A Scout’s Campfire

Care of Dutch Ovens

November 15th, 2006 spryken

Our Boy Scout Troop likes to do dutch oven cooking on our flop-and-drop campouts. We have several dutch ovens, so each patrol can have at least one and sometimes 2 for their cooking. Every time the issue comes up, “how do we clean them?”

First, never, ever use soap. Soap will remove the seasoning. Some leaders in our troop say to never use water, that it will cause them to rust. They suggest we burn the stuck on mess out. Our last campout demonstrated the error of that logic. We had 6 or 7 dutch ovens, which we burned out. The result was dutch ovens with no seasoning. Of course it rained and now they are rusted.

The situation is correctable. Here are the steps I will use to reseason my personal dutch ovens which went on this trip.

First, I will have to clean off the rust. That means elbow grease. I use plain steel wool (no soap). After scrubbing the rust off, I will bake in the oven at about 250 degrees for about 1/2 hour to remove any moisture. Let cool so that you can just handle it. Apply a light coating of vegetable oil, inside and out. Return to the oven and bake at about 350-375 degrees for 1 hour. Repeat the cooling, oiling and baking. Now cool and oil. The pan should be ready to use or store.

After each use, I will wash with water and a nylon scrubber. Then I will heat in the oven to remove any moisture. I will season for the first few uses, but eventually a good black, hard coating should form.

I found the Wagner and Griswold site that explains how to use electrolysis to clean the rust off.

Entry Filed under: Boy Scouts, Camping, Cooking, Gear