Quote Originally Posted by kengore View Post
A dutch oven cleaning trick I learned from some of my rafting friends... It seems someone had forgot to clean out a dutch oven then stored it for several months in the garage.

She just scraped out the loose chunks and placed it upside down in the home electric oven, then ran the 'self clean' cycle. The D.O. came out looking brand new, re-seasoned with some cooking oil and back in business.

link to my favorite D.O. recipe site, chocolate lovers should try the 'black forest cobbler'....

http://www.dutchovendude.com/dutch-oven-recipes.asp
I had some friends who taught dutch oven cooking to scouts. They would show the scouts how to make a crusty dutch oven like new by building up a big fire and throwing on the dutch oven, then letting the fire burn out. (low tech version of throwing it in the oven on clean.) One time they bought a particularly grungy dutch oven and did there trick, They didnt catch on that the oven was a little lighter than it should be. They threw the dutch oven on watched it get nice and hot, then watched it melt. moral of the story, dont try that trick with an aluminum dutch oven.

Eric