What's the Difference Between a Dutch Oven and a Cooking Pot

Beef seared in bacon grease, simmered slowly in a Dutch oven with beans, carrots and potatoes has long been a staple of cowhands and modern day campers. A Dutch oven is placed over hot coals and those coals shoveled on the top of the oven. It slow cooks foods with liquids and bakes foods as well. A cooking pot cooks food rapidly or slowly when placed over the heat source.

Shape and Lids
A cooking pot doesn't have to have a lid to do its job. If it does, the lid may be glass or the same material the pot is made of. Cooking pot lids are often domed with a protruding round doorknob-shaped handle in the middle. An oven requires a tight fitting, thick lid made of the same material as the oven. The lid is flat across with a handle in the middle. The handle is made so a hook can be used to lift it off, since the lid and handle get very hot. Dutch ovens have a flat bottom with straight sides. The oven stands on legs so chunks of wood, or charcoal briquettes, have room to burn directly underneath the pot. The ovens also have a bail, a wire loop, attached to opposite sides of the pot near the top. The bail is used to carry the full hot Dutch oven off the fire. Cooking pots have handles, either one long handle or two shorter handles. The handles, in most cases, are not meant to be exposed to heat.

Materials and Shape
Cooking pots are made of various materials, or combination of materials, including aluminum, copper, stainless steel and enamel over steel. Dutch ovens are made of cast iron or aluminum. Cast iron conducts heat more evenly but aluminum is lighter. Cast iron has to be cured before using by rubbing with oil and heating while aluminum does not. Cooking pots do not have to be cured before using either.

Cleaning
Clean a Dutch oven by burning off any leftover food by turning the pot upside down over hot coals. Another method is to wash the oven with hot soapy water. Dry and then spread a thin coat of oil on the oven. Cooking pots may be scoured with steel wool, a plastic scrub sponge, soap and water or put in the dish washer. The cooking pots do not need a coat of oil.

Baking
While both ovens and cooking pots are used to cook foods, only Dutch ovens are used to successfully bake. The prime temperature for cooking in a Dutch oven is 350 F. which is the temperature often used for baking cakes and pies. Both the top and bottom of biscuits brown evenly in an oven. Cooking pots fry or steam but don't have the ability to bake. The temperature is hottest closest to the heat source which is at the bottom of the pot. A Dutch oven disperses the heat evenly throughout the interior of the oven.

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What's the Difference Between a Dutch Oven and a Cooking Pot

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Cooking With Fresh Herbs Elevates Ordinary Dishes

First, determine which herbs you use the most

Popular herbs like basil, oregano, parsley, thyme, garlic chives, rosemary and dill will grow well with a minimum amount of fussing. You might want to limit yourself to three or four plants for your first time. If you are a fan of many foods and drinks containing mint, plant some mint so you can make them at home.

Growing herbs is not hard

You can grow herbs from seed if you have a long growing season. For those living in northern regions, and people who want to use their herbs as soon as possible, buy established plants. Transplant them where they will get full sun. Herbs are easy to grow among other plants in the garden, in a whiskey barrel, or flowerpots. Throughout the summer, take your kitchen shears and snip off a few basil leaves for soup or stems of thyme and rosemary for pot roasts and stews. You can drop individual stems with leaves into the pot or tie them together with kitchen twine. One teaspoon of dried herbs is equal to one tablespoon of fresh.

Harvest your herbs to use throughout the year

As summer fades, harvest the herbs before they flower. Rinse them in cool water to remove insects and dirt. Damp herbs will rot so dry them carefully and thoroughly with paper towels. Tie the stems together and hang in a warm, dark place. Put the dried herbs in an airtight container - a zippered plastic bag will work - and store in a cool, dark place like a cabinet. Do not crush them until you need them.

The flavor intensity of fresh herbs over the dried ones you buy at the grocery store is astonishing. After seeing how easy it is to do, and the difference it makes in your cooking, you will not want to go back to store-bought bottles.?

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Keeping The Cooking Mess to a Minimum

If you dread cleaning up the kitchen after preparing a meal, then these four little words, 'clean as you go' are the key to keeping that mess to a minimum.This is such a simple answer, but it works.

Whenever you have a spare moment or a lull in your cooking activities, use that time to load the dishwasher, wipe off the counter or the stove top, or put away the ingredients you just used to make a recipe. Whatever needs to be done, do it. It is just that much that you won't have to do later.

One thing I always do when I am getting ready to make a recipe is to get out all the ingredients I will be using and line them up on the counter. As I add each one to the recipe, I return it to the shelf where I got it. That way I have insured that I didn't leave anything out of the recipe, and I have everything put away when I am done mixing it up.

Another practice that makes cleanup easier is to use as few cooking utensils as possible. In other words, any time you can use something more than once without washing it in between, then use it. That goes for serving, too. The baking dish the food was cooked in can also be used as its serving dish.

When you are ready to start cooking, always make sure the kitchen is clean and the dishwasher unloaded. Run some dishwater in one side of the sink for cleanup, and clear the other side so it is available for rinsing, filling or draining. Set the trash can near where you will be working to throw away peelings, wrappers, and so forth. If you are going to use the oven, line the bottom with a piece of foil to catch any spills. Always use a spoon rest or a saucer to place stirring spoons or spatulas on. This eliminates a lot of wiping up later.

You will find that, by the time the meal is ready, a lot of the cleanup has been done, and you are better able to enjoy the fruits of your labor.

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How Does Cooking Affect Spice Flavor?

As you know, timing is everything when preparing a meal. The same holds true for spicing, that is, when you spice has an effect on the intensity of the flavor. Depending on the spice, cooking can increase potency, as you may have discovered when adding cayenne to your simmering spaghetti sauce. Or the flavor may not be as strong as you thought it would be. This is particularly apparent when adding herbs that are cooked over a long period of time, whether in a sauce or slow cooking in a crock pot.

Flavorings can be tricky when they come into contact with heat. Heat both enhances and destroys flavors, because heat allows essential oils to escape. The beauty of a crock pot is that slow cooking allows for the best results when using spices in a meal. The covered pot keeps moisture and steaming flavors and oils from escaping, and it allows the spices to permeate the foods in the pot. Using a microwave, on the other hand, may not allow for flavor release, especially in some herbs.

Common sense tells us that the baking spices, such as allspice, anise, cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, mace, nutmeg and mint can be added at the beginning of baking. All hold up for both short term and long term baking periods, whether for a batch of cookies or a sheet cake. They also work well in sauces that need to simmer, although nutmeg is often shaken over an item after it has been served. Cinnamon, as well as rosemary, will wreak havoc for those using yeast recipes and both are considered yeast inhibitors. Caraway seed has a tendency to turn bitter with prolonged cooking and turmeric can be bitter if burned.

Most herbs tend to be a little more delicate when it comes to cooking. Their flavors seem to cook out of a sauce much more quickly. Herbs include basil, chervil, chives, cilantro, coriander, dill (the seeds can handle cooking longer than the leaves), lemon grass, parsley (flat leaf or Italian is better for cooking), sage, tarragon and marjoram. In fact, marjoram is often sprinkled over a soup after serving and isn't cooked at all.

The exception to these herbs is the hardy bay leaf, which holds up very well in a crock pot or stew. Oregano can be added at the beginning of cooking (if cooking less than an hour) and so can thyme. Often sustainability of an herb's flavor has as much to do with the temperature at which it is being cooked, as with the length of cooking.

Onions and their relatives can handle prolonged simmering at low temperatures, but are better added toward the end of cooking. Leeks are the exception. Garlic may become bitter if overcooked. The milder shallot can hold up well, but will become bitter if browned.

Peppercorns and hot peppers are best added at the end, as they become more potent as they cook. This includes chili powder and Szechuan peppers. Here paprika is the exception and it can be added at the beginning of cooking. Mustard is often added at the end of cooking and is best if not brought to a boil.

Sometimes not cooking has an effect on flavor. Many of the herbs mentioned above are used in salads. Cold, uncooked foods such as potato salad or cucumbers can absorb flavor, so you can be more generous with your seasonings and add them early in the preparation. Freezing foods can destroy flavors outright, so you may have to re-spice after reheating.

Once again much of the cooking process depends on how long and how hot you cook your food. It also has a lot to do with how you like your food to taste. My Midwestern relatives can't handle the hot peppers like we Southwesterners can, and I can't use cayenne in their presence. As you can see, spicing is not objective, nor is it an exact science. But that shouldn't prevent you from playing the mad scientist and delving into hands-on experimentation.

Copyright 2011 by Linda K. Murdock. Linda Murdock is the best-selling author of A Busy Cook's Guide to Spices, How to Introduce New Flavors to Everyday Meals. Unlike most spice books, you can turn to a food, whether meat, vegetable or starch, and find a list of spices that go well with that food. Recipes are also included. To learn more go to http://bellwetherbooks.com/

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