Dutch Oven Learning Blog

Lesson 1- Pre-Seasoning - What's That All About?

Ok, so I attended my first Dutch oven cooking lesson. We discussed different types of Dutch ovens. My instructor believes the best Dutch ovens to be those made by Lodge and Camp Chef. I learned that while most Dutch ovens are cast iron, there are aluminum Dutch ovens as well. The advantage of the cast iron is that it can handle higher temperatures and has more even heating. The advantage to the aluminum is that it is less likely to rust, it's lighter in weight; and therefore, more convenient to transport.

We also discussed proper care and storage of a Dutch oven. Apparently, you only wash your Dutch oven with soapy water before its initial use. This is done to remove factory coatings applied to protect the Dutch oven from rusting during transportation from the factory to a store. After your first initial washing with soapy water, you have to do an initial seasoning. This involves heating the Dutch oven to at least 350 degrees, applying a vegetable based oil (or non-flavored Crisco), cooling it down, and repeating this process several times (2 to 3 times). This fills the pores of the cast iron with oil which prevents rusting and assists in future flavorings of food. When done correctly, the cast iron Dutch oven takes on a "shine." The only time you repeat an initial seasoning is if you absolutely have to clean the Dutch oven with soapy water due to extreme burning of food or because of neglecting the proper maintenance and storage of the Dutch oven (usually resulting in rust). However, it is recommendable to periodically re-season the Dutch oven if it has not been used in awhile. In this case, you follow the steps for an initial seasoning, but you will most likely only need to heat the Dutch oven and apply oil to it one time.

Because our Dutch oven had been through an initial seasoning (done by my husband), I began my first learning experience today with a re-seasoning of the Dutch oven. I began with cleaning the Dutch oven with simply warm water and a scouring pad. Something I wasn't used to is that the Dutch oven had a "film" to it and my previous knowledge told me to get rid of that -- which is not necessary! Anyway, I dried the Dutch oven with a paper towel. Then, I set up a Camp Chef propane stove in my driveway so that I could begin burning away the old oil in the Dutch oven. This was new experience in and of itself. I had no idea where to begin.I had never set a propane stove up before, and I had to have my husband teach me how to hook up a propane tank and light the burner. Oh, a little bit of advice - you can burn the old oil away using a home oven, but be prepared to have a smokey house and a need to temporarily disable your smoke alarms.

Once the Camp Chef stove was lit, I let the old oil burn out of the Dutch oven for about 10 minutes (leave the lid on for this). I then removed the Dutch oven from the burner and let it cool for about 5 minutes. At this point, I poured a table spoon of cooking oil on the inside and spread it around using a cloth. I also spread oil around the outside and the lid. Then, I replaced it on the burner and allowed it to heat for about 15 minutes. When I lifted the lid, the inside of the pot had the "shiny" look I was watching for; so I pulled the Dutch oven off of the heat. I let it cool in an elevated position on some bricks. (My husband taught me to never lay the Dutch oven on the cement while it's cooling - it leads to rusting.) Finally, I placed a couple of paper towels inside of the Dutch oven and replaced the lid. I also learned to never secure the lid tight during storage as it causes condensation and rusting to occur. I then set the Dutch oven aside for next week's lesson. (See pictures of my experience below.)

Learning Theory Applications:

As Martinez points out on page 29 of the text, there is a cognitive concept coined by Bandura - self-efficacy - that I believe came into play with my learning experience today. When it came time to set up the Camp Chef stove, I realized I didn't know where to begin. I literally didn't know how to go from the collapsed version of the stove (used for storage purposes) to the upright version for cooking. Nor, did I know how to connect the propane tank or control the valve of the propane tank. I recognized my own cognitive limitations (self-efficacy) in this situation and requested that my husband give me verbal step-by-step instructions to perform these steps.

I also saw the application of the limitations of short term memory (CIP model) in my learning experience tonight. The instructor had given me directions to seasoning the Dutch oven. He had divided his directions into 14 written steps. Well, that's more than 7 pieces of information at a time and you guessed it - I had to stop and reconsult the directions after every step. (Working memory overload) Finally, my husband, (who could see my frustration mounting) just started walking me through the steps without consulting the directions I had been given. Why was my husband able to do this? He has seasoned Dutch ovens several times over the years and, as a young boy, he used to watch his grandfather season Dutch ovens all the time. He had the long term memory to pull from and didn't need to focus as hard as I was on the steps to seasoning a Dutch oven.

Today's Pictures