Cooking this way is also called a "low country boil". This is a killer way to cook for a large number of folks without spending all your time "tendin food".
Went camping over the summer... Three months in a popup... Wife and 4 kids...
I was only there for 5 weeks of it...
She found that can cooker thing... Her bright idea to save time ... Since I'd be working and she would have the kids by herself she WANTED it... She got the smaller one the can cooker jr. I thought if I can just hide it or throw it out the window I wouldn't have to deal with it
But... The stupid thing does work... And works well even.
If you like stew that is.
My kids did the prep work... Thru everything into the cooker ... Closed it up... Threw it on the coals ... Went to the beach... Came back to a cooked meal.
One half of me still thinks it was a waste of money and wanted to tell the wife just that ... But like I said the stupid thing actually cooked a good meal and was pathetically easy... My 10 yr olds made the meals... I got to sit back and make pies with pie ovens over the fire
The other side of my likes the dumb can thing... Of course that's the side that needs therapy now lol
Just saw an episode of Cook's Country or America's Test Kitchen... They were doing a recipe originally designed as a milk jug recipe from way back, but they did it in a dutch oven instead. The milk jug was basically used as a slow cooker.
Anyone use haul a Dutch oven on the trail or camping? Thinking about adding one to my camp kit. Can I get by with a clutch oven that has a cast iron pan as a lid?
Anyone use haul a Dutch oven on the trail or camping? Thinking about adding one to my camp kit. Can I get by with a clutch oven that has a cast iron pan as a lid?
It's a gimmick for sure, and the food in the video is nasty in all it's watery mess, but the thing itself is ok. At best you're braising, at worst, you're slow cooking. If you're throwing the meat and vegetables in all at once, it's going to suck. Just how it is.
It's a good technique though if you take the time to think it through. For tough cuts of meat like a chuck roast, it could work reasonably well. Read up on braising, and that's where this would shine. The down side is long cooking times-like 2 - 3 hours. Too long for camp food.
You could do the same in any covered casserole, or even a standard pot with a reasonably tight lid. I'd rather have a more versatile pot/pan that could be used for a pile of other things, like a cast iron dutch oven or a Le Creuset style enameled French style "oven". Any covered pot could do the same, and be way more useful in the end.
Just remember that anytime you are boiling food, you are probably making s***ty food. I can think of a few exceptions,(like a crab boil), but not many.