OK, I'll play. We've done our Thanksgiving turkey in a dutch oven for a couple years now, prepping to take Thanksgiving away from the house and down to Canyon Lands next year.
Edit: This is long, but it's detailed so that someone that's never used a dutch oven can handle it. Sorry.
-Turkey Breast
-Potatoes
-Baby Carrots
-Onions
-Season All or other favorite dutch oven poultry seasoning
-Anything else you add to your favorite turkey recipe
It takes just as long as doing it in the oven in the house, but it tastes better and it stays nice and juicy.
-Get your coals started before you prep the food. It'll take 30 minutes or more for them to heat up. I use a small charcoal grill, the kind they used in the 50's, and heat up a couple shovels full of coals to get started. When camping obviously you won't have the barbecue, so a charcoal starter made from #10 cans works, or you can just start them in the fire pit. Airflow underneath helps if you can rig it. An old round grill set on some rocks to allow a little air underneath works.
-Your coals should be heating in a different area than you are cooking. You'll add new coals to the spent ones through this process. The regular flash heating and cooling that comes from this will affect the oven if it's in the same place.
-I used about half a bag of charcoal and wasted about half of that this year. I figure it's better to waste some than not have enough heat part way through cooking. I'll do better next time. The kids like to watch when I squirt the lighter fluid on the hot coals to start the new coals. Wear gloves and keep your eyebrows out of the way.
-Cut your potatoes in 1/4'' to 1/2'' chunks
-Line the bottom of the oven 1-2 layers deep.
-Prep the turkey breast - rinse it, slather it, lather it, season it, insert your favorite fruit in to the cavity...orange, lemon, apple, whatever. If you don't want to put something in there, don't it'll be fine. Use more Season-all than you think you need. The bird should be covered in it pretty thoroughly.
-Put the bird in the center of the dutch oven. Make sure the lid will close. If it doesn't move some potatoes or break the breast bone. If the lid sits right on it that area will be crispy fried and you'll lose some of the meat.
-Drop in the rest of the potatoes and baby carrots and onions to fill in the space. This year I used 4 large bags of baby carrots and only 3 potatoes and dried onion flakes. Everybody complained there weren't enough potatoes, but they loved the carrots so didn't care too much.
-I use a ''volcano'' when I cook this, so heating may be different if you're not using one. It's generally cold on Thanksgiving which makes it more difficult to keep the oven hot. The volcano works great for this. You could use a cut 50 gal. drum, dig a pit, make a pit with rocks, whatever to keep the heat in and the cold out. If you don't it will take longer to cook and you'll need to replenish your coals more often.
-Pour season-all on the veggies as you put them in. Season them in layers so they all get the benefits. Again, use more than you think you'll need.
-Put the lid on, making sure it seals on top of the dutch oven. If it doesn't your turkey won't be as moist.
-Put the pot on the coals. Initially you want to make it real hot then back the heat off as it cooks. Initial heat will sear it and seal in the juices and flavors. I start out with a solid layer of coals underneath and about 18-20 on top. About 15 minutes in to it pull some of the coals off to cool it down. I end up with 1/4'' to 1/2'' of space between the coals underneath and about 14-16 coals on top. It's not so much about the number of coals as the temp. Knowing that just comes with practice. I don't know what the real temps were, but it was just right.
-When you place the oven on the coals check to see if you'll have enough good coals to use in about 30 minutes. If not add new coals to your stash and get them started. You'll need to replace your coals about every 30 minutes to ensure that you maintain a good temp.
-Only life the lid if you absolutely have to in order to check it. It should be done in about 3 hours. Spend this time doing whatever you do hanging out in your camp site. You can be cooking sides at the same time in other dutch ovens...bread, rolls, start a cobbler, stuffing, whatever. This one pot was enough to feed 5 adults and 9 kids without much to help it out. We had other trimmings but would probably have been fine without them...maybe not. We ate leftovers off this for 3 days+.
-When this is done the timer will pop out. When you lift the turkey out it will probably fall apart. This is good. Makes carving it easier. There is a lot of juice, so have a slotted spoon and a bowl or pot for the veggies. Leave the juice in the dutch oven and make your favorite gravy in the dutch oven over enough coals to keep it simmering. There will be no shortage of juice.
-Chow down.
This may not be expert or you may know a better way, this is just the process I have followed twice now and it turns out better than the turkey we cook in the house. We do two, just in case I screw up the dutch oven turkey.
The one cooked inside gets used for left overs, the one cooked in the dutch oven is devoured.
If you're not sure try it at home using just what you'd have at the campsite before you do it when you're camping. You might end up chomping on tube steak and jerky because you're turkey didn't come out.
Edit: This is long, but it's detailed so that someone that's never used a dutch oven can handle it. Sorry.
-Turkey Breast
-Potatoes
-Baby Carrots
-Onions
-Season All or other favorite dutch oven poultry seasoning
-Anything else you add to your favorite turkey recipe
It takes just as long as doing it in the oven in the house, but it tastes better and it stays nice and juicy.
-Get your coals started before you prep the food. It'll take 30 minutes or more for them to heat up. I use a small charcoal grill, the kind they used in the 50's, and heat up a couple shovels full of coals to get started. When camping obviously you won't have the barbecue, so a charcoal starter made from #10 cans works, or you can just start them in the fire pit. Airflow underneath helps if you can rig it. An old round grill set on some rocks to allow a little air underneath works.
-Your coals should be heating in a different area than you are cooking. You'll add new coals to the spent ones through this process. The regular flash heating and cooling that comes from this will affect the oven if it's in the same place.
-I used about half a bag of charcoal and wasted about half of that this year. I figure it's better to waste some than not have enough heat part way through cooking. I'll do better next time. The kids like to watch when I squirt the lighter fluid on the hot coals to start the new coals. Wear gloves and keep your eyebrows out of the way.
-Cut your potatoes in 1/4'' to 1/2'' chunks
-Line the bottom of the oven 1-2 layers deep.
-Prep the turkey breast - rinse it, slather it, lather it, season it, insert your favorite fruit in to the cavity...orange, lemon, apple, whatever. If you don't want to put something in there, don't it'll be fine. Use more Season-all than you think you need. The bird should be covered in it pretty thoroughly.
-Put the bird in the center of the dutch oven. Make sure the lid will close. If it doesn't move some potatoes or break the breast bone. If the lid sits right on it that area will be crispy fried and you'll lose some of the meat.
-Drop in the rest of the potatoes and baby carrots and onions to fill in the space. This year I used 4 large bags of baby carrots and only 3 potatoes and dried onion flakes. Everybody complained there weren't enough potatoes, but they loved the carrots so didn't care too much.
-I use a ''volcano'' when I cook this, so heating may be different if you're not using one. It's generally cold on Thanksgiving which makes it more difficult to keep the oven hot. The volcano works great for this. You could use a cut 50 gal. drum, dig a pit, make a pit with rocks, whatever to keep the heat in and the cold out. If you don't it will take longer to cook and you'll need to replenish your coals more often.
-Pour season-all on the veggies as you put them in. Season them in layers so they all get the benefits. Again, use more than you think you'll need.
-Put the lid on, making sure it seals on top of the dutch oven. If it doesn't your turkey won't be as moist.
-Put the pot on the coals. Initially you want to make it real hot then back the heat off as it cooks. Initial heat will sear it and seal in the juices and flavors. I start out with a solid layer of coals underneath and about 18-20 on top. About 15 minutes in to it pull some of the coals off to cool it down. I end up with 1/4'' to 1/2'' of space between the coals underneath and about 14-16 coals on top. It's not so much about the number of coals as the temp. Knowing that just comes with practice. I don't know what the real temps were, but it was just right.
-When you place the oven on the coals check to see if you'll have enough good coals to use in about 30 minutes. If not add new coals to your stash and get them started. You'll need to replace your coals about every 30 minutes to ensure that you maintain a good temp.
-Only life the lid if you absolutely have to in order to check it. It should be done in about 3 hours. Spend this time doing whatever you do hanging out in your camp site. You can be cooking sides at the same time in other dutch ovens...bread, rolls, start a cobbler, stuffing, whatever. This one pot was enough to feed 5 adults and 9 kids without much to help it out. We had other trimmings but would probably have been fine without them...maybe not. We ate leftovers off this for 3 days+.
-When this is done the timer will pop out. When you lift the turkey out it will probably fall apart. This is good. Makes carving it easier. There is a lot of juice, so have a slotted spoon and a bowl or pot for the veggies. Leave the juice in the dutch oven and make your favorite gravy in the dutch oven over enough coals to keep it simmering. There will be no shortage of juice.
-Chow down.
This may not be expert or you may know a better way, this is just the process I have followed twice now and it turns out better than the turkey we cook in the house. We do two, just in case I screw up the dutch oven turkey.
The one cooked inside gets used for left overs, the one cooked in the dutch oven is devoured. If you're not sure try it at home using just what you'd have at the campsite before you do it when you're camping. You might end up chomping on tube steak and jerky because you're turkey didn't come out.
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