Can you use a cast iron dutch oven on the stove or in the oven? I am only finding recipes for outdoor cooking.

i got one for my wedding shower last weekend but my fiance and i dont even have a grill!!! I thought you can use cast-iron cookware indoors---does anyone know of a website with indoor cast-iron dutch oven recipes?Can you use a cast iron dutch oven on the stove or in the oven? I am only finding recipes for outdoor cooking.
There is a trick to maintaining cast iron cookware and that trick is known as ';seasoning'; or ';curing.'; Your food will never stick to the bottom of the skillet or pot and the iron will not rust if it is properly seasoned. Plus the cast-iron cookware cleans up easily as well. Seasoning or curing cast iron means filling the pores and voids in the metal with grease of some sort, which subsequently gets cooked in. This provides a smooth, nonstick surface on both the inside and outside of the piece.





Let the pan cool. Wash it with dishwashing soap and water. Never soak or let soapy water sit in the pan for any length of time. Rinse thoroughly, then dry with paper towels.





A lot of people disagree with using dishwashing soap and water to wash cast-iron pans. A chef told me that if a health inspector ever found a pan that had not been washed with soap and water in his kitchen, he would be in trouble. Plus the grease that is left behind will eventually become rancid. You do not want rancid oil in your foods and body.





NEVER put cast-iron cookware in the dishwasher.








Place the cleaned cast iron pan on the heated burner of your stove for a minute or two to make sure that it is bone dry. While the pan is still hot and on the stove burner, lightly oil inside of pan (I mean a light coat) with a neutral cooking oil.





Neutral Oils - Use vegetable oils (canola, sunflower, etc.), shortening (like Crisco shortening) or lard for seasoning your cast iron pans. I recently experimented and found out that food-grade coconut oil/butter also works great.








Leave pan on the hot burner of stove for a few minutes. Remove from hot burner and wipe excess oil off the pan with a paper towel.








Store your cast iron cookware with the lids off, especially in humid weather, because if covered, moisture can build up and cause rust. Be sure that you place a couple paper towels inside to make sure that any moisture that forms will be absorbed by the paper towel. Never put the utensil in the dishwasher or store it away without drying it thoroughly.Can you use a cast iron dutch oven on the stove or in the oven? I am only finding recipes for outdoor cooking.
A cast iron dutch oven will last centuries, and it cooks evenly, without the hot spots you find in stamped steel dutch ovens.





It works fine on the cooktop, and works fine in the oven.





Use it for soups, stews, and roasts, or use it on a burner as a french fryer. (You'll want a thermometer for that.) You can pop popcorn in it, too.





Before you use cast iron the first time, coat it with oil, and set it in the oven at 350F for a couple of hours, then wipe out the innards with a paper towel, and wash normally.





Normally, when I get done cooking with cast iron, it's pretty hot, so I dump a little hot water in it, and attack it with a stainless steel scrubber. You don't want to use detergent, and you especially don't want to put it in the dishwasher. I know of a restaurant where they dump some sand in their cast iron skillets, and rub it around to get rid of any stuck-on food, instead of washing the skillet wtih detergent.





Plain hot water works very well, though, because cast iron is the original non-stick finish, without any of the health worries that nonstick *coatings* present.





Once I have it scoured, I simply rinse it out, drain it, and allow to dry. (It's OK to swipe at it with a towel.) If it doesn't dry rapidly, it can rust - and in that case, you'll want to have at it with a stainless scourer to get rid of the rust, then coat it with oil and bake it again.





Congratuations on your marriage. May it last as long as this dutch oven!
Try www.lodge.com. About the only thing you shouldn't do with cast iron is boil water or make tomato based sauces. Otherwise, it is pretty indestrucible.
You can use it on top of the stove to make stews or chilli....even for deep frying or you can use it in the oven to cook a roast or stew....etc. There are a ton of ways to use it.
The dutch oven is such a versatile utensil that you can use it anywhere. Stove, oven or outside.
There are several good cookbooks on cast iron cooking available at your local Barnes %26amp; Noble. And yes, you can certainly use your Dutch oven in your oven or on top, either one. Do you have the kind with feet? That's a camp oven. It'd be a bit tricky to use that indoors, but with care, it can be done.


Here's a couple cookbook titles for ya:


1. Lodge manufacturing publishes several such cookbooks, and of course they would; they manufacture cast iron cookware. Check their website for additional information.





2. Cast-Iron Cooking for Dummies by Tracy Barr


3. The Cast-Iron skillet Cookbook by Sharon Kramis and Juile Kramis Hearne


4. The Complete Book of Dutch Oven Cooking by J. Wayne Fears
Try www.lhj.com and type ';dutch oven cooking'; in the search window. You'll find a few good recipes. If the handles are ovenproof, you can use it in the oven, naturally.
Cast iron is virtually indestructible.


Use it on stove, oven, grill, firepit, under the campfire...whatever.





Any recipe for a casserole in the oven can be cooked in a dutch oven--cast iron or not. Not much of a cook, are ya?





Go get the basic Betty Crocker book, and enjoy learning!
I don't know what kind you received but here is the Le Creuset website with recipes for their enameled iron cookware including the large roasters:





http://www.lecreuset.com/usa/recipes.php





Google: le creuset recipes for more ideas.





If you have one that isn't enameled you need to season it.





http://www.kitchenemporium.com/info/cast鈥?/a>
Megan,


I am assuming that you are talking about a Camp Dutch oven with leg gs and a flat lid. If that is indeed what you have you can use them on gas stoves, electric stoves do not put out enough heat to cook above the element. You can also use them in your oven in the house, just rotate the Dutch oven so that the legs fit through the baking rack in the oven. If you have a flat bottomed Dutch oven without legs then it can be used on the stove or in the oven quite easily. I have written 2 cook books on Dutch oven cooking and they are both geared towards outdoor cooking like the rest of the rest of the Dutch oven cook books out there. I put the degrees necessary to cook foods in the Dutch oven as well as other info needed to cook outdoors as well as indoors. You can email me if you'd like more info about the books or any other questions. I teach Dutch oven cooking all over California, Nevada, and Oregon. There are many other people who teach all over the U.S. Good Luck to you. BTW, use your Betty Crocker cook book and use the Dutch oven to cook your food. Just cover the Dutch oven with the lid and set the oven to the desired temperature you need. Good Luck!