Petromax Dutch Oven - model ft6

I learned a lot from ever-helpful CCS members when I asked about Dutch ovens in THIS thread.

The Petromax I bought performs well - which is the main thing - but it looks pretty good too, with the classic Erich & Graetz logo.






I got the 6-litre capacity size, which has these dimensions.






I bought a Petromax lid lifter to go with it, which does a pretty good job of lifting the pot and lid together provided it's a 'straight' pull on the bail and not an attempt to hold the pot lifter horizontally when doing so.




On the rim there's a thermometer slot, accessible when the arrow on the lid is lined up with it.




I adapted a trivet I had by silbrazing stainless steel struts on the base to lift the baking pan I had in mind to use on the first outing well clear of the base of the pot and nearer to the heated lid (burning charcoal on top) to brown the top of my bake.






Petromax do a range of sizes - ft1-ft18 ...




... and with or without tripod feet. I got mine without the feet to use mostly with a stove.




Straight out of the box ...




... I got cooking with it, on THIS Indian wick stove.




On the menu, chillie and gammon cornbread and (sweet, milk) rice pudding.

The gammon, chillie, spring onions, corn meal, buttermilk. Out of shot; flour, baking powder, baking soda, egg - some add honey, but I didn't.




I could have done this in the lid, but browned the gammon cut into strips in the pot. There was a shower of rain, but the size of the pot sheltered the stove wicks from a drenching.




In with the spring onions and chillie.




Cooled and dumped in a seven-inch sandwich tin the dry ingredients were mixed in with the flour, buttermilk etc.




I put that aside and prepared the rice pudding (pudding rice, milk, sugar) and sized up an earthenware pot to fit inside the Dutch oven.

Though my Indian wick stove was ideal for my bake I wanted a gentler heat over four hours for my pudding and chose THIS wick stove, German in origin like the DO.




Two hours in, coming on nicely.




Time to bake the cornbread, I popped the rice pudding in the oven in the house to keep warm and with the Indian wick stove fired up and under the pot I loaded the lid with charcoal, kerosene blowtorch to ignite.






Not obviously glowing in daylight, but good and hot.






It worked well and contributed to a bake I was happy with.






Rice pudding too was to my liking.




Later, I used my Meva rocket stove to first boil some water in the pot to dislodge any food residue (from the frying of the cornbread ingredients) then to re-season pot and lid by burning on a layer of cooking oil.






My conclusions?

I'm an enthusiastic convert to Dutch ovens. Could become evangelical about them almost. I'm a regular user of a steel wok and the cleaning and seasoning process is just the same, so no fears there.

I purposely started with a bake as what I judged would be the hardest test. One that involved some frying of ingredients was intentional too. The pudding was the - er, icing on the cake. I was half expecting the pudding to pick up some of the 'fry-up' flavour because I'd not bothered to clean out the pot first but all it picked up was a hint of smoke/barbecue from the oil and it wasn't at all unpleasant, rather enjoyable in fact.

I've dug out a book on Moroccan tagine cookery and will certainly be exploring some of those recipes.

I can see the appeal of chucking a DO in the embers of a fire, not least the ready availability of hot coals for the lid - but the blowtorch and charcoal worked fine and a wind-shielded wick stove is a natural for slow, controllable heat requiring little or no attention. Sips fuel too.

John

 

That is a nice set up. The tabs on the lid are a good feature. Coals on the lid and a skillet on top of that and you have cornbread in the oven and bacon and eggs on top. Good choice.
And you are right, once you start with DOs, you will soon have more. Stacked vertically you have all courses cooking at once with very few coals. Extremely versatile.
Ivan

 

@presscall

Now for a good slow cooked goat or wallaby curry (or in your case, rabbit instead of wallaby).

The cast iron pots are also good for making bread and damper - but excellent for a New York loaf (I'll dig out a recipe).

Cheers

Tony

 

VERY NICE wish this was available here in Canada
Jan

 

Looks like you took to DO cooking, as a fish to water!
Some good looking victuals there. KM

 

True enough. Encouraged by this first encounter I've another Petromax DO (the 4 litre size) on order.

Thanks again All! Yes please @Tony Press, I'm intrigued by that New York loaf!

John

 

Very nice shots and comments, as usual. How much does it weights?

 

Thanks, @argerich1964gmail.com

Details on the box, so 9.4 kilos (20.7 lbs)




John

 

@presscall
John, I have a couple of "Dutchies" an aluminium one I got from Aldi, they have them from time to time, I'll contact you the next time there in. I also have an old "Travellers" type one on a trivet. I must say they do lend them selves to camp fire cooking rather than stoves though mate. Perhaps you ought to be getting a "Fire pit" built in the back garden. We'll make a bushcrafter/woodsman out of you yet! I must say though you've done a cracking job and captured the essence of the Dutch oven in that it's a big lump of Iron that when it's up to temperature stays that way with very little heat input. A couple of the lads a go crafting with are always baking bread and lovely puddings and such. My favourite though is when my mate does the Dave Canterbury Mountain Man Style Breakfast, sets you up for the rest of the week! I'd recommend you check out his videos on youtube look for wildernessoutfitters.

ATB

Si

 

I might just change your mind on that when you see them in action at Newark, Si. I'll have practised a bit more by then!

John

 

@presscall
John mate, I look forward to it as always. Maybe the way forward is to have a stove underneath and two blow lamps held in a frame directed towards the top lid of the oven then all three of your heat sources can be controlled. I must admit I like to do "Fray Bentos" tin pies in mine, crunchy yet a chewy top and only a pound each. The steak pie is a particular favourite of mine. With baby boiled potatoes and carrots/peas.

Si

 

For the "cool" factor you need to stack them 4 or 5 high ( the legged style of course) with coals on the lid heating the one above.

Blow lamps might be workable,you would need a rack to place them at the right height
Ivan

 

Ah, but I'm not aiming for the cool factor it has to be said Ivan!

Granted, stacking them to utilise one heat source - a fire - is functional, whether cool or not, but with a variety of suitable stoves to provide the 'below' heat there's obviously no need to stack them and the blowlamp was just to get the charcoal ignited for the 'top' heat and isn't needed during the cooking.

John

 

Clearly you are "cool" without trying

 

Dunno about that, but so long as the pot stays hot, all's well.

 

Looks delicious! Glad it worked out well!

 

well done

kerry

 

Great results John!

I have had a play with a 3-Gallon aluminium Dixie with mixed results, I reckon it is too tall in relation to its footprint, despite filling the lid with charcoal.
A little more perseverence and I think I could get acceptable results.

I'll stick to 20-Man curries with rice or mince and potatos in the meantime, that is always achievable with dixies and a flamethrower!

Alec.

 

@presscall

Here is a "New York loaf" that I cooked today in my cast iron pot.... I took lots of photos, and will make a post in the recipe section and link it to this thread.

As this was the first time in a while that I've done one of these, I used the conventional oven to heat the cast iron pot - but the loaf is well suited to cooking "outdoors" in a dutch oven. The trick is to keep it at or above 250C.

Cheers

Tony