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LSDOS members fired up over Dutch oven cooking
Dan Eakin/Staff Photo
production/lewisville/datedfolder/05-16/front
BY DAN EAKIN, Staff Writer
The pioneers crossed America in covered wagons without the benefit of microwaves, gas stoves or electric ovens.
They had the next best thing n or was it even better? They had Dutch ovens.
The Lone Star Dutch Oven Society (LSDOS) is an organization dedicated to preserving the art of black pot cooking throughout the state of Texas and beyond.
As one approached the DOG, the sweet aromas of various types of cooking filled the air as happy, busy people were seen at their stations preparing a luncheon fit for royalty.
The menu included hot biscuits, ribs, ham, meat loaf, calico beans, stew, bread pudding, apple pie and other foods too numerous to mention.
“Ribs are very good cooked in a Dutch oven, said Pete Whelan of Lewisville, a longtime member of the club. “Also, pot roast is delicious, with a few potatoes added.”
“Breads and biscuits are also big items,” he added.
Whelan said he first became interested in Dutch oven cooking in Iowa when his son took up the art as a Boy Scout there.
Members of the chapter are in all different age brackets.
Jason Hiatt of Lewisville, an Eagle Scout, and his father Dale Hiatt of Fort Worth cooked side by side.
Neither was teaching the other. They were just cooking together.
“I learned about Dutch oven cooking as a Boy Scout,” said the younger Hiatt.
While most of the members are experienced Dutch oven cooks, there are some newcomers who are learning fast.
Frank Kerr of Double Oak was on hand Saturday morning, taking lessons from his friend Jim Bratcher, a longtime member.
“Frank was interested in learning this,” Bratcher said. “We cooked up some sourdough biscuits and ham.”
One of the more familiar faces at any North Texas Prairie Dog Chapter event is Ruthanne Brockway, an award-winning Dutch oven cook and editor of a Dutch oven cookbook.
“I like the challenge of cooking without electricity,” said Brockway, a longtime resident of Lewisville. “It gives me a deeper respect for our ancestors.”
“Besides, I like to go camping,” she added. “People get tired of hot dogs and marshmallows. They’re amazed when I serve them fresh homemade pizza and peach cobbler that I cooked on a Dutch oven.”
Dutch ovens are cast iron cooking pots that originated in Europe many hundreds of years ago. In the 18th Century, they were manufactured in England and brought to this country by Dutch traders n thus the name, Dutch oven.
“The great Texas cattle drives could not have happened without them,” said Bruce Bonnett, chapter advisor. “These cooking utensils were of paramount importance to the pioneers who settled this continent.”
Wood traditionally was used to heat up the ovens, but today’s Dutch oven enthusiasts usually cook with charcoal brickettes. For the browning of breads or pie crusts on top of pies, the brickettes are placed on both the top and the bottom of the lidded Dutch ovens,
While the North Texas Prairie Dog Chapter of LSDOS has held several DOGs at Central Park in recent years, they won’t be back in Lewisville again for several months. Cooking outdoors on Dutch ovens in the hot summertime best ended with the pioneers and cattle drives.
However, an LSDOS statewide membership meeting is scheduled for Saturday at the Tres Rios River Ranch in Glen Rose. The fourth annual National DOG is set for Sept. 28-30 in Farmersville, Louisiana.
Although the LSDOS is uniquely Texas and began in Texas, it now has chapters in several other states as well.
For more information about the LSDOS, go to www.lsdos.com or e-mail lsdos@tx.rr.com.
New members are welcome, Bonnett said. He may be reached at 214-328-6486.
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