Reddit mentions of Lodge Cast Iron Camp Dutch Oven, 6-Quart

I first tried this out when i was camping last summer and it turned out great, the original recipe below fed about 8 people, so i halved it for my wife and myself so we could have lunch leftovers. Unfortunately, after moving, i no longer have a backyard or the ability to use charcoal, so i had to make this indoors, but the instructions are for camping.

Disclaimer: If you are going backpacking or real-people-camping that isn't essentially getting drunk around a campfire and sleeping it off in a tent, then this is not feasible. Definitely a car-or-cooler-camping or cabin-type recipe due to some of the ingredients being perishable.

Also, believe it or not, biscuits and gravy is INCREDIBLY HIGH CALORIE, so if you're on a diet like me, make sure you have plenty of calories remaining. My plate was two biscuits, half the gravy (from a half recipe), and 2 eggs, ended up at 1161 calories.

Campfire Biscuits and Gravy

• 2pkgs grands biscuits
  
• 1.5lb breakfast sausage
  
• 1/2 cup AP flour
  
• 4c whole milk
  
• 1tsp dried thyme
  
• 1/2tsp crushed red pepper, or to taste
  
• Salt and black pepper
  
• Butter, if necessary
  
  Place the biscuits in a cast iron dutch oven and cover. Arrange some rocks so that the dutch oven is slightly elevated from the ground, and place hot coals underneath it and on top of it. If using charcooal, should be about 9 coals underneath and 12 on top. Keep them free of ash and replenish as necessary to keep the heat up, check on the biscuits now and then. They are done when they are puffy and browned. Remove from dutch oven and wipe clean.
  
  Brown sausage in dutch oven over hot coals, if <6tbsp of drippings are in pan, add butter to compensate.
  Whisk/stir in flour and cook until light brown, about 1min. slowly whisk in milk, add thyme and pepper, bring to a boil. Simmer until thickened. Season with S&P to taste.
  

First, if you're really going to do cast iron cooking while camping regularly, you should invest in an actual camp oven. It has feet on the bottom, so you can set it in hot coals, and the lid has a lip around the edge so you can pile coals on top. The oven that you borrowed is designed for kitchen use.

You need to pack three important things:

1. Hand protection, such as oven mitts or thick leather gloves. Open campfires can quickly burn your hands while cooking.
   
   
2. long-handled utensils. You do not want to try and stir the pan with a regular old spoon, or try to turn bacon with a fork over a burning hot campfire. Pack a long-handled metal spoon, spatula or tongs.
   
   
3. A metal shovel or scoop for scooping hot coals. Campfire cooking is all about coals, not flames.
   
   To cook: Build a campfire. Don't put it in the center of the fire pit, build it off to one side. Let it burn for at least a half an hour to create some good coals.
   
   If you don't have a camp oven, you need to make a stand out of rocks to set it on. Find some soft-ball-sized rocks. You want 3 or 4 of them, preferably with a flat side. Position these on the far side of the fire pit, and arrange them so you can put hot coals in the center and place the dutch oven on top where it will sit mostly level. (You can omit this step if you have a camp oven.)
   
   Use your coal scoop to put coals into the center of your little rock formation. For high heat, use a lot of coals, lower heat, fewer coals, etc. Set the dutch oven in place and start cooking. Keep the fire going so you can add more coals when necessary, to control your heat. Scoop coals on top as well.
   
   To clean: There are two ways to clean while camping, and they're very similar to cleaning it in a kitchen.
   
   The first one is boiling: Add water to fill it halfway (stream or lake water is fine) and let it sit over a generous amount of coals while it boils. If there's any food stuck on, scrape it gently with your long-handled utensil as it boils. Pour the water out and use a towel to wipe out any food left, then set it back over a small amount of coals until it dries completely. Cover it the inside with a thin layer of oil and let it cool completely.
   
   Second method is scrubbing it with a mixture of cooking oil and coarse salt. (You can mix up some of this and keep it in a small container). You will want to bring along a stiff, non-metal brush for this, and rinse the pan out with water afterward, then dry it completely, over a few coals. Wipe out any excess oil with a towel.

They are awesome! Amazon has good prices on them

A dutch oven will change how you cook camping. Look them up on-line, and there are thousands of great recipes. This is a great size for a 4-8 people 12 inch Dutch Oven.

Not cauldron shaped, but here's a near two gallon indoor Dutch oven, a two gallon camping Dutch oven, and a gallon and a half camping Dutch oven. Possibly more useful than a cauldron since there is more flat surface on the bottom for searing meat, etc.

There is a Buy It Now auction on eBay right now for a #9 Griswold regular kettle (c/n 792) with a slant logo from 1905-1910 for $118 (US) plus shipping. That's the largest size they made in a kettle I think and I'm not sure on the capacity of the various kettle sizes. Looks pretty rusty, so I'd ask if the cooking surface is just rusty or actually has pitting damage, and maybe get a closer/clearer photo.

You might also look into a Griswold bulge pot from around 1890. There's also one of those on eBay for $89 (US) plus shipping, that looks like it would clean up OK. I can't make out the catalog number to tell you what size it is though.