[Sca-cooks] trivets and dutch ovens

[Phlip]

Ene bichizh ogsen baina shuu...

> So I hear many folks referring to 'temperature control' in cooking in an
> oven, and why using actual flame is bad.. And so, I ask.
>
> How do you determine the temperature inside an 'oven' without a gauge or
> opening the pan?

Experience, mostly. Coals tend to be pretty much the same temp unless you
blow air on them. Blowing air is why I can get my forge fire up to temps to
forge weld steel, or burn it up, if you aren't careful. From the basic coal
temperature, experience tells you how close or how far from the fire to have
the food. If you see black smoke, it's probably too hot ;-)

> How do you keep the coals burning hot long enough to bake anything?

By working them. If I'm using wood to develop coals in a fire, I have a fire
burning fairly close to the cooking area- 1-2 ft- and rake coals from the
fire over to the cooking area as I need them. Using charcoal, I add fresh
charcoal on top of the burning coals about every half hour. It's something
that you need to watch as you're doing other things, but not something you
have to stare at.

Any fire requires more management than, say, a gas or electric stove, and
just like those stoves, experience tells you when things are too hot, pretty
close to right, or too cool, as well as when the food is cooked. In
questionable cases, you can always use one of those instant read
thermometers, until you get the knack.

> what indications are there to show the existing temperature of a fire/coal
> pit?

Black smoke, too hot. Black fuel, too cool ;-) Generally, as I said, a pit
of coals will be pretty much the same temp, particularly if you're using
briquets. Different woods burn at different temps, but when you use the
coals, actually all you're burning is the charcoal you made yourself in the
fire- basicly, pure carbon. The fire and flames are removing all the
impurities. It's a bit more complicated than that, but for a rule of thumb,
all coals are burning at the same temp. The variations come with how much
air the fire is receiving, and how many coals you have in a heap. Usually
most people cook with a coal bed that is roughly about a foot and a half in
diameter, and don't force oxygen in with a blower, so you're getting pretty
close to an average condition, and that's what you're cooking from.

Saint Phlip,
CoD

"When in doubt, heat it up and hit it with a hammer."
 Blacksmith's credo.

 If it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it is probably not a
cat.

Never a horse that cain't be rode,
And never a rider who cain't be throwed....