Sweet Potato Pie?

[AnneinMpls]

Hi folks

One of my patrols wants to make a sweet potato pie at camp. We're thinking (guessing!) Dutch Oven. Any tips or tried and true recipes? We've got a couple good family recipes but not tested in a camp and dutch oven situation.

Thankee!

[AnneinMpls]

Wow...have we got you stumped?

25 people have read this request for help, and nary a one has replied!

I've been rummaging through the web for about 18 hours straight, and still havn't found a single reference to anyone making a sweet potato pie in a dutch oven - could this be history in the making? Stay tuned!

[dsteele]

Annie:

 

I can't tell you how to make a sweet potato pie. They're virtually unheard of in the midwest.

 

I also can't tell you how to control the temperature of a dutch oven using charcoal . . . but I do know it has to do with the number of coals on top and on the bottom. Others here, I suspect, can help you with that.

 

What I CAN tell you is how to use the dutch oven with charcoal as an oven. I hope it helps.

 

Whether you're making a pizza pie, a sweet potato pie, or any other kind of baked good in a dutch oven:

 

You need even heat all the way around the potentially baked good. With a cobbler, you can pour the stuff on the bottom of the oven, put the fruit on top and be done with it.

 

With using the dutch oven as an oven, here's the key: Use a pie pan and put it on top of some medium size pebbles or bottle caps in the bottom of the oven. This will allow the heat to rotate around the pan in a rather even fashion.

 

That's how you bake in a dutch oven.

 

Unc.

[AnneinMpls]

UncleGuinea, thanks for your help!

I seasoned a brand new dutch oven in my oven last night - it'll be nowhere near as good as a well-loved old d.o. but I figure since the pie is going into its own piepan the newness of the oven won't matter so much. Unc, you mention using bottlecaps - does it matter how much space you give it underneath? The d.o. I bought is 5" deep. Do we want to get the pie in about the middle of the depth of the oven, or does it not really matter?

A couple more specific questions:

How do you know when it's better to go ahead and *bury* the oven for a particular recipe? S.P.P. takes a good hour to bake - would there be any advantage to burying it?

Regarding the whole - "diameter plus 3 coals on top, minus 3 on the bottom" - does it *really* matter? I was of the "make a hot fire, shovel a bunch of embers and coals over under and around, leave it alone till it smells good" school. There's a few of these types still around, but the vast majority are now counting out their briquets.

With the long baking time, should we cover the edge of the pie crust with foil once it's browned?

Thanks!

Anne in Mpls (Yha, I know...midwest, and we're baking sweet potato pie...)

[orennoah]

Shouldn't be a problem.

 

There's no need to find a "special" Dutch oven sweet potato pie recipe. Use whichever recipe you prefer.

 

As for heat, the rule of thumb is that to achieve 350 deg. in a 12 inch Dutch oven, use 8 Kingsford regular coals* on the bottom, arranged in a circle just inside the diameter of the Dutch oven and 16 Kingsford regular coals on the top, arranged around the lid's lip, with one on each side of the loop handle. Rotate the Dutch oven one direction about 1/3 of a turn each ten minutes. Rotate the lid (without opening) the other direction about 1/3 of a turn each minutes. This promote even cooking.

 

Add or subtract a coal or two for each 25 degrees above or below 350.

 

A tip with regard to pies in Dutch ovens: Make strips of parchment paper (NOT waxed paper) and place them on the inside of the Dutch oven so that the ends stick up about an inch beyond the sides. Place your pie dough and filing on the parchment papers.

 

Then, when the pie is done, remove the lid and, with a helper, lift the pie out by holding onto the strips. Place on a serving plate. Then, remove the parchment strips, starting with the bottom-most one, by pulling out from under the pie.

 

The result is a Dutch oven pie, in all its golden brown deliciousness.

 

- Oren

 

 

* Kingsford regular charcoal gives the most consistent results. Other brands are not to consistent and the Matchlight version burns way too rapidly. Also, there's no need to wait for the coals to be uniformly gray (as in BBQ'ing). Use them when the edges get gray.

[ScoutNut]

I would think that burying it would dry it out to much.

 

It is better to undercook than overcook. You can always cook a bit longer, but it is a LOT harder to turn charcoal back into real food!

 

Have the kids test it out a few different times & ways before the actual event.

 

 

[AnneinMpls]

Thanks Oren

Are you describing how to bake a pie directly in the d.o. without using a separate pie pan?

And I agree with you on the recipe thing - we've got three families "field-testing" their family recipes to see how to simplify them for the trip ie: premixed dry ingredients and spices, sweet potatoes cooked ahead of time or canned, etc.

We were thinking about using a pre-baked pie crust, but now I'm thinking that might not be wise...

Next topic...my newly seasoned d.o. is sitting in the kitchen with a fresh thin coat of oil. I've heard it recommended that frying a batch of chicken is a good way to go to really get the d.o. seasoned nicely. Agree? Other tips?

Thank you!!

[ScoutNut]

If it's seasoned, it's seasoned. If you want to make sure the oil is baked in the pores season it again.

 

Frying chicken in it will only make it dirty & require it to be washed.

 

 

 

 

 

[orennoah]

Yes. I'm suggesting cooking it right in the Dutch oven, without a pie tin. That's the way they do it in the Dutch oven competitions. Check out the International Dutch Oven Society at www.idos.com.

 

The only time I use an intermediary containing is when I'm doing a Dutch oven souffle. (Of course, I'm a bit extreme at times.)

 

Also, I forgot to make clear that the stips should be spread around the Dutch oven radially, so that they cover the entire bottom and sides. It's the only time I will ever line a Dutch oven. Otherwise, I don't beleive that its "easy of use" overcomes the problems of diminished seasoning and lack of the Dutch oven magic to the dish. A well-seasoned Dutch oven won't have a problem, even with such deliberately sticky items as pineapple upside down cakes or cinnamon rolls.

 

Speaking of seasoning, any sort of high fat cooking will help along a beginning cast iron vessel. Just be sure to use only warm water and scrubbing with soft items to clean. No soap.

 

Oh. If you INSIST on cooking with a pie pan, be sure to elevate it with three small rocks or something to give an air gap at the bottom.

 

- Oren

[AnneinMpls]

Ah, yup...

This is a brand new d.o. with not much seasoning built up on it yet. (I've baked on two layers of oil so far but it seems a tad "gummy" so I'm wondering if I had the temperature high enough. I might try a third layer at a higher temp and see if I get something that looks more "rightly" to me.) A couple sites recommend not cooking anything highly acidic or sugary until it's got a really good surface built up, so for this one we're using a separate pie pan. I know the pie crust itself would't be problematic, but there's more of a chance of sloshing the sweet potato sugary-ness onto the sides...

My other thought was to skip the d.o. altogether, and just clip two pie pans together and dump coals over *that*. Maybe we'll try both ways and see which turns out better..

Anne in Mpls

[orennoah]

As for high temperature seasoning, I highly recommend it (475-500 degrees for 1 to 1 1/2 hours with a VERY THIN coat of melted shortening, then allow to cool in the oven without opening the door). Your results should be black and hard, not brown and sticky, as with the 350 degree method "recommended" by Lodge. (NOTE: They use the high temp method to create their own "logic" line of preseasoned cast iron.)

 

As for not using a D.O. at all, I once baked an apple pie using a cheap pie tin, wrapped in a double wide sheet of heavy duty aluminum foil. (I pleated the fold between the two sheets.) I sealed up the package, leaving a few inches of "head space" above the pie. Then I placed the foil pack on some coals and covered the top with coals. The apple pie was darned fine, even compared to those baked in home ovens.

 

Experiment and enjoy.

 

- Oren

[AnneinMpls]

Oh for Petes Sake. *Why* does everybody recommend 350?? Right. Third layer's gonna be a scorcher

Thank you, Oren

Anne in Mpls

[orennoah]

You're welcome.

 

As best I can tell, the reason Lodge (and the others) recommend 350 is to cut down on the obnoxious order that high temperature seasoning creates. Be sure to open your windows and, if available, run a big exhaust fan.

 

- Oren

[AnneinMpls]

LOL

My house already smells like a bonfire from the 350 degree temp.

Actually, wouldn't it smell *less* at a higher temp, due to more complete combustion?? Or I might just be wrong

[AnneinMpls]

Hi folks - wanted to say a big thank you to you for your help and advice!

 

Ran short of time, so did not follow up with a high temp round of seasoning the DO, but the amount of seasoning I did do worked very well. I also used another tip posted here somewhere to use vegetable oil spray in the DO before baking.

 

Thought you might want the "recipe"

 

Troop 1021's Dutch Oven Sweet Potato Pie

Microcook 3 good-size sweet potatos until tender. Allow to cool slightly, then peel, cut into thirds, and place in food processor with chopping blade. Process just until smooth - this side of a puree. Add spices: 1 teaspoon each nutmeg cinnamon and ginger, 1 teaspoon salt, and 3/4 cup of sugar. This mixture went into a tupperware bowl that was large enough to hold the additional ingredients to finish mixing up at camp.

Three beaten eggs went into an empty jar (break the eggs into the jar, then use just one mixer attachment on a hand mixer, beat the eggs right in the jar) - the sealed bowl and the sealed jar go nicely into the cooler - saves the long cooking time for the sweet potatoes and the need to carry eggs in the shell to camp.

At camp, add the eggs and one can of evaporated milk to the bowl of sweet potatoes.

Spray the DO with vegetable spray. We used prepared refrigerated pie crust - our DO turned out to be large enough to need 2 crusts in order to come up the sides enough to make the pie shell. Fill the pie shell with the sweet potato mixture.

Our cooking times were very...hit or miss. We had soaking rain on Saturday, so we set fire to whatever we could get to hold a flame We cooked over a combo wood/charcoal fire - blackened about half the bottom of the pie crust but amazingly the crust still tasted *really really good* (must be that seasoning of the DO??) Finally managed to get the charcoal hot enough to do some good on top of the DO. It all turned out very good

 

Let's see...roasted chicken and corn on the cob, campfire lasagna (one pot recipe using mini lasaga noodles), sloppy joes...we ate very well

 

Thanks folks!

Anne in Mpls