Dutch oven
From Free net encyclopedia
Image:Dutch Oven - Project Gutenberg etext 13637.jpg
A Dutch oven is a thick-walled metal cooking pot with a tight-fitting lid. It is commonly referred to as a 'camp oven' in the Australian bush. (An Australian 'Bedourie oven' is made of steel rather than cast-iron, so that it is more suitable for carrying by packhorses.)
A camping, cowboy or chuck wagon Dutch oven has three legs and a flat, rimmed lid, so that coals from the cooking fire can be placed on top as well as below. This provides more uniform internal heat and lets the inside act as an oven. They are ordinarily made of cast iron, although some are aluminum. See cooking on a campfire.
A Dutch oven furnace is a primitive furnace of rectangular shape made out of firebrick. It was usually used to burn wood. The refractory brick stored heat and released it slowly to the room.
Other cooking devices also called Dutch ovens
The term is also used for two other cooking devices: a metal shield used before an open fire for roasting, and a brick oven in which the preheated walls do the cooking.
Modern dutch ovens consist of a covered, shallow cooking pan set on legs and heated from below with a built-in electrical heating element.
Other uses in popular culture
The term "Dutch oven" is also jokingly utilized to refer to the act of farting in bed, then pulling the covers up over the partner's head, so as to trap them with the fart smell.