Central Oregon Dutch Oven Society cooks up another recipe book

The Central Oregon Dutch Oven Society is back at it with a new book of recipes.

“Central Oregon Dutch Oven Cookbook Volume Two” is filled with members’ recipes for breads and soups, stews, chilies, main entrees, breakfasts and desserts. And, according to Society President Linda Stephenson, all the recipes can be done in the oven or atop the stove at home.

“There seems to be a mystery in cooking in the Dutch oven,” Stephenson wrote in a press release. “If the cook would just realize it is just an oven. You can put a cake pan, bread pan or any other cooking unit inside the Dutch oven and cook over coals outside.”

Homesteaders, cowboys, loggers and miners have traditionally used the Dutch oven, according to Stephenson. Today, a diverse group of Central Oregonians, many of whom spend lots of time in the outdoors, is keeping the art of the black pot alive.

Recipes range from chocolate sauerkraut cake to pecan crusted pork roast with bourbon pan gravy and the Puget Sound Mountain Man Breakfast (including bacon, pork, cheese and eggs).

The Central Oregon Dutch Oven Society will offer a hands-on cooking class this spring as well as cooking demonstrations at Sportsman’s Warehouse in Bend on Saturday, March 15, and Saturday, Aug. 16.