Going Dutch

By Meredith Hines-Dochterman/The Gazette

MAQUOKETA - Don't expect to see a hot dog or hamburger at Doug Gonner's campfire.

Instead, he and his family dine on oyster stew, pulled pork sandwiches and marinated chicken potpie.

“I eat better when I go camping,” says Gonner of Maquoketa. “It's why I go camping.”

Gonner's campfire menus are planned with more precision than meals at home. Instead of buying ingredients to toss in the kitchen cupboard, Gonner says he scours local farmers markets to help shape his camp menu, but simplicity remains the key ingredient. After all, this is camping.

“I like to try to keep my recipes to six or seven ingredients,” he says.

That doesn't limit the taste, though, or the aroma as the strangers who have wandered over to his family campsite to check out his Dutch ovens would tell you.

“If I have extras, I take samples to the other campsites,” Gonner says. “It's a social thing.”

Which explains why Gonner is a member of the Iowa Prairie Rose Dutch Oven Society.

A chapter of the International Dutch Oven Society and the Lone Star Dutch Oven Society, the group is comprised of an enthusiastic group of Dutch oven cooks who host several Dutch oven gatherings, cook-offs and event demonstrations across Eastern and Central Iowa.

On Mother's Day, Gonner brought several of his Dutch ovens to the Jackson County Conservation's Hurstville Interpretive Center to make breakfast for about two dozen people. His menu that day included a camping breakfast, biscuits and gravy, and pineapple cherry cake.

Jan Huling of DeWitt was among those watching Gonner cook. Huling started using a Dutch oven for camp meals after a similar demonstration a few years ago.

“Anything out of a recipe book, you can make in a Dutch oven,” says Huling, who does a lot of baking in her ovens.

Homemade cinnamon rolls on a campfire? It sounds crazy to those without experience, but Gonner says trying it makes anyone a believer.

“It's called ‘Cast Ironitis.' You get hooked on it,” he says.

The ovens are heated with coals from the campfire. The location of the coals - below the oven, on the lid or surrounding the oven - depends on what's cooking inside.

Karen Schwenker of Maquoketa made a four-course meal in her Dutch ovens last year. The bottom oven had potatoes, with meatloaf stacked on top of it in the second oven. The bread and dessert, a cherry cobbler, were in the third and fourth ovens.

“First-timers shouldn't try a gourmet meal their first time,” she says. “Choose one recipe and try that. Once you get started, you won't quit.”

Gonner hopes to do more baking with his Dutch ovens, making biscuits and other breads from scratch instead of relying on refrigerated bread dough.

“The one thing I really want to graduate to is a whole turkey,” Gonner says.

“You don't need a Dutch oven large enough for a turkey,” Gonner's son, Nick, tells him.

“I don't know about that,” Gonner replies with a grin.

 

Pineapple-Cherry Cake

2 21-oz cans cherry pie filling

1 20-oz can pineapple chunks

1 box yellow cake mix

1 12-oz can of lemon-lime soda

Pour both cans of cherry pie filling into a 12-inch Dutch oven. Add the pineapple chunks and stir.

Add the cake mix and spread it around the oven so it covers the cherries and pineapples. Pour the soda over the cake mix.

Cover the Dutch oven with a lid. Surround it with hot coals and bake for 30 minutes.

Source: Doug Gonner

Camping Breakfast

2 pounds of bacon, cut into pieces

Leftover meat from supper (steak or brats; no hot dogs)

2 dozen eggs

Leftover potatoes (or fry some)

Shredded cheese

Green pepper, diced

Mushrooms, cut up

1/2 cup onions, chopped

In an extra-large frying pan, fry the bacon. Take bacon bits back out. Sauté onions, peppers and mushrooms in the grease. Drain most of the grease. Add potatoes, put bacon bits back in the pan and add the rest of the chopped meats. Beat eggs in a bowl. Add to the meat and thoroughly cook. Put cheese on top and cover until the cheese melts. Serve with maple syrup on top.

Note: This recipe was created so fellow campers didn't have a lot of leftover food to throw out or take home.

Source: 125 Years of Flamin' Good Cookin' by the Maquoketa Fire Department.