE something!! Mmm....

Gaelen
07-25-2007, 04:54 PM
Ammy...Dicks Sporting Goods, Walmart (look on the bottom shelves), KMart, Cabela's, Bass Pro Shops, any army/navy or outdoor store that carries camping stuff. Mine is a pre-seasoned Camp Chef, 12" 6qt pot that I got for $24. It's just about as big as I want to handle when it's full of food and covered with hot coals :rolleyes:

All of those outlets carry Lodge and Camp Chef, which were the two brands recommended to me. They also carry DOs at Harbor Freight stores and Farm and Family Home Centers. If you can get one that you can carry home, rather than getting it shipped, it'll save a lot of $$$.

Low-carbchef
05-27-2008, 09:57 AM
I have been building a Dutch oven cookbook you might find helpful. My low carb experience is included on my personal web page. http://www.low-carbchef.com/camp_cooking.html I am just starting a collection dutch oven recipes. I've got to do a low of experimenting to make sure the recipes work. A big question is always what size oven will be appropriate for the amount of ingredients.

Do you know how to estimate oven temperatures in a 10 inch Dutch oven? Start with the oven diameter, and double that number. Then subtract three brickettes from the bottom and add them to the top. This should equal about a 350 degree oven. I usually use even fewer than that if I am doing something that has very little liquid, such as in Carbquik pizza, Then you want to use mostly top heat.

To learn more about Dutch oven cooking, check out groups on Yahoo.com. They have a group called Dutch Oven Cooking and they regularly announce DO gatherings. DOGs (Dutch Oven Gatherings) are great places to learn from others. We just had a gathering at Lehman's hardware. I was the only one there who was trying to cook low carb.

Cathy