SYNOPSIS & SPECIFICATIONS:

 Weight:                                               19  lbS

Outside Diameter:                             12  5/8”

Inside Diameter:                                12  1/16”

Depth:                                                 4  3/4”

Leg Height:                                        1  3/4”

Capacity:                                             8  quarts with approx 3/4" of head space remaining

Thermometer Aperture

Wire Bale

The Volcano Grills No. 12 pre-seasoned cast iron Dutch oven arrived in attractive packaging and appears to be a production model rather than being cherry picked for review. My examination revealed what I consider to be above average casting, an exceptional finish, and adequate pre-seasoning. The domed lid gives an overall appearance of a hybrid between a traditional Dutch oven for camp/outdoor use and Dutch oven skillets/porcelain-coated Dutch ovens designed for use in home kitchens. In lieu of an integral cast handle on the lid, the No. 12 has the steel handle attached by two screws into nipples cast into the lid. Internally the lid has two “self-basting” rings. Externally the lid has a slightly raised “charcoal ring” located 2” in from the outside edge designed to hold briquets/wood coals along with two small ears for turning the lid.

NARRATIVE OF USE/PERFORMANCE:

To say I was intrigued by the appearance of the No. 12’s domed lid is the understatement of the year for this old traditional cast iron cook! Lacking the flange on the very outside edge of the lid for holding charcoal/wood coals, I was very skeptical of its heat distribution dynamics! I know of no better method than baking bread to test the heat distribution characteristics of a piece of cast iron cookware.

I mixed up a big batch of our Whole Wheat Sourdough Bread for the inaugural use of the No. 12. Due to the depth of the oven and its domed lid which magnifies the overall internal height from the bottom of the oven to where the charcoal briquets set, I chose a large sheepherder loaf to test the heat distribution characteristics.

While the dough proofed the first time, I rinsed the No. 12 out twice with very hot water to eliminate any foreign material picked up during packing/shipping. I then wiped the bottom and two inches up the side walls with canola oil and dusted the oiled surface with cornmeal.

The second proofing of the dough was done in the No. 12. A Volcano Collapsible Stove/Grill with Kingsford ™ Charcoal Briquets was used to bake the bread. The temperature was approximately 42 degrees with a very light NW breeze when I began baking. The briquets for the bottom heat were evenly distributed in the bottom of the Collapsible Stove/Grill. For the top heat I used a circle of fourteen briquets against the “charcoal ring” with an additional three briquets arranged in a triangle within the circle of briquets. During the one hour and five minute baking time I did not rotate either the lid or the base.

CONCLUSIONS & RECOMMENDATIONS:

 The results of my real world test of Volcano Grills No. 12 Dutch Oven greatly exceeded my expectations! The photo of the finished bread shows unequivocally the great heat distribution characteristics of this oven. The evenness of the color surprised me because of the ambient temperature and the slight breeze. The use of Volcano Grills Collapsible Stove/Grill which provides uniform bottom and side temperatures is the reason the bottom and side crust of the bread showed exceptional uniformity.

Before using the Volcano Grills No. 12 Dutch Oven again I will re-season it with Camp Chef Conditioner at a temp of 450+ degrees for an hour to improve its appearance.

Volcano Grills No. 12 – Original Dutch Oven is the most impressive and unique piece of cast iron cookware I’ve seen in recent years!

Cee Dub  

© Cee Dub’s Dutch Oven & Camp Cooking Supplies, LLC, April 15, 2013

Side view of Volcano No. 12 Cast iron Dutch oven right out of the shipping box.

Top heat used to bake bread in Volcano No. 12 Dutch oven April 14, 2013. Outside ambient temperature 42 degrees.

Whole Wheat Sourdough Bread baked in Volcano No. 12 cast iron Dutch oven on April 12, 2013 using a Volcano Collapsible Stove with charcoal briquets. Total baking time 65 minutes with no additional charcoal used.

TAKE ONE

This is the first of many "takes" we plan to do here on Cee Dub's You Tube Channel! We think it's a great way to reach and teach folks about Dutch oven cookin' and many other topics. There are many educational venues/techniques/methods...but visual learning is among the strongest! Beginning as infants we learn to do things first from "watching" what others do and what is going on around us. And...as with babies if we can make them smile and laugh we know they learn more and they learn it faster.So...let's have some FUN!

This 'take' demonstrates Cee Dub method of "how to" restore/rehabilitate an old piece of cast iron cookware. There are numerous "recipes" folks use to accomplish this task and our method is but one.

Please share your thoughts on how you think we're doing and ideas you would like to "see" explored here on Cee Dub's You Tube Channel!

Get Read for More Fun!

Cee Dub

PS: Thanks for watching!

Our Youtube Channel

http://www.ceedubs.com/classes-clinics - Absolutely the last chance to get this great deal and attend a Dutch oven cooking clinic taught by Cee Dub at 2012 prices!

Check this link to see in one location all our new products and products on sale! Book mark this link: http://www.ceedubs.com/new-items-specials.html and check it often to see what's new! On January 2, 2013 prices will increase on quite a few of our products. Purchase now for great savings included discounted gift certificates you can use later in the year!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

CEE DUB & PENNY

Small and Large Fire Pan's

Check our website for our lowest price on Dutch oven firepans. Use them for cooking with Dutch ovens or use them to grill burgers and steaks! USFS & BLM approved.

http://www.ceedubs.com/stoves-firepans/fire-pans-cooking-tables.html/

Old Cast Iron Spider Dutch Oven before "rehab"!

Here is an old "Spider" I traded for on our Texas/New Mexico trip this past fall. Last weekend I sent this particular piece of cast iron to Cee Dub's "Cast Iron House of Rehabilitation" for a make over. This is what it looked like at 10:30 am just before I started.

This is the "after" shot of the rehab process!

Here it is approx three hours later!

Braised Lamb Shanks with Garden Veggies

This is the dinner we cooked in our Spider Dutch oven after completing "rehab"! . The entire process to clean and re-season this old piece of cast iron took about three hours.

We'll be posting a you tube video shortly of the entire process.

Just go to the home page and scroll down the left hand side to find the "New Items & Specials" icon. Click on it to find everything that's new and Cee Dub's!

One of the featured products this week in this category are the roller bags for Camp Chef two and three burner stoves. These bags make it easy to transport your stove for camping trips, tail gate parties, or trips to the beach in the summer time! Here is the link to check out the roller bags which are on special. http://www.ceedubs.com/new-items-specials/roller-carry-bag-for-two-burner-stoves-rcb60.html

My search for the best way to keep all my kitchen knives sharp let me to the Work Sharp Knife & Tool Sharpener. Utilizing "flexible belt technology" this tool quickly puts a "razor sharp edge" on all knives including serrated knives. Without using harsh stones or abrasives the Work Sharp Knife & Tool Sharpener puts a professional edge on all knives. In addition it sharpens scissors and can even be used for many other sharpening chores such as lawn and garden tools, lawn mower blades, axes, hatchets etc.

Go to our website to purchase this amazing tool. It's the ultimate in knife sharpening technology!

http://www.ceedubs.com/cooking-accessories/work-sharp-knife-utensil-tool-sharpener.html

Birthdays are milestones in our lives. Some mean more than others but certain ones maintain their prominence in our minds for a variety of reasons. During the course of the day yesterday I pulled some past birthdays out of my cranial archives and hit the refresh icon on my mental browser. My pop up blocker worked on some but others were vivid and worth sharing.

Growing up it was Mom’s birthday cakes for my three sisters and I that made the day special. Who ever was having their birthday got to choose their favorite type of cake. But, in my case it wasn’t a cake but a pie instead. Anyone who has ever picked huckleberries knows just how valuable a quart of Mother Natures own purple pearls are worth. Some years the berry picking was poor and the quarts of huckleberries down in the basement “fruit room” could be counted on the fingers of one hand with a couple of fingers left over. But…Mom always saved a quart for my birthday pie.

For reasons that will be evident shortly memories of my eighteenth are still a bit hazy but a dessert of sorts played a part in that day as well. Of course we all remember that age and being over to a friend’s house whose parents were gone for the weekend!?! These many years later I can unequivocally say that was the only time I had a “Cherry Vodka Sundae”! The next morning was not the last time my breakfast consisted of aspirin and coffee.

Anyway...memories evoked yesterday in my mind were worth pulling out of the archives and putting down here.

After graduating from college I went to work for a dude ranch in Challis, Idaho. Our first clients were showing up around mid July for a pack trip into some high mountain lakes. So, for my birthday we hauled horses up to Morgan Creek Summit for a day ride into Hat Creek Lakes to check out the trail and possible camp sites. The three of us all tied our slickers on behind our saddles as there were some dark clouds rolling through. About halfway in the heavens opened up and rain began falling that quickly turned to snow. The snow was falling so hard and fast we lost the trail and had to turn around.

Most folks who know me would find it hard to imagine a great birthday for me would be spent in a museum! But, July 3, 1975 I and three co-workers on the Inter-Agency Grizzly Bear Study Team spent the day touring the Wild West Museum in Cody, Wyoming. Already a big fan of Western artist Charlie Russell that day for me was mesmerizing. I knew of his paintings and already had several of his prints. But…I learned that day how prolific a sculptor Charlie was. Through both his paintings and bronze sculptures Charlie Russell captured the “old West” as only a real cowboy could. (For some great reading pick up Charlie’s book, Trails Plowed Under!)

I started rafting down Middle Fork of Salmon River in 1979 after transferring to the Challis Patrol Area for IDFG. Then and now the Fourth of July is the most popular launch date for the summer float season. As such I spent several birthdays between 1979 and 1986 patrolling the 96.6 miles of river between Boundary Creek and the Middle Fork’s confluence with the main Salmon River. One year I remember baking a Dutch oven rhubarb pie at my old patrol cabin at Cougar Creek. The rhubarb I picked from the clump still surviving from when the place was homesteaded way back when. Most trips I made my last camp on the river on a tiny patch of sand about a hundred yards upstream from Otter Bar. If memory serves me correctly I spent my 35^th birthday on that patch of sand. It was so hot in the canyon that day another officer and I spent a couple of hours shaded up behind a big rock which was the only shade available drinking beer until the sun dropped below Stoddard Ridge.

It’s always been special having my birthday on the same day that Idaho was admitted to the Union by President Abraham Lincoln. In 1990 Idaho celebrated a hundred years of statehood and I turned the big 4 “O”! My son, Brian, who was then almost seven years old drove out to a rail crossing near Nampa to watch an old Union Pacific steam locomotive pulling a passenger train enroute to Boise. We followed the train into town and participated in the festivities at the Old Depot. As a little girl in the 1930’s my mom had lived just a block away.

Fast forward to July 3, 2000 when I hit the even bigger 5 “O”! After launching just below Hells Canyon dam on Snake River the day before a group of us pulled into Johnson Bar on the Idaho side. While the rest of us fished, lounged, and swam in the big pool in front of camp Chuck Goodenough prepared and treated us to his famous “Texas Ribs in Three Acts” along with a Dutch oven Bubble Gum Dump Cake. No one went hungry that night. Many a story and laughs all the way around made 50 seem well worth it! The only thing that could have made the day better would have been Brian being there. Unfortunately he stayed home and cared for our critters as he healed up from an appendectomy.

A year later though he was there for number 51! Brian had just graduated from high school and Matt, Penny’s youngest son, had just finished his engineering thesis to complete his college degree. So, for their combined graduation present we were taking them to Soldotna, Alaska, for a fishing trip. While I was busy sipping a complimentary micro brew and visiting with Pen on the commuter flight to Seattle, Brian and Matt told the flight attendants it was my birthday. The next thing I knew the whole plane was singing “Happy Birthday” to me. When we deplaned in Seattle the attendants presented me with a ribbon wrapped micro brew as a birthday present.

Needless to say I’ve enjoyed other memorable birthdays over the years but though these are long removed from “Recent Documents” section it’s not yet time to drag and drop them to the “Recycle Bin”!

More often than not when travelling we ate at truck stops. Call it a rivalry of sorts but truck stops went to great lengths to entice drivers to stop at their establishments and one of the ways they did that was by having great food. A parallel today would be the food buffets at casinos. Regardless of the business, good food at a reasonable price will get folks in the door, which the truck stops hoped would result in additional sales of fuel and tires. In the case of casinos  their expectation is the customer will gamble as well.

Having just spent two months on the road I can tell you there are very few truck stops left that have sit down restuarants anymore. Anyway...the days when truck stops and country diners were good places to eat out have pretty much gone the same way as the manual typewriter.

In my life eating out changed gears when I went off to college, drove long haul trucks for an uncle and started travelling more for summer jobs. I didn't realize it at the time but I was broadening my culinary horizons by being able to sample cooking from different geographic regions of the country. However, it was some years later I learned the proper term was cuisine!

In addition to tasting regional cuisine, travelling around the country allowed me to try ethnic foods that weren't part of the culinary scene in SE Idaho.

A permanent job and having my own home  resulted in two things related to "eating out." One, I did much less travelling and secondly I did a lot more cooking. Call it a function of the way I was raised but I still found myself eating out more for special occasions than as an alternative to staying home and cooking. I do admit though I may have eaten out more over the years except for the cost!  But...as the years went by and long before I wrote my first cook book I found I preferred home cookin' best.

Perhaps it's because Pen and I eat out so infrequently that when we do it's a much more memorable experience. For myself as a cook book author and her as the publisher we savor our eating out not only as a dining experience but also as an opportunity to relish some one else's cooking and to educate ourselves in our search for new ideas to try in our Dutch ovens!

So...don't get me wrong! Eating out is GOOD!

What are your thoughts on "Eating Out"?

Cee Dub