Post by Glen Carman aka Delmonico on Mar 19, 2019 17:49:32 GMT -6
Brownies in a Dutch Oven
At Rock Creek Station State Historical Park a couple years ago, I decided to try brownies in the dutch oven, with no liner and no separate pan, cooking on wood coals, in this case it was Burr Oak, this is the way I cook almost all the time in dutch ovens. Those who know me well or have read very much of my writing, know I am against lining a dutch oven, if you have problems with food sticking and/or clean-up is hard, there is a problem, most likely an improper seasoning of the oven. I
Brownies are cutting it very close for 19th century cooking and the chocolate chips I used actually date to the 1930’s so nuts would be a better choice. In fact the basic recipe we use today likely dates to the very early 20th century.
Like any recipe for a dutch oven, one does not need a dutch oven specific recipe, any recipe will work, I really don’t carry or follow recipes exactly in camp, most anything I make I can just sit down and mix it up. When using baking recipes from a regular cookbook, what oven to use confuses a lot of people? Most brownie recipes will tell you to use a 9X9 square pan or a 13X9 rectangle pan.
A little simple math will tell you the 9X9 inch pan has an area of 81 square inches and the 13X9 inch has 117 square inches.
A bit simpler math will show a 10inch shallow oven has 78 square inches, a 12 inch shallow has 113 square inches and the 14 inch 154 square inches, close enough, the 10 inch will work for a 9X9 inch, the 12 inch will work for the 13X9 inch and the 14 inch will work for a double recipe calling for a 9X9 inch.
Deep ovens will have the same area and can be used, but I prefer shallow ovens for baking, deeps will often need a bit more heat on the top because of the extra headspace.
My basic recipe for Brownies in a 10 inch dutch oven, increase 50% for a 12 inch and double for a 14 inch.
1/2 cup/ 1 stick melted butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1⁄4 teaspoon baking powder
1⁄3 cup cocoa powder
1⁄4 teaspoon salt
1⁄2 cup flour
Optional, nuts, chocolate chips, cinnamon or other items
Beat eggs in a bowl, stir in sugar, salt, vanilla, desired options, baking powder and flour. Pour in to a well greased oven (can also be floured if desired).
Now for baking, I recommend a little different method than the traditional 1/3rd of the coals on bottom and 2/3rds on top, with all that sugar, eggs and such this would be easy to burn on the bottom, so what I recommend is putting the coals on the bottom, just long enough to get the bottom hot, one can see from my second picture, I put it on top of another oven with a fair amount of coals on top.
After it gets up to about 350 on the bottom (I just touch the bottom quickly to see) I then remove it to a spot with out coals and allow the top heat only to keep it baking.
As one can see from the finished product, I got distracted and got the top a little darker than I wanted, but it didn’t taste burnt, went to help set up a tent and should have removed a few of the coals first, could have added more later if needed.
I will say, the bottom did not stick at all and clean-up was very simple, when they were eaten I just put water in it, a friend cleaned it when I was running an errand and it just wiped clean.
To make them 1890’s to the 1893 recipe, just heat apricot preserves up and brush on top for a glaze.
At Rock Creek Station State Historical Park a couple years ago, I decided to try brownies in the dutch oven, with no liner and no separate pan, cooking on wood coals, in this case it was Burr Oak, this is the way I cook almost all the time in dutch ovens. Those who know me well or have read very much of my writing, know I am against lining a dutch oven, if you have problems with food sticking and/or clean-up is hard, there is a problem, most likely an improper seasoning of the oven. I
Brownies are cutting it very close for 19th century cooking and the chocolate chips I used actually date to the 1930’s so nuts would be a better choice. In fact the basic recipe we use today likely dates to the very early 20th century.
Like any recipe for a dutch oven, one does not need a dutch oven specific recipe, any recipe will work, I really don’t carry or follow recipes exactly in camp, most anything I make I can just sit down and mix it up. When using baking recipes from a regular cookbook, what oven to use confuses a lot of people? Most brownie recipes will tell you to use a 9X9 square pan or a 13X9 rectangle pan.
A little simple math will tell you the 9X9 inch pan has an area of 81 square inches and the 13X9 inch has 117 square inches.
A bit simpler math will show a 10inch shallow oven has 78 square inches, a 12 inch shallow has 113 square inches and the 14 inch 154 square inches, close enough, the 10 inch will work for a 9X9 inch, the 12 inch will work for the 13X9 inch and the 14 inch will work for a double recipe calling for a 9X9 inch.
Deep ovens will have the same area and can be used, but I prefer shallow ovens for baking, deeps will often need a bit more heat on the top because of the extra headspace.
My basic recipe for Brownies in a 10 inch dutch oven, increase 50% for a 12 inch and double for a 14 inch.
1/2 cup/ 1 stick melted butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1⁄4 teaspoon baking powder
1⁄3 cup cocoa powder
1⁄4 teaspoon salt
1⁄2 cup flour
Optional, nuts, chocolate chips, cinnamon or other items
Beat eggs in a bowl, stir in sugar, salt, vanilla, desired options, baking powder and flour. Pour in to a well greased oven (can also be floured if desired).
Now for baking, I recommend a little different method than the traditional 1/3rd of the coals on bottom and 2/3rds on top, with all that sugar, eggs and such this would be easy to burn on the bottom, so what I recommend is putting the coals on the bottom, just long enough to get the bottom hot, one can see from my second picture, I put it on top of another oven with a fair amount of coals on top.
After it gets up to about 350 on the bottom (I just touch the bottom quickly to see) I then remove it to a spot with out coals and allow the top heat only to keep it baking.
As one can see from the finished product, I got distracted and got the top a little darker than I wanted, but it didn’t taste burnt, went to help set up a tent and should have removed a few of the coals first, could have added more later if needed.
I will say, the bottom did not stick at all and clean-up was very simple, when they were eaten I just put water in it, a friend cleaned it when I was running an errand and it just wiped clean.
To make them 1890’s to the 1893 recipe, just heat apricot preserves up and brush on top for a glaze.