I had to use up a chicken carcass from leftovers earlier this week and some chicken breasts. My wife cooked the carcass in the pressure cooker with carrots, onion and celery for 30 minutes. I ended up with a half gallon of chicken stock. I cooked the stew on the stove top just enough to get the seasonings right and into the oven it went. This is my wife's new dutch oven. Let's just say I gave it a proper once over. I fired the oven with maple and locust. The wind was pretty brisk from the west, north west so I put a piece of limestone at the left side of the door to deflect the in rush of air. I put the cooker in the oven while I was still firing it. Let's just say I cooked the stew into next week on a full boil. I had it in there for about 1 and 1/2 hours. I did the check early on, so I moved the oven close to the door away from the fire. The mud oven is very deceiving on how much heat it puts out. I think next time I will left the fire die down and rake the coals to the sides for a medium heat. But I learned a lot and this was the first time I used the dutch oven for this type of cooking. I boiled about 2 inches of broth out of this. The top edges in the oven were burned, but the stew was fine. It looks like this will be soaking for a few days. My wife was not too impressed with the soot on her new oven. I made fresh dough for rolls and let it rise in front of the Castine, that was nicely rolling along today. This stew was real good. I added a little more black pepper to mine. Two bowls and three rolls later, I was out like a light in the easy chair. With the woodstove running, it did not take much. I threw together a little apple crisp and stuck it in the oven when the rolls came out. Apples, brown sugar, butter, oatmeal and cinnamon. I did not follow a recipe, I just worked it up quick.
I sure do. Cold air sucks the heat out of it a little quicker though, so I fire it harder. Only really windy weather can make firing it a little more difficult. I did a deep dish Chicago-style pizza last December, February was calzones and chicken parm. in March. I tend to make more soups inside when the real cold weather hits.
a paste of baking soda and hydrogen peroxide might help get the soot off the dutch oven. Or Oxi-clean. Soup looks pretty awesome but I love the rolls and apple crisp.
Jon, I'm new around here, I guess you built that oven? Did you do a thread or can you elaborate on it's const.?
It soaked overnight, and got a scraping in the morning. A few more hours of soaking and a Mr. Clean sponge did the trick.
Thanks a bunch! Very nice project!! Is this your first such build? It looks like it's not or you sure did your homework first! That mold looks amazingly even, concentric what ever the word I'm looking for is, what is the working time before it dries up and won't hold it's shape. I'm unfamiliar with "sharp sand", can you elaborate?
It was my first build. Lots of reading, Youtube videos, going through blogs of other builders learning their mistakes and reading a mud oven building book. The sand dome was all hand work, by eye. The sand would probably stay put for a day or so with a mist of water from a spray bottle. It is covered in wet newspaper before the cob goes on it. Sharp sand is angular in grain, a little more coarse than regular sand and it is usually free of silt and loam. It stays together better. Sand that is rounded would not stay as well put.
