Tears and Sweat...no blood

As I do my best to fulfill duties in my church, I took on the challenge of teaching a brief dutch oven class. Of course, I was the only one doing the cooking, since the actual process takes hours worth of time. I serve on the Enrichment Committee for my mid-singles church group. This committee provides opportunities for ladies to gather and interact and learn things of interest, be it car maintenance, making cookies, scrap booking, floral arrangements, finances, etc. Having grown up in Utah, I grew up amongst dutch ovens for some fine outdoor cooking. I like outdoor cooking, it just takes time and equipment. Since I have not got craft like skills, and to teach graphic design, it would take the ladies thousands of dollars to purchase the programs, I took a stab at dutch oven cooking. I actually have limited experience with these dutch ovens. Mainly I've not cooked a ton with them because until four years ago, I did not own one. Once I did own one, I discovered these ovens are time consuming to use. The care for them takes extra steps you normally wouldn't have to fret with in the normal pans used indoors. I like crock pots, set it and you can wander away for half a day and come back and it's done! Dutch oven cooking requires some babysitting, but the flavor and dishes I've had are all well worth it. I practiced last Saturday by cooking up a batch of BBQ chicken. It worked out pretty well and I ended up taking the chicken to my ward's monthly potluck.

Normally I'm lounging in bed well past 8am on Saturdays. If I'm going to be single, I'm taking full advantage of such luxuries!! Today I was up by 7:45. I had set the back yard up with all of my equipment. I had prepared the chicken Friday night and had it marinating in the fridge. (spices, liquid smoke and that's it) I began preparing the veggies for the potatoes. This is where the crying came in because I had to cut up one and a half onions for the dish. I never liked cutting up onion when I was kid, it's not become any more pleasant as an adult. Since my lasik eye surgery I no longer have clunky glasses to protect me from the fire acid that comes from those nasty things! I toughed it out, got all of my veggies cut up and prepped. I prepared my cobbler items and had everything staged in my outdoor kitchen. My roommate is nice enough to let me host this event in her back yard. By 9:30 I am getting the coals started, this is where the sweat comes into play. Arizona is still hitting high 90's. Once the sun comes up, it's still warm here. Firing up hot coals doesn't help the temperatures. By 10:00am, I have the bacon started on the potatoes. I'm nervous about the food not being done in time, I probably jumped the gun, but at least it was done in time. I've made potatoes several times so I feel pretty good about how I'm going to put this dish together. Once I've got the bacon and spice well reduced, I dump in my carrots and onion to begin a saute. Once I'm feeling like the onions are caramelized, I dump in the rest of my ingredients, potatoes, mushrooms, green bell peppers. I mix it all up and then place the lid with coals on top. I then begin to cook bacon in a second dutch oven with the same seasonings for my chicken dish. I want the hint of smokiness to come from the bacon and the fat reduction to keep the chicken from sticking to the oven it's self. Once it's reduced down to a nice look, I dump in my chicken that's got my special marinade on it. I mix it around a bit and place it's lid and coals on top. It's now a sit and babysit. Every 15 minutes or so, I lift the lids and stir. I have to force myself to play Tetris on my phone so I leave it alone for 15 minute intervals. I'm one of those people that is always peeking at the food, and in the same motion, releasing the heat! Tetris helps.

The ladies began appearing at noon, as one forgot it was 12:30 when the activity began. It's all good, we visited. The food was done and I'll know next time to hold off a bit longer before getting started. I was pleased to get about 12 ladies to the activity. I did my best to instruct them on how to work with dutch ovens, gave them hand outs. I showed them how to put together my easy peach cobbler and placed that on the coals while we tasted the rest of the food. They seemed to enjoy the activity though it was crammed in out tiny back yard and they were all trying to stay in the shade. Cobbler was served and some took it to go and I began the process of clean up, happy with the results of the activity, but not anxious to put it on again anytime soon! I'm sweaty and smell like smoke from the charcoal. While I should be attending a temple session with my ward, I just couldn't get everything cleaned up fast enough and I figured I'm tired enough, I might fall asleep in the temple. Hopefully God is happy with my one Church event today and will forgive me for my lack of temple attendance today.

All in all, I love cooking outdoors. When asked how I learned, I just like eating. I like eating dutch oven. I grew up eating it at all of the ward and camp activities. When my boss gave me a dutch oven, I peppered my co-workers with question after question about dutch ovens, their care, cooking and tips. Then it was all about just doing it! I pick up tips each time I bust out the oven and take a stab at cooking like the pioneers (minus the cow pie coals). I'm not an advanced chef when it comes to this form of cooking, but I like doing it now and then! I feel like the activity went well. I stress too much about hosting events. I supposes that's why I'm a graphic designer and not an event planner!

So if you have a dutch oven, bust it out, fire up the charcoal and enjoy! Here in Arizona, it's a beautiful time of year to do some hearty cooking.