Throwback Thursday: Recipe Use Suggestions

I was working on my 14th notebook when I wrote this article in May 2005. Since that time, my use of journals has risen sharply from one or two each year to four or five. No. 47 carried me through the end of summer camp season in August. Today, I'm 83 pages into journal no. 48. 

Chefs use cookbooks for a variety of reasons. Most of my professional acquaintances use cookbooks to garner fresh ideas for their kitchens. They don’t view the recipe as a hard-fast formula. Instead, chefs use them as a starting point for their next creation.

These recipes are written to my tastes. They're here to give you an idea of how I cook in camp. It's up to you to try the recipes and to adapt them to your likes and dislikes. There's plenty of room for change.

Use the recipes as a guide. Experiment and try different approaches. Alter a few ingredients if some are not to your liking. For example: I can’t stand celery. The stuff gags me. I can’t get past its stringiness and rough texture. But there are recipes that benefit from its nutty flavor. Unless I can strain it out of the dish out of the dish, I add whole stalks and fish them out later.

Here are a few tips to get you started:

• Before your camping trip, select several recipes and test them at home first. Unless you’re already an experienced camp cook, it’s wise to try each recipe in a familiar kitchen. Once you've figured out each recipe’s idiosyncrasies, you’ll be better equipped to prepare it in camp.
• Read each recipe twice. With a little practice, you’ll soon visualize the finished product in your mind. This is valuable to see if it’s the dish that you want. It’ll also aid in preparing your grub list and set the instructions in your mind so you don’t have to keep referring back to cookbook while you’re cooking.
• Gather all ingredients and cookware before starting. A bowl full of flour, salt and spices is useless when an empty can reminds you that you used the last of the baking powder last week. Sometimes, you can make a quick substitution. You can, for example, substitute baking soda with an acid for baking powder in most recipes. But you’re stuck if you discover that you didn't pack the baking soda.
• Take notes. I keep a camping journal. And since food has been my professional life, you might expect to find more notes about our camp meals than other topics. Even if you just use the journal to chronicle you cooking adventures, it’s a valuable tool. Use a journal to record: what works and what doesn't; what you liked and didn't like about a dish; ideas to improve a dish’s flavor; and creative menus for future meals. And, if you decide to write a cookbook, you’ll already have a notebook (I’m on number 14) bristling with recipes and stories of your culinary adventures.

How to dice an onion

In my culinary career I have used two or three onion dicing techniques. The method I used for the first 20 years of my career differed from the conventional technique. Yet it worked most of the time. I now use a method similar to the one demonstrated by Sporting Chef Scott Laysath.


YouTube description: "Published on Aug 28, 2014. Scott Leysath demonstrates the fast and easy way to dice an onion."

Doin' the math

This Facebook photo of Senior Chief
Hunt teaching culinary math to
U.S. Navy culinary specialists
prompted me to write this article.
Senior Chief Hunt is assigned
to Navy Food Management
Team Norfolk, Virginia as an
instructor. She conducted a
coarse in culinary math for
Norfolk area culinary specialists
last month.

The ability to perform basic mathematical calculations is an essential skill for the cook. Converting ounces into pounds, quarts into gallons and teaspoons into tablespoons is frequently done on the fly, without benefit of calculator or chart. The cook must be able to work quickly, and accurately, each time a math problem presents itself.

The number of cooks who have trouble navigating the world of weights and measures amaze me. Experience cooks often ask, “How many quarts in a gallon?” What I regard as elementary easily stumps seasoned cooks. While I don’t expect him to recite the number of teaspoons in a gallon (there are 768 teaspoons), he must understand the relationship between pounds and ounces and the various units of dry and liquid measure.

There are:

• 16 ounces in a pound
• 3 teaspoons in a tablespoon
• 16 tablespoons in a cup
• 2 cups in a pint
• 4 cups or 2 pints in a quart
• 4 quarts or eight pints in a gallon

Once the cook understands the relationship from one unit of measure to another, whether smaller or larger, it simplifies his job. The skilled cook can move between smaller and larger units, and larger to smaller, with ease. The relationship between weights and measures in the American system can only be with difficulty.

Baking steamed rice in the oven will serve as an illustration of culinary math skills. At Oakland Feather River Camp, long grain white (or brown) rice is measured into the standard 12 by 20 by 4-inch hotel pan. The cook measures four pints of rice into each greased pan. (The pint measure is used because it’s handy.) The cook doubles the volume of rice to figure out the amount of boiling water to pour into the pan. At this point, the cook shifts to a half-gallon measure, mainly for efficiency.

To determine the number of half-gallon measures of water, the cook must understand that there are four pints or eight cups in the measure before proceeding. There are two cups in a pint. Since the cook previously measured four pints of rice into the pan, he multiplies four times two (in his head). The product is eight cups. He then doubles that number for 16 cups of boiling water. (I instruct the cooks to use a half-gallon measure because it safer to handle when handling boiling water.)

Sixteen cups divided by two is eight. Thus the cook adds two half-gallon pitchers of water to the rice in each pan. The rice is seasoned with salt and butter, then covered with plastic wrap and a hotel pan lid. It’s baked in a 325-degree convection oven for 20 to 30 minutes, until tender.

Admittedly, this explanation of preparing steamed rice is long. It takes more time to explain the process than to bake the rice! But it serves as an example of how culinary math finds its way into the kitchen. This is basic math to be sure, but it’s an essential skill. Too little water and the rice is dry and crunchy. Too much and you end up with a soggy mess.

There are a number of applications for math in the kitchen. I've addressed baker’s math previously on ‘Round the Chuckbox. The science of adjusting recipes is a crucial skill for the cook as well. I’ll have more to say in a later article.

In the meantime, let’s mind our pints and quarts!

A culinary field trip

I visited the Virginia Theological
Seminary dining room in March, where
my sister works. Under leadership of
Chef Benjamin Judd, the dining room
is operated by Meriwether Godsay.

Walking into another chef’s dining room is a field trip to me. As I wander through the servery my eyes processes the view at lightning speed. Even the smallest detail is imprinted on my mind in my quest for ideas to use in my dining hall. Like the school trip, I enjoy the adventure of surveying the scene while build my plate.

This isn’t an exercise in judgment of another chef’s establishment. I’m there to enjoy his food and share a meal with friends or family. But my eyes do wander, even after I take my place at the dining table. It’s an occupational hazard, one with the highest regard for an associate.

Standard culinary squirt bottles hold
salad dressing. Thicker dressings are
served from large Mason canning jars,
as are croutons.

Questions race through my mind. How is the meal presented in the chaffing dishes? Can diners freely navigate between stations? Are staff able to quietly move among stations as they restock and clean? Often I find myself quietly saying, “I wish I’d thought of that!”

This habit doesn’t hinder my enjoyment of the meal. Yet, I see the field trip as an essential element of my career as a chef, one highlighted by years working in institutional kitchens. I’m impressed by chefs who’ve moved beyond the traditional cafeteria serving line. Though in use for decades, it’s fun to see a fellow chef put his own ideas on open serving areas.

Chef Judd began using Lodge cast
iron Dutch ovens for the soup station
in early 2013. Sterno fuel keeps the
soup warm for service.

It’s a clandestine way of comparing notes. Over the years I’ve gleaned a number of ideas in this manner. Meeting the chef is an added bonus. By the time we compare notes, I have a good idea how patrons flow though the dining room. Chef to chef quality time lets me share ideas, impart a compliment or two and thank the host for a great meal.

Who doesn’t love a good field trip? The highlight of my school years, I enjoy a good venue even more as a chef. Great food and a little learning go hand in hand. It gets you out of your kitchen and into the culinary another where ideas flow.

Pre-camp meal service

The kitchen crew at Oakland Feather River Camp cooks for staff during the pre-camp phase of the summer. In the first four weeks of meal service, the cooks, housekeepers, maintenance staff and camp management eat breakfast and lunch in the Chow Palace. Staff that live on site enjoy leftovers or prepare their own food for dinner.

Weekend groups converge on the Oakland Camp on the third and fourth weekends of May. After a week of training, this is my first opportunity to test the cooks with the full menu. It gives me a chance to test the menu and the their skill. It also introduces the cooks to camp traditions and camp culture, two aspects of camp life that dictate how we serve campers in the Chow Palace. Any kinks are worked out in the next week.

The cooks work long days as they cook and serve the meals for 100 or more campers on these weekends. They also wash dishes and clean the Chow Palace without assistance from the dishwashers. Full staffing with the dishwashers doesn't occur until staff training week.

Staff training week begins on the second Saturday of June. With full staffing in all departments, the kitchen serves around 30 to 35, many first termers at Oakland Feather River Camp. The unique aspect of the week is that the kitchen pulls double duty, cooking and serving meals and attending the training sessions. It's a challenging week, but one that we work through to accomplish both goals.

Full camp begins in earnest on the third Sunday in June.

Pre-camp meals are served from the serving line in May 2013. With 10 to 12 at each meal, it doesn't make sense to wheel the buffet lines into the dining hall yet. The buffet lines are first used during staff training week (second week of June). The kitchen serving line is used to serve vegetarian and vegan meals for the summer camp sessions (third week of June to mid-August).

Annual camping trip to Blue Lakes

Debbie and I are joining my sister's family for our annual camping trip to Upper Blue Lake in Eldorado National Forest next week. Each year we collaborate on meals at the lake. Elizabeth and I divide responsibility for each breakfast and dinner. Each family prepares their own lunches.

In the past I've prepared a variety of Dutch oven favorites. Sourdough bread stood in for a sweet loaf when I prepared Dutch oven bread pudding three years ago. That year we didn't camp at the lake, but visited them mid-week. I brought the proper bread two years ago. I'm now under orders to replicate the bread pudding each year! (As I write, I realized that I failed to post the recipe last year. Here's Dian Thomas' recipe from 2007.)

Blue Lakes split pea soup with ham shank was ready for dinner two years ago when the family arrived. Midway through our vacation, we moved camp to Upper Blue Lake from South Lake Tahoe. Jim and Elizabeth, a brother and our mother were scheduled to arrive Thursday afternoon. A bowl of hearty soup hit the spot. As one of our mother's favorites, the soup warmed her in the brisk evening air at the 8,000-foot elevation.

Last year my sister "hired" a sous chef for me (a family friend). Ashley, a third-year high school culinary student, chopped and cut her way through the camp kitchen. With impeccable knife skills, she sliced 14 apples for apple crisp in a 14-inch Dutch oven. Ashley then prepared and cut zucchini, yellow squash, red onion and carrot for roasted summer vegetables.

Scrambled eggs with chives and pepper-jack cheese for breakfast, salsa with fire roasted tomatoes for the afternoon snack, and Dutch oven bread in time for dinner filled our Saturday. As a culinary student, I found Ashley hungry for information. Her enthusiasm for cooking and willingness to jump in gave this chef a smile.

Bread pudding for breakfast rounded out the weekend's campground feast. Since the kids (young and old!) enjoyed s'mores Saturday after dinner, we decided bread pudding would fit in our Sunday morning breakfast menu. We essentially had French toast in a pot!

For our 2013 visit to Upper Blue Lake, I'd like to introduce sous chef Ashley to one or two new Dutch oven dishes. We'll also build on the dishes that we prepared last year. Repetition will help solidify the camp cooking skills she learned last year.

I'll have more to say after I finalize the menu.

The watch captain the leader of a shift of cooks in the galley. The position is equivelent to the sous chef in hotel and casino kitchens.


SAN DIEGO (Feb. 1, 2013) -- Lt. Rayfield Golden, site director for the Center for Service Support Learning Site San Diego, addresses culinary specialists attending the Galley Watch Captains School prior to a ribbon cutting ceremony. The ribbon cutting ceremony signifies the reopening of the school after several renovations.

U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Stephen D. Doyle II.



Navy scratch cooking

For several years I've been reading about the Navy's re-emphases on scratch cooking. It's good to see that Navy culinary specialists are returning to their roots. It looks like the Navy has realized that you can only prepare the best meals when you have control over the cooking process. While prepared foods have a place during military operations, I'm encouraged to see the Navy's cooks and bakers are cooking from scratch when possible. Not only does the crew receive the best meals, the emphasis on scratch cooking enhances the employment skills of the CSs when they leave the service.


NORFOLK (Dec. 3, 2012) -- Chef Jud Flynn, senior executive chef of On-Site Culinary Solutions, watches as Culinary Specialist 1st Class Tony Johnson, attached to Naval Station Norfolk, inspects a pan of scratch-styled cooked yams during a 5-day culinary training course. The course is for Navy culinary specialists to relearn basic cooking principles to implement more healthy and nutritious meals into base galleys in the mid-Atlantic region.

U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Molly A. Burgess.



Culinary training, New Orleans style

BANGOR, Wash. (Sept. 28, 2012) -- Chef Tenney Flynn, co-owner of the New Orleans seafood restaurant GW Fins, offers some cooking pointers to Culinary Specialist 2nd Class Larry Risher, assigned to the Blue Crew of the ballistic missile submarine USS Louisiana (SSBN 743). Flynn helped the boat's culinary specialists make some of GW Fins' popular dishes for Louisiana's crew while he was visiting.

U.S. Navy photo by Lt. Ed Early.

Blog readers at Deer Crossing Camp



Last weekend Debbie and I hiked into Deer Crossing Summer Camp, located on the southeastern shore of Loon Lake in Eldorado National Forest. We worked in the camp kitchen during the summer of 2009. As the chef , I cooked nearly 2,700 meals over the 10-week season.

The fact that both cooks had read my blog impressed me the most about the visit. I learned two years ago that camp owner and director Jim Wiltens routinely uses the blog to screen prospective cooks. He likes it because I've "pulled no punches" in describing my experience at the wilderness leadership camp.

In 2010 a classically trained cook backed out when he saw the daily challenges at the camp. In contrast, one of the cooks from that season returned for a second summer in 2011. The cooks hired in the intervening years have done a good job.

Both cooks recognized Debbie and me from the blog. It felt good to meet cooks who had read the blog in detail. Click on the label "Camp 2009" to follow my journey that summer.

Just as I do in my current job, I've always enjoyed teaching my craft to others, especially when I can demonstrate culinary technique in person. Saturday, I showed Jenny how to season her chicken skillet dish in layers. She welcomed my assistance and let me help with the meal.

'Round the Chuckbox lets me reach a much wider audience. As much fun as it would be to travel throughout the country helping others cook, I don't have that luxury right now. Work, family and railroad obligations limit travel at this time.

The blog gives me a venue to share recipes and production techniques for small to medium sized kitchens. I've dedicated the past two and one-half years at my current job developing a set of recipes for 25 and 50 persons. When possible, I share the recipes on these pages.

Occasional feedback tells me that I'm on the right track. So, until I'm able to travel more and meet some of my readers, I plan to continue writing about my culinary journey. Please let me know how these pages have helped. Thank you.

Culinary specilist trains with Royal Navy

This article should bring a smile to my professional colleagues. Their passion for food drives them to prepare most meal components from scratch. It has become second nature. These chefs transform the word 'cook' into an action verb by cooking full meals, all from scratch.

As a chef for more that 40 years in residential programs, I learned my love for cooking in the U.S. Navy, a career that's focused on the Navy, health care, corrections and camps. When I graduated from U.S. Navy Commissaryman Class 'A' School in March 1971, scratch cooking dominated the Navy's enlisted galleys. We prepared the whole meal from scratch during my eight and one-half years of active duty.

The Navy slowly shifted the emphasis away from scratch cooking in the intervening years. Now, according to this Navy Supply press release, the Navy is slowly reintroducing scratch cooking into its ships and shore stations. Initial goals call for scratch cooking 40 percent of the menu on aircraft carriers.

Maybe the Navy needs to recall some of it retired chief petty officers, like CS1 Cherry's father. We could teach our younger shipmates how to cook. A short cruise on a Navy man of war would be fun for old-times sake. And we could pass our knowledge into the younger generation.

Enjoy the article ...

MECHANICSBURG, Pa. (NNS) -- Culinary Specialist 1st Class (SW) John Cherry completed a three-month culinary training course with the United Kingdom Royal Navy's Defence Maritime Logistics School, and returned to Fort Lee, Va. Jan. 3.

Currently serving as an instructor at the Culinary Specialist Class "A" School at Fort Lee, Va., Cherry began instructing a new class today, and will incorporate some of the "hands on" cooking he has learned to help Sailors better understand the Navy's incentive for scratch cooking.

"The training provided by the Royal Navy gives their sailors the knowledge to be able to cook a product from scratch, and not rely solely on pre-prepared items all the time," he explained. This will enable Cherry to better instruct his students in scratch cooking, and supports the U.S. Navy's efforts in increasing scratch cooking and baking aboard carriers to near 40 percent of total output.

The Navy has set three goals to help improve culinary specialists' quality of work. These include slight changes to the menu to incorporate more scratch cooking and bakery products, increasing training and ensuring appropriate staffing levels.

The training Cherry received will certainly help him meet these goals. He was selected by the school's leadership to attend a three-month culinary training regiment, conducted from mid-September through December 2011, including a five-day transit aboard a Royal Navy ship.

"The biggest impact is with the length of the course with the Royal Navy," he emphasized. "The UK training allows students to get in-depth training and allows them to function in a galley onboard ship with a lot of autonomy. It gives that Sailor the knowledge to be able to cook and produce from scratch. It also encourages them to apply what they learned during training to menu planning aboard ships, and use their skills to explore different dishes within the ship's menu," Cherry added.

His efforts coincide with Naval Supply Systems Command ongoing work with Type Commands to increase scratch cooking on carrier menus to 40 percent, which will help guarantee Sailors receive nourishing, high-quality food prepared fresh every day by culinary specialists who take seriously their impact on Sailors' health, morale, and fleet readiness.

"The training CS1 Cherry received will help him provide the over the shoulder training that our junior culinary specialists deserve, to increase their scratch cooking skills," said Cmdr. Danny King, Naval Supply Systems Command Navy Food Service director. "As an example of our commitment, the Navy has increased scratch cooking on carrier menus to 40 percent in just the past two months to bring our Sailors exceptional meals they can enjoy away from home."

King said that the UK Food Allowance per Sailor is not as high as the U.S. Navy's, which requires onboard chefs to prepare many of the meals using raw ingredients, vice using the pre-prepared items.

"In the U.S. Navy, we have focused on making Navy food service as economical and efficient as possible for the last several years," King said. "We are now working to match those efficiencies by helping the fleet balance their menus and return to more scratch cooking."

Cherry served as culinary specialist at the White House for President George W. Bush and later for Adm. Robert Willard, former vice chief of Naval Operations. He said the training he received will help him meet and exceed his career goals. "My next goal is to serve as a chief petty officer, and to run my own food service establishment, either aboard ship or in a flag community."

Having a father who retired as a chief mess management specialist (forerunner of the culinary specialist rating) and having grown up in the Navy-centric community of Norfolk, Va., Cherry knew as a very young man that he wanted to follow in his father's footsteps.

Culinary specialists provide more than 92 million wholesome and nutritious meals per year, helping ensure the Navy's fighting forces operate at peak performance, and are ready to respond to threats and humanitarian operations worldwide. With even more advanced training on the way, Sailors, serving both afloat and ashore, can look forward to even healthier and better-tasting meals.

Kitchen activity

Chef Ira Krizo prepares lunch yesterday (in black chef's coat) as Chef Jim Krieg explains the use of ovens in bread baking to those attending the baking workshop. Crust color, explained Chef Jim, has a lot to do with caramelization. The crumb is done when the internal temperature reaches 165 degrees. However, at that temperature the crust won't have good color yet. To achieve good crust color, you need to continue baking the bread to an internal temperature of about 180 degrees. The crumb is the soft interior portion of the load.

Where you've achieved good crust color, but the crumb has not completely cooked, turn the oven temperature down to 250 to 300 degrees. The crumb will finish cooking without burning the crust. In general, low sugar breads are baked at higher temperatures while high sugar breads and pastries are baked at lower oven temperatures, said Chef Jim.

The Christian Chefs International baking workshop concludes today. The intensive three-day seminar is being help at the Canby Grove Christian Center in Canby, Oregon. Activities continue this afternoon with a ServeSafe food safety class. The annual conference begins this evening with the keynote presentation by internationally known culinary and television personality Graham Kerr. The conference continues on Wednesday with workshops for chefs.

Chef Ira is the executive chef for the camp and conference center.

Fermenting in bus tubs

Chef Jim Krieg uses plastic bus tubs to ferment dough. When producing multiple batches of dough, Jim uses an inverted sheet pan as the lid. Unlike round bowls, the bus tub provides a stable container for stacking multiple doughs in a higher volume operation.

Measuring flour

I'm taking part in a baking workshop at the Christian Chefs International annual conference. Chef Jim Krieg, a former culinary school baking instructor, is leading the intense three-day workshop.

In four hours this afternoon, 10 students prepared five doughs. We each prepared a personal pain ordinaire (basic bread dough). We will prepare a second pain ordinaire dough tomorrow as well.

Then in teams, the students mixed and formed bagel, donut, ciabatta and focaccia doughs. The focaccia was baked for our dinner this evening. We retarded the bagel, donut and ciabatta dough for tomorrow.

The workshop and conference are being held on the campus of Canby Grove Christian Center in Canby, Oregon. Chef Ira Krizo is the executive chef.

Here Chef Jim shows us the proper way to measure flour into a measuring cup. The average cup of bread flour weighs about 4.75 ounces, said Chef Jim. To measure, scoop flour into the measuring cup as shown in the picture. Do not dip the measuring cup into the flour. His cup weighed 4.85 ounces.

To show how dipping methods vary, Chef Jim packed bread flour into the measuring cup. It weighed 6.9 ounces. He lead us through this exercise to demonstrate why bakers preferred measuring by weight to measuring by volume. By contrast, my average cup of flour typically weighs 5.5 ounces.

The proper method for measuring will help the baker produce a consistent cup of flour. It is useful when converting a baking formula from volume measurement to weight measurement. The average pound of bread flour should measure in at aproximately 3-1/3 cups. Use this as a guide when converting recipes.

Eating to cook

You have to eat to cook. You can’t be a good cook and be a noneater. I think eating is the secret to good cooking.
--Julia Child

I came across Julia's quote this week on Twitter. While I haven't found the source article or book, it reminds me that eating is essential element in the cook's journey. The only way the cook can develop a sense of flavor is to eat.

To become "well eaten," the cook must eat at a variety of tables, both home and restaurant. Relish the occasion when you can eat at the table of an accomplished home cook, especially one who descends from a long line of cooks. Enjoy a great meal, soak in the good company and make mental notes of the meal.

And don't discount a good local restaurant. Beyond an enjoyable outing with the family, I always watching out for new a flavor or sauce to incorporate into my culinary repertoire. Get out of your comfort zone and eat around. Most neighborhoods are full of homegrown local eateries that showcase the chef's culinary wares.

Being well read as a cook is just as important to the cook. As a picky cookbook buyer, I don't want to fill my shelves with books that I'll never read. I focus my limited resources on specialty cookbooks (The Sporting Chef's Wild Game Recipes by Scott Leysath), regional favorites (Chef Paul Prudhomme's Authentic Cajun Cooking) and ethnic tomes (Diana Kennedy's The Art of Mexican Cooking). (I purchased and read each cookbook listed this year.)

Julia's right. The only way to develop a sense of taste and flavor is to eat. Good food, bad food, mediocre food -- you have to eat it all. Only by eating (and reading) can you learn how to cook good food.

Cee Dub on teaching chefs

The other day I asked Cee Dub "Butch" Welch to give his input on the teaching a Dutch oven class. I'm introducing Dutch oven cooking to a group of chefs at the Christian Chefs International conference in March.

Since Cee Dub leads camp cooking clinics near his home in the Texas Hill Country, I figured that he could give me a few pointers. What I didn't count on was that Cee Dub would respond with his own chef story! Thoght intimidated for a minute, Cee Dub continued on with the class. Read on and find out how Cee Dub handled this situation.

Here's the question I asked on Cee Dub on his Facebook page:

I'm teaching a Dutch oven class to a group of chefs at a convention next March in Oregon. I have 75 minutes in the first workshop after lunch. I do get a chance to follow up as I'm hosting the dinner that evening.

Any pointers? I plan to keep it simple and am basing my presentation on the assumption that the chefs do not cook in Dutch ovens currently. My goal is to give them enough information to cook their first meal.

Here's Cee Dub's response:

Steve, Sounds like fun!

Your post got me thinking about a clinic I held a couple of years ago. One, Jaques Duhr, a native of France and a retired French chef from here in the Texas Hill Country, was the first guy to sign up for the clinic! I was intimidated for about a minute. Talk about a prince of a man! A buddy of his with a big ranch out in West Texas flew him to the ranch each year for a big shindig and he wanted to expand his horizons.

Like every clinic I learned something from my students and especially so in this case. We had a blast! But ... like others who've taken my clinics who were damned good cooks in their own right, I started them all with beginning type recipes. You won't have to teach them how to cook or prepare a recipe.

But what they'll have to learn is there is no dial to select temperature. The tough part I've found is teaching them to plan the lag time for charcoal to light and old iron pots to heat up to cooking temp. Also teach them to keep the lid on especially when they're baking. Instead of using their vision to tell when things are done they'll need to use their nose.

I hope this helps,

Cee Dub

Cee Dub is the proprietor of CeeDubs.com and author of Cee Dub's Dutch Oven & Other Camp Cookin', plus a number of other cookbooks. Cee Dub teaches outdoor cooking at Camp Lonehollow in Vanderpool, Texas each summer.

Dutch oven presentation to chefs in March

This coming March I'm giving a presentation to a group of chefs at a conference in Canby, Oregon. My goal is to teach these chefs how to use the cast iron Dutch oven. After the mid-afternoon presentation, I'll host a dinner prepared in Dutch ovens.

My challenge is to tailor the workshop to the chefs without going into information overload. The fact that they're all accomplished cooks and kitchen leaders will simplify my task. I want to avoid giving a dry lecture, one that will send the chefs into zombie land.

Unlike Dilbert here, my PowerPoint slides will focus on one main point. I want to give them just enough detail to get started in Dutch oven cooking. Each chef will be able to go home, buy a Dutch oven and start cooking. They can learn advanced technique later.

After considering several approaches organizing the presentation, I rediscovered an on-line article in Backwoods Home Magazine. "Seven secrets of Dutch oven cooking" by Robert L. Beattie will provide the basis for my PowerPoint slide series.

Beattie's seven points walk the reader from purchase to cooking wonderful meals. The title of each of his "secrets" will be renamed to suit a chef's point-of-view. After helping the chefs buy the right the Dutch oven, we'll season it and discuss the right tools for the job.

In step four, I'll slow the process down a notch. I want the chefs to appreciate the importance of controlling the fire to their advantage. In the last three steps, the chefs will learn how I plan menus by focusing on three food groups (meat, vegetables/sides and breads).

I like Beattie's approach because it's to-the-point. It stays on the task of teaching the beginning Dutch oven cook. And the presentation will leave the chefs looking forward to the main show of the evening -- a dinner cooking in Dutch ovens.

Guest article on Kent Rollin's Chuck Wagon Cooking School

Last month I asked Lesley Kershaw Tennessen of McHenry, Ill., to write a guest blog on her experience at Kent Rollin's Chuck Wagon Cooking School. She attended the course last spring. My request couldn't have come at a better time as Kent released a new video on the school. While Lesley isn't shown in this video (it features the October 2011 class), it gives a more detailed view of the school. My first two articles on the school are posted here and here.

Here's Lesley's report:

Way back when, a few years ago, I'd heard about going to a chuckwagon school. The thought intrigued me, more and more as time when on. The more I became involved in Dutch oven cooking and of course, teaching about Dutch oven, the more the idea surfaced in my thoughts.

So, round about fall 2010, I took the plunge. I'd met some gals while teaching at a local Women In the Outdoors event and became friends. One of the gals is a go-getter, never leave life behind type of person! When I told her about this opportunity, it was a 'heck yes!' type of response. So we signed up. That was early in December. Counted the days. Looked online, dreamed of getting there.

What did I want to learn? Mesquite cooking like Kent teaches. More about rustic Dutch oven cooking. Meeting new friends. Returning to Texas! Even though I am a tent camper, sleeping in a teepee is not usually how I camp! So that was new. Enjoyable.

What did I find out? I found that cooking with mesquite is like cooking in nucleator! LOL. Really hot wood compared to northern hardwood. And I found that cooking in Kent's kitchen with Ole Bertha keeps you really warm!

I loved learning about sourdough. It's about all I use now for biscuits. I learned cooking with trivets on the ground. I usually use a table and mostly off ground. And best of all, living outdoors in the Texas sun for a few days in late March feels really good.

Cooking in Kent's Chuckwagon School teaches you about yourself and how to adapt to old time ways and simpler things. And it's about having fun while working hard! I'll do this again and not soon enough!


YouTube video description (posted October 31, 2011): Each spring and fall, Kent holds his Dutch oven cooking camp. Students come from all over to experience the old cowboy way of life and to cook from Kent's 1876 Studebaker chuck wagon."

CIA chef weighs in on cast iron myths

Have ever wondered why most chefs don't use cast iron pans in their restaurants? Or heard that soap will ruin your precious cast iron skillet?

As with most topics, there are more opinions than writers. Articles rarely explain why or how something is good (or bad) for you when it's cooked in a cast iron skillet and Dutch oven.

The answer to these questions (and more) comes from an unlikely source. Fox News "set the record straight" in "5 Myths of the Cast Iron Pan Explained," with chef David Kellaway.

The article explorers five myths about cast iron cookware. Will soap ruin a cast iron pan? Kellaway says go ahead if "you had a particularly messy sticky cooking session." But there's a caveat! The pan must be "re-seasoned immediately."

Why don't more restaurants use cast iron pans? They're too heavy for routine use, Kellaway explained to Fox News writer Sasha Bogursky. Too much "care (is) required to keep them clean without rusting."

Read on. You'll want to read the article before cooking in a cast iron skillet or Dutch oven.

Chef Kellaway is a certified master chef and the managing director of the San Antonio campus of the Culinary Institute of America. Soon you'll un

U.S.S. Philippine Sea shares culinary techniques with Bulgarian students

In 1973, one cook from the U.S.S. Stein (DE 1065) exchanged places with a cook from a Royal Navy ship for a week. Though the navies enjoyed a common seafaring tradition, each navy had developed its own culinary tradition. I enjoyed the opportunity to learn about British Navy fair from the British cook.

By Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Gary Prill, Navy Public Affairs Support Element-East Detachment Sigonella

BURGAS, Bulgaria (NNS) -- Culinary specialists from guided-missile cruiser USS Philippine Sea (CG 58) met with culinary arts students of the Burgas High School to provide techniques and training as part of a community service project, Oct. 26, 2011.

During the event, the crew worked alongside students making cultural dishes, desserts and appetizers that they later enjoyed at lunch. The event also gave the Sailors a chance to meet with residents and experience the rich history and culture of Bulgaria.

"The lunch was amazing," said Lt. Jonathan Black, command chaplain, Philippine Sea. "It was a great chance for us to enjoy another culture while also embracing the idea of hospitality towards our host."

Every Sailor was given the chance to do their part in preparing the meal. Some worked with the culinary students preparing the main course, while others showed the students how to prepare some side dishes like ceviche and cherry turnovers.

Interactions with the local community can help build cultural understanding, trust and strengthen the relationships between Bulgaria and United States.

"I really love the opportunity to go out and display our talents and learn from other people who also love to cook," said Culinary Specialist 2nd Class Eber Barraza. "I was given the opportunity to share a little of my local culture by making ceviche for people who have never tried Hispanic foods."

Following the meal, the crew toured the school's dining facility, where the students have the daily responsibility of providing lunch for all of the students.

"I've always wanted to be a chef, and it was very interesting for me to see U.S. Navy chefs work," said Desislav Lilov, a Bulgarian culinary student. "I enjoy learning about other country's food, because my dream is to cook true Bulgarian food in Japan some day or even America."

Philippine Sea is on a regularly scheduled deployment in the Black Sea and serves to promote peace and security in the U.S. 6th Fleet area of responsibility.