DUTCH OVENS -- SEASONED: An oven for every season... 
details on Passport to Texas.

Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife

Cast iron Dutch ovens have been around a long time.

You may have seen something that your grandmother had -an old 
pot that she sat on the stove that was black.

Tim Spice is an education and outreach specialist at Parks 
and Wildlife. The ovens have changed little since great-
grandma's day, except some now come pre-seasoned.

You know, what's neat is, in the last couple of years, one of the 
major manufacturers has come out with a pre-seasoned Dutch 
oven. And I swore as a purist I wouldn't buy one, and I did get 
one, and wow - already seasoned - it was fabulous. Jump right in 
and start cooking.
 
If you prefer to season it the old fashioned way - use it.

And after you cook a few times it will be season. And what we 
mean by 'seasoned' is, as you cook, micro-layers of carbon build 
up on the cast iron, and gives it a non-stick quality.

You don't have to cook alone. There are groups, such as 
the Lone Star Dutch Oven Society, dedicated to preserving 
this kind of cookery.

And, you can just do a search on your favorite engine, and you'll 
find lots of different things. Some of these groups have 'dogs' is 
what they call them - Dutch oven gatherings - where they get 
together and they just all cook their favorite food, and have a 
grand old time.

Find recipes and links to Dutch oven groups at 
passporttotexas.org.

That's our show for today ... For Texas Parks and 
Wildlife ... I'm Cecilia Nasti