Scouts learn outdoor cooking isn’t just over a fire

Picture a group of Boy Scouts cooking during a campout and visions of hot dogs on sticks or squashed sandwiches and trail mix pulled out of a backpack come to mind. Or how about that pot of everything-in-it stew, where each participant brings a can of "something" and the conglomeration is edible only because adolescent boys will eat anything if they’re hungry enough.

The weekend of October 21, nearly 800 Boy Scouts and families learned that outdoor camp cooking can be as sophisticated and tasty as meals cooked in a kitchen with all the best gadgetry.

Members of the Northern Lights District Boy Scouts held their fall 2000 Camporee October 20-22 at Webster Park and challenged the Big DOG (Dutch Oven Gathering) Cook Off.

Sixteen of the 17 troops attending submitted three-pot meals – a main dish, a side dish, and a dessert - each cooked in a Dutch oven. Entries included beef stew, chicken Cordon Bleu, chili, pepper steak, biscuits, cheesy taco dip, blueberry upside down cake, and chocolate chip cake. The troops were judged on scout spirit, cleanliness, technique, taste, and appearance.

The variety of techniques was the most interesting part of the cook-off, according to John Brugger, one of the event organizers. The Dutch oven is usually partially buried underground within a bed of charcoal briquets. Some Dutch oven cooks completely bury the oven, others cook completely above ground. One troop of Boy Scouts found some bricks at the park and used them to build a brick fire pit.

Dutch oven cooks have to decide how many briquets to use, whether to put them just on the bottom of the oven, around the sides, just on the top, or completely encase the oven. Brugger said that it seemed that no two troops used the exact same technique.

"When you’re baking a dessert," Brugger explained, "you usually put more charcoal on top than on the bottom. When you’re making a stew, you put an even amount on the top and bottom."

Prizes were awarded for the top three three-pot meals; prizes were also awarded to the individual best main dish, side dish, and dessert.

The Dutch oven cook-off was a first-time event not only for local Boy Scouts but it was also the first one ever held in the entire Northeast. Brugger is one of only three local members of the International Dutch Oven Society which sponsors the cook offs.

"The kids seemed to have a blast," Brugger said. "The parents and leaders stepped back and let the kids really be in charge of their own cooking … the weather cooperated … and the program ended up being a far greater success than we anticipated."

Editor’s note: For more information about Dutch oven cooking, visit the International Dutch Oven Society’s website at www.idos.com