Customer Rating: Summary: Good book for a historian. Comment: I love camping and eating by the fire and was looking for a good book on dutch oven cooking. This book is not it.
The back cover states "Woodruff perfected these recipes ... for more than 60 years as a scoutmaster ..."
That period is 1929 to 1989, the publishing date.
By today's standards, these recipes are dated. My son is a scout, and I have been on a number of scout camping trips - and believe me scouts mostly need simple meals to prepare. But Woody is too much into canned veggies, soups, and packaged mixes. You have to look long and hard to find a recipe in this book that uses fresh ingredients.
I suspect that if Woody were alive today, given his obvious commitment to Scouting, he would update most of his recipes to reflect more of today's thinking about healthy eating and fresh food. Customer Rating: Summary: Simple, perfect book for basic dutch oven cooking Comment: I just ordered this book and found it to be perfect for just starting out with the dutch oven. The recipes and instructions are simple. Although I like more gourmet meals in the kitchen, I'm still learning at the dutch oven. This book filled with tons of recipes that offer room for experimenting and encourage the cook to be creative. I'm glad I purchased this book for learning how to start dutch oven cooking. Customer Rating: Summary: Good info, but missing a certain something... Comment: Overall this book is just fine for someone interested in cooking with a DO. The mix of recipes is fine, but they just seemed to be missing something. They were all more or less of the "huck a good sized hen into the pot and cook for a while until done" variety. All of the recipes look tasty, though I would have liked to have seen a few more meat dishes, especially some more creative ones. Let's be honest, when you pay for a book you'd like to see more than "...put a 5 lb beef roast into a preheated Dutch oven, salt and pepper to taste, cook until done." Give me a little something to work with here! Inspire me! I can already cook a roast like this in the oven. Having said all of that, I would still reccommend this book. The vegetable dishes and desserts look fantastic and I can't wait to try some of them. As an aside, this is the only Dutch oven book I've seen with heart-healthy recipes as well as more traditional fare. Given that the average DO book requires the use of a metric ton of lard, this will probably appeal to a wider range of cooks. Customer Rating: Summary: Packed with quick recipes for busy cooks Comment: The third edition of this guide is packed with quick recipes for busy cooks, showing how to make meals without a lot of fuss at either campsite or back yard. All that's needed is a Dutch oven: Woodruff provides beginners with the rest of the basics, from the oven's care and storage to using it to cook meals and wild game. Customer Rating: Summary: Cooking the Duthch Oven Way, 3rd Edition Comment: I found this book to have simple but interesting recipes. I passed it on to my husband who is off on his own for three months. He tells me that he has successfully made a couple of recipes without a problem and he is a blatant novice at cooking!
