I am posting this AGAIN because it works well enough to be a 'sticky' on another website and WoodsWoman was apparently suffering from A.D.D. when I delivered this lecture the last time
Since she is getting ready to try baking bread in her Dutch oven and continues to fret about burning her buns
this is a foolproof way af achieving total heat control with briquettes to learn bread-baking
Are you listening this time, young lady? Also, please re-read my signature line
This RING METHOD is an excellent method of controlling temperatue in your Dutch ovens. I use it and it WORKS!
My last post didn't get many 'looks', either and is also a good collection of easy stuff to use out in camping situations with your D.O. Be sure to at least give it a glance; you are almost certain to find something useful for quick and tasty camp dishes
CHARCOAL AND TEMPERATURE CONTROL
Beginners frequently over-start their charcoal. By that I mean they leave it in the starter too long before they use it. It should take only 10 to 15 minutes to start charcoal in a chimney starter, and anything longer than that is a waste. It may not look lit in the starter, but if it has flames coming out the top and no smoke, it is ready. Dump out the coals and use the fully lit ones first. Charcoal that has been started for 30 minutes before it is put on a pot will be half burned away, and will not produce as much heat per briquette. It will also not provide heat long enough to finish some recipes. Always start more charcoal than you need, so you can add the extra later to maintain heat if necessary, especially if it is windy. All recipes assume that you use fresh, properly lit charcoal. A few lit coals in a starter will start charcoal put on top.
When I first started this Dutch oven thing, I tried to count out the number of charcoal briquettes called for in the Dutch Oven recipe books. I rapidly found this to be far less than satisfactory for me, as it's dangerous to have to take your shoes off to count hot charcoal. In addition, I found out that you have to use more of the cheaper brands of charcoal than if you use a quality brand such as improved Kingsford "K" charcoal. So, I decided to measure quantities of hot charcoal by geometric patterns. All of my recipes are based on using the improved Kingsford K charcoal or equivalent and the following "ring" method of temperature control. The definitions are:
1-ring : If you make a circle of hot charcoal with all of the briquettes lying flat and touching each other, with spaces left out for the legs on the bottom rings, that is "one ring". The outside edge of the ring is lined up with the outside edge of the pot, top or bottom.
1/2-ring : A "half ring" is the same size circle, but with every other briquette missing.
2- rings : is simply a second ring just inside the first, with the rings touching.
Full spread :means to put all the briquettes you can (one layer deep, lying flat) either under (very rare, except in frying) or on top of the pot.
This ring technique is kind of self-correcting for the size of the briquettes used. If your charcoal has been burning for a while, the pieces will be smaller and will put out less heat. But, it will take more of them to make a ring, so you still get about the same temperature. Of course they won't last as long and the comparison is rough, but it's better than counting briquettes!
These cooking utensils were designed hundreds of years ago to cook food using coals from wood fires. Yes, of course you can cook with campfire coals, but the technique is beyond the scope of this booklet.
Most Dutch oven cookbooks tell you how many charcoal briquettes to put on the lid and how many under the pot. As mentioned above, the resulting temperature depends on the size, and brand of your charcoal, how long it has been lit, the wind, and even if it is sunny or shady (a black pot will cook 25 degrees hotter in the summer sun than in the shade). I have been able to cook almost everything there is to cook with just four temperatures..... slow, medium, hot, and very hot. For a 12-inch oven, slow will have 1-ring on top, and 1 ring under the pot and be 300 +/- 25 degrees F. Medium is 1-ring under and 1-1/2 rings on top and is 350 +/- 25 degrees F. A hot oven is 1-ring under and 2-rings on top and is 400 +/- 25 degrees F, and very hot is 1 ring under and 2-1/2 rings on top and is 450 to 500 degrees F or so.
Notice with this method that you never change the number of rings under the pot. The exception is for frying or boiling, where I start with a full spread under the pot, and cook with the lid on with a few coals on top just to keep the heat in. Once it is frying or boiling briskly, take a few coals out from under the pot until it is cooking properly. Add some back if it slows down too much. The above directions were given for a 12-inch pot. For larger pots, you will need more charcoal on top to maintain the indicated temperatures, and less charcoal on smaller pots. Temperature is controlled partly by how much (percentage) of the lid is covered with charcoal. A 10-inch pot with 2 rings on top will be considerably hotter than a 14-inch pot with 2 rings on top. This is because two rings on top of a 10-inch oven covers a lot more of the lid (percentage wise) than two rings on a 14-inch pot. You will quickly learn to adjust the absolute amount of charcoal for different size pots. Hint: 1 ring under a 10-inch pot will have three pieces of freshly lit charcoal between each leg. A 12-inch pot will have four between each leg, a 14-inch pot will have five, and yes, an 8-inch will have two. I honestly don't know how many pieces of charcoal make up the rings on the lids, as I have never counted them.
If you absolutely must know what temperature is in the oven with a certain amount of charcoal, then get an oven thermometer and find out, but that takes all the fun out of it. Learn to "feel" how much charcoal is right for a particular dish. I don't mean feel with your hands, but feel with your eyes. Look inside the pot to see if your food is simmering or baking properly or browning properly, etc, and add or take away charcoal as needed.
Start a personal cookbook, and keep track of recipes, including how much charcoal you used, how long you cooked it, and whether it was done correctly. The final answer is to practice, and keep records. You will rapidly learn how much charcoal it takes to make your pot do what you want it to. My motto is to err on the hot side, as it is really hard to burn something in these pots, except as follows. Most Dutch oven cookbooks (there are more than 35 in print) tell you to arrange the charcoal in a checkerboard pattern both on the lid and under the oven. I have only a small problem with the lid arrangement, but I have a HUGE problem with that arrangement under the pot. YOU WILL BURN THINGS WITH A CHECKERBOARD PATTERN UNDER A POT! Charcoal radiates heat in all directions. Those that are under the outside edge of the pot will radiate heat not only up towards the pot, but in towards the center under the pot. ALL of the coals around the edge will add to the temperature under the center of the pot. If you also have charcoal under the center of the pot, as in a checkerboard pattern, the center will be much hotter than the outside edge, and the center of baked foods will frequently burn. Many experienced Dutch oven cooks still swear by the "tried and true" method of checkerboard patterns, and they cook successfully. I have found that the ring method is more forgiving for beginners. By the way, freshly lit charcoal will burn for about an hour when placed on/under a pot, unless it is very windy. When windy, it burns faster, and "blows" the heat down-wind. When windy, turn the pot 180 degrees 2 or 3 times while cooking to even out this effect.
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The only chance you got at a education is listenin' to me talk!
Augustus McCrea.....Texas Ranger Lonesome Dove, TX
