Forrest's Fine Foods

History of Cast Iron Cookery

Cast iron is basically iron that is poured into a mold to create some useful implement. Cast iron pots and pans are made in this way. Pots and cauldrons were originally made from brass because iron could not be worked until furnaces creating heat enough to melt it were invented (about 513 B.C. in China and not until 1100 A.D. or so in England). At this point,  pots could be made by making molds out of sand and pouring molting metal into the mold.

The original cooking pots generally had three legs because they were designed to be used over an open fire. Cooking in the home was done in the hearth or fireplace. Stoves with tops for cooking did not come into common usage until the 1700s. This allowed tremendous advancement in cookware, especially cast iron cooking when pots and pans began to be made in mass quantities.

What Your Dutch Oven Can Do

Cooking techniques such as roasting, baking, simmering, stewing, frying, boiling, steaming, and many others are easly done on the campfire with only a single utensil, the dutch oven. Think of the possibilities, delicious fresh baked bread that will rise up and lift the lid, cobblers made from fresh picked berries, incredible deep-dish pizzas, stews, and imagine a pineapple upside down cake a foot in diameter. These and many, many more are very possible and sometimes easier than they are at home. Many home recipes are easily duplicated using the dutch oven.