2023 LSDOS BIG DOG
The 2023 Big Dutch Oven Gathering was held April 21-23 at the San Antonio/Alamo KOA Holiday campground. We began arriving on Thursday. We had our pots on the table in Frederick Hall for dinner on Friday and a good turnout for breakfast the next morning. The silent auction opened for folks to bid on items that were donated to support the event. There were three demonstrations on Saturday: Scott Sutton held the first demonstration on sourdough cooking, Rick Alexander followed with a dutch oven 101 demonstration, and Dennis Clute then demonstrated how to make a Clute Cooker. As usual, we had the most attendees for Saturday dinner where we had 58 people and 41 pots of delicious food. For those who were fortunate enough to stay for Sunday breakfast, we were treated to Scott Suttons sourdough pancakes and waffles and a lot of other very tasty dishes. We are looking forward to our next statewide event which will be the Membership Meeting held September 22-24 at Lake Buchanan RV & Cabin Resort.
DEMONSTRATIONS
Sam Houston Chapter Member Scott Sutton is seen in the left photo below making sour dough donuts. Scott has years of experience working with a sour dough culture that has been in his family for decades. His demos are always well attended and discussed by members and visitors who are amazed at his knowledge and his recipes. Scott is always eager to volunteer his time and resources to conduct one of the best demos you’ll see at a dutch oven cooking event. At the 2019 Big DOG, LSDOS awarded Scott for his many years of service to LSDOS. He’s known as “Sourdough Scott” to LSDOS members and he makes the best waffles in the world.
Chisolm Trail Chaparrals Chapter Member Rick Alexander is conducting what is known as Dutch Oven 101 in the middle photo below. Rick is past president of LSDOS and has a wealth of knowledge about cast iron and dutch oven cooking. When you attend one of Rick’s demos you’ll learn about various types of dutch oven cookware along with all of the implements needed to make in a camp dutch oven anything you can make in your oven at home. You’ll also learn how to control the heat in a camp dutch oven and other tips and tricks that will put you on the right path to successful camp dutch oven cooking. Rick likes to say that you can cook anything in a camp dutch oven that you can cook in your oven at home and visa versa with one exception; you can make ice cream in a camp dutch oven and you can’t do that in your oven at home.
Chisolm Trail Chaparrals Chapter Member Dennis Clute is demonstrating how to make a Clute Cooker in the third photo below. The Clute Cooker is a cook table that is made from common metal flashing and two galvanized feed pans. One of the pans has holes in it as does the cylinder that supports the pan. The idea for making the cooker came from the need to improve the air flow under the dutch oven in order to increase the heat from the coals. Dennis makes these as a hobby, but the demand for them has exceeded his ability to make enough for everybody that wants one, so he demonstrates how they are made so folks can make their own.
EVENT PHOTOS
