Background: What’s a better way to rekindle the skills of the best campers in Scouting than having a Dutch oven cooking competition? This brings Arrowmen together to challenge their culinary creativity and provides a great meal for participants.
Meeting Resources: One Dutch oven for each group of four people, plenty of charcoal and charcoal starters, food, cooking and eating utensils, and cleaning supplies.
Meeting Content: Look up tasty Dutch oven recipes and gather the food for each recipe. Divide the participants into groups of four and randomly assign them a group of food—don’t give them the recipes! Permit them to do whatever it takes to make a culinary masterpiece in under an hour. The team that wins will be crowned Dutch Oven (Cast) Iron Chefs!
You can find thousands of recipes online or in Dutch oven cookbooks. Some example recipes are below:
Breakfast Sausage Souffle
- 12–15 slices of bread
- Milk
- Butter
- Mustard
- Shredded cheddar cheese
- Salt and pepper
- 18 eggs
- 1 lb. cooked sausage
Banana Pineapple Cake
- All-purpose flour
- Butter
- Granulated sugar
- Powdered sugar
- Baking soda
- Pineapple juice
- Salt
- Crushed pineapple
- Cinnamon
Campfire Dutch Oven Pizza
- 3 eggs
- 1 1/2 lbs. lean ground beef
- Vegetable oil
- 1/2 medium red onion
- Mashed ripe bananas
- Italian seasoning
- Vanilla
- Green bell pepper
- Walnuts or pecans
- Garlic powder
- Red bell pepper
- Salt and pepper
- 1 can mushroom stems & pieces;
- Olive oil
- Black olives
- 1 can crescent rolls
- Shredded Cheddar cheese
- Pizza sauce
- Shredded Mozzarella cheese
Dutch Oven Potatoes
- 1 lb. extra lean ground beef
- Sour cream
- Yellow onion
- Grated cheddar cheese
- Butter
- Salt and pepper
- 6 medium potatoes
- Milk
- 1 can cream of chicken soup
- Ritz cracker crumbs
Need more Dutch ovens? Ask Scouts ahead of time; it’s likely units have them, or members have them at home. Have an adult make sure all food is properly cooked before consumption. Ask for a Cooking merit badge instructor to help, maybe this could turn into a merit badge opportunity!