San Angelo Standard-Times Local
Holding on to heritage
Dutch-oven cooks indulge in history and good recipes
By CONNIE TORRES, Staff Writer
June 19, 2005
Tommy Raykovich of College Station says his cooking is like taking a trip back in time.
''Dutch oven cooking is the same way that cooking was done in the 1800s,'' he said. ''This is how the pioneers cooked during the cattle trail.''
Cooks of the Lone Star Dutch Oven Society roamed into San Angelo on Saturday at the Spring Creek Marina and RV Park along Fisherman's Road. The society was established in 1994 in San Antonio to allow fans of Dutch-oven cooking to gather together, said member Rose McCabe of Kerrville.
McCabe said she hopes the society's trip to San Angelo will spark interest among the community to start a Dutch-oven chapter.
''This cooking is such an old art, and we shouldn't lose this art,'' she said.
Dutch-oven cooking involves cooking outdoors using cast iron cooking pots and coal as a heating device - a task, cooks said, that is as simple as cooking indoors.
''We can cook anything you cook indoors,'' Rich McCabe said. ''We control our pots to the right heat so it takes the same amount of time as cooking indoors.''
Barbara Hawkes of Beaumont said there is some difference in using a Dutch oven over a home oven.
''There's a little more work to using the Dutch oven - you have to keep more of an eye on your cooking,'' she said.
A group of about 17 Dutch-oven cooks from across Texas whipped up a variety of foods including roasted chicken, black bean salsa, Mississippi mud pie, green bean casserole and fajitas.
Steve Barlow of San Angelo said he came out to the event to enjoy the smoked-flavored food.
''The food is just good country cooking,'' he said.
Irene Martin of Pflugerville, a city north of Austin, said she has been Dutch-oven cooking for four years and said the history attracted her to it.
''It's a part of our heritage,'' she said. ''And I just want to try to preserve our heritage.''
Created May, 1999
Updated June 2005
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