New Frontiers in Dutch Oven Cooking by Lynn Child and Susan Clendenin
Title: New Frontiers in Dutch Oven Cooking
Author: Lynn Child and Susan Clendenin
Publisher: Horizon (Cedar Fort)
Genre: Cook Book
Year Published: 2009
Number of Pages:78
Binding: Paper
ISBN10: N/A
ISBN13: 978-0-88290-963-9
Price: $8.99
Reviewed by Andrew Hamilton
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“New Frontiers in Dutch Oven Cooking” is, according to the front cover, a collection of “gourmet recipes, Dutch oven basics, and more.” The book has seven chapters, two of instructions and five of recipes arranged in the following categories: breakfast, breads, desserts, one pot meals, meats, and side dishes.
The first two chapters of this cookbook contain a lot of good ideas and hints for the Dutch oven beginner. Chapter one covers care and cleaning of Dutch ovens, storage, and tips for bringing out flavor while cooking.
It then discusses packing for trips, suggested spices and seasonings, time saving tips, and needed tools. The tools section is very basic. It briefly goes over lid lifters, gloves, tongs, hot pads, paper towels, shortening, charcoals, and several other items. This may be too basic for some, but if you’re Dutch oven cooking for the first time then these are very good reminders, especially if you are going to try and cook a meal at a campsite when the nearest store or supplies are an hour away.
Chapter one concludes by explaining how to get your oven to 350 degrees, how to maintain heat, season alternatives and a chart of measuring equivalents. Chapter two goes into more details on curing and cleaning, cooking with bottom heat, what is and how to use a “Dutch oven cap,”
eliminating rancid smells, and eliminating rust. These two chapters are short, easy to read and contain a lot of good tips for the beginning Dutch oven user.
The recipes that make up the bulk of the book are short and simple, I didn’t notice any that were longer than a page and many were only half a page long. Some of the recipes are all from scratch, while others involve the use of mixes, pre-made crusts, roll doughs and similar items. Each recipe tells you what size of Dutch oven to use, how many coals are necessary, and how many coals to put on the top and bottom of the oven. Most of the recipes are for 12” ovens, a few are for 10”, 12”
deep, and I noticed one for a 14” oven. One chart or help that would have been nice would have been an explanation of how to convert these recipes for bigger or smaller ovens. I have not tried all of the recipes, but the ones I have tried were good.
I do have three small annoyances with this book. First, the title: I realize that the authors and publisher needed to come up with something fun and catchy, and I am sure that they thought that their title would help sell the book. To me however, “New Frontiers” is just a bit much.
There are good recipes in this book that make for tasty meals, and it is a good book for Dutch oven beginners, but there is nothing so groundbreaking in this book that it needs to be titled “New Frontiers in Dutch Oven Cooking.” Two, the one page introduction was all about the pioneers and how they cooked with Dutch ovens. To me this was a cheap sales gimmick. It’s a book of recipes and Dutch oven instructions: the pioneers did not need to be mentioned. Sell the book on its merits, not on emotional attachment to ancestors. Third, the font and binding could
have been more convenient. I must say here that this book’s compact
size makes it ideal for taking camping; however this strength is also a bit of a weakness. The font is small and hard to see from a distance. I would have appreciated a slightly larger typeface so that the book didn’t need to be so close to me as I was cooking. Also, it won’t stay open unless you twist and wrangle the spine or hold the book down with something. This is hard on books. I think that it would have been more user friendly for cooking with if it had a comb binding or some other form of binding that would allow it to lay flat and open by itself.
Since I started cooking with Dutch ovens several years ago I have collected several small cookbooks like this one. It is now my favorite.
While it does have the above named minor flaws, the recipes are good, the instructions and tips are very helpful (again, especially for beginners), and the size and low cost make it a great book for taking camping — just throw it in a pack or a duffel bag with your spices and tools and you’re set. If you want a book of Dutch oven basics and good recipes, give this one a try. I’ll leave it up to the potential chefs to see just how gourmet the meals turn out.
