Dutch Oven Cooking and the Chicken of Awesomeness!

My husband LOVES to cook in dutch ovens. We have a larger one and a smaller one. We usually use the larger one when camping, but this week I pulled the smaller one out, seasoned it, and made my new favorite chicken recipe. Cooking and baking in a dutch oven is really an art. We have two recipes that Brian and I would consider perfected (Dutch Oven Peach Cobbler and Chinese Chicken Stir Fry - the two SHOULDN'T be mixed! Ask me if you want to hear THAT funny story!) and have recently begun perfecting a blueberry cake. Now that the little one is out and seasoned, I'd like to cook in it more often! 

I know that there are benefits to cooking in dutch ovens, but without doing any research because I'm tired and want to go take a nap, the only one that I can spout off is that you get a dose of iron in your food, which is good for you! Good for your blood! Anyway, it's super fun and feels halfway as if you were camping. 

Here's some tips about maintaining a cast iron dutch oven.

1) If you've got a brand new dutch oven, heat your oven (or fire!) to 350 degrees. Wipe your dutch oven down with some Crisco, or a more healthy option would be coconut oil or olive oil. (Have never used coconut oil, but I'm assuming it'd work just fine.) You should wipe the lid down as well, and be generous with your oil of choice. Throw your dutch oven into the oven for an hour, then bring it out to cool, unless you've got a meal ready to cook in it or something to bake in it. (Hmmmm. I think I may try some corn bread!) 

2) Clean up's a snap with a dutch oven! Never wash it with soap. Always use water and a some steal wool. If there is food baked on, put water in it and let it soak for a while, and it should come off with some steal wool. Don't worry about getting off every little bit of it though. That's the glory of the dutch oven and seasoning it. The chicken recipe that I recently tried had a sauce and I simply rinsed it out, wiped more oil into it, stuck it back into the oven, and it was good to go. 

3) Make sure you store your dutch oven in a dry location. When left damp it will rust. If it does rust, simply scrub it with steal wool, season, and you're back in business!

So, now for the moment you've all been waiting for. Drum roll, please!!!

From the kitchen of Mary Goodell and the Lone Star Dutch Oven Society Cookbook . . . 

"Mary Goodell's Honey Salsa Chicken"

12 in. Dutch oven - Serves 4-6 

3-4 lbs chicken, cut up (did whole breasts. You could do thighs, just shorten the cooking time.)

1Tbsp butter

1 onion, chopped (or sliced)

Sauce: (I doubled the sauce recipe)

2 tsp chili powder

2 Tbsp prepared mustard (I used dijon)

1/4 c. salsa

1/2 c. honey

dash of hot sauce

1 Tbsp soy sauce

1/2 tsp salt

I did this recipe in the oven, which I heated to 325 degrees because I knew I wanted to let it cook for more than an hour. You could cook it at 350, or 300 depending on how long you needed it to stay in the oven.

Preheat the oven with the dutch oven inside (up to 45 minutes). Throw the butter in it until melted and sizzling. Throw the onions in and toss until coated. Let the onions cook for 10-20 minutes, depending on the oven temperature. Add in the sauce and chicken, making sure that the chicken is well coated with sauce. Put on the lid and let it cook for 1 hour-2 hours, again, depending on the oven temperature. 

This recipe could be down in a slow cooker! I'd layer the chicken on top of the onions and pour the sauce over the chicken and cook for 6ish hours on low. 

Last night we served this over brown rice, and it was amazing!

I'd love to hear about any other great dutch oven stories, tips, or recipes ya'll might share!