Why Is This The Least Useful Lodge Cast Iron Dutch Oven! 

Thanks for the great comment. That is a good thought and that may be the answer, but I am not sure that the design resulted from that since the 9qt Lodge oven of the same style has a much wider bottom and adheres to the standard DO dimensions.

Its a kettle, use a fire place swing or tripod in a fireplace. Great for stews and beans.

This was my thought as well.

I hadn't considered this. Good point. I still feel like it may have more to do with the size of a standard stove eye. I doubt most people are cooking in a fireplace. A fireplace won't care about the dimensions, but a stovetop eye would.@@olivei2484

That combo cooker is one that I don't have, but a great size for a couple for sure. We find we use the 4 and 5 quarts sizes most often in both camp and at home, so the big ones are for the rare large groups or big hunks of meat. It may have been a choice for burner size, I am not sure but it really veers away from the standard. The only other pots have seen shaped like this are labeled soup pots or essential pans.

Thanks for checking it out and I am glad you found it useful.

Thanks for finding us and I hope you enjoy the channel!

Thanks for watching and I appreciate the comment. Dutch ovens are a great way to cook and definitely fun to use at camp.

@@dickinaroundoutdoors8609 I just realized my 10" skillet is a lodge 😏 I'm gonna try out a 5qt Dutch oven and try get a lid for my skillet.

@@meatmeinthebackyard5823 make sure you don’t get the camp oven, they don’t work the same way.

@@dickinaroundoutdoors8609 👍🏻

I appreciate it-you may have noticed I used it for my blowtorch lasagna over the camp burner a month back (missed the deadline for cast iron Wed on that one!) so I do use it, actually the is what made me think of this video.

@@dickinaroundoutdoors8609 We don't worry too much about deadlines. They take the fun out of things.

Thanks for checking it out-it is a great size for stews etc but limits the size and volume of items you can sauté or sear.

I am glad you found it helpful. Happy Cooking!

Thanks for checking it out.

My pleasure. Thanks for stopping by.

Thanks for checking us out and the nice words. At the end of the day I really do love all of my Lodge cookware and as long as you take care of it people will be cooking on it 100 years from now. I currently still use a pan when camping that was made in the 1890s.

If you mean what size skillet is a good match for the 8qt dutch oven I would say the 12 inch would be a nice addition (or maybe the 12 inch Blacklock for a bit less weight). I don't know if the lid from the dutch oven would fit though. If I had the 12 inch skillet I would check for you so maybe if someone has both and reads that you might let us know.

Yes, although I think it is the least useful I tried to express in my video that Lodge doesn't make a bad pot. I use mine frequently as well, it is only when compared to a more traditional shape for the size that the bottom surface shows less space for things like searing or sautéing. Thanks for dropping by the channel and taking the time to comment!

The 9qt follows the rules and has the more vertical walls. Thanks for watching.

Thanks for checking it out.

If you are referring to the 7qt specifically I use mine often as well. That is why I mentioned at the start of the video that Lodge doesn't make a bad oven. What are your favorite dutch oven cooks?

Thanks for checking it out-glad you found it helpful.

I appreciate you stopping by and glad you found it informative.

Thanks for watching. That question sure gets some people riled up but I am going to say it-they are the same AND different. The orthodoxy is that a Dutch oven has a flat bottom and normally a rounded top and is made to use on top of the heat source or placed in any oven. The camp oven, on the other hand, has small legs on the bottom to allow it to sit directly over coals and a flat top with a rim to hold coals on the top. This allows you to use the camp oven using coals from your fire to bake, roast, sear etc all in one unit. The camp ovens also have a wire handle suitable for hanging via tripod over a fire. Now having said that you can use a camp oven in a regular oven or over a burner and you can use a dutch oven over coals on a trivet so I will sum up by saying they could all be called dutch ovens, just different styles.

@@dickinaroundoutdoors8609 thanks so much. I saw the one you had with legs and was curious about that…thinking pit boss may be calling it a camp oven just to identify with out door cooking. Mine is flat on bottom. I’ve just been calling it a cast iron pot but looked up specs on website. Great information brother. Thank you so much!!

I am glad you found it helpful-thanks for checking our channel out!

Perhaps they did design this one a bit differently, but I wonder why they don't do this (any manufacturer) with their other models if that is the case. The more radius on the bottom the easier it is to stir stuff I do find. Thanks for providing your insight!

Nice find! I hope you have fun cooking some great meals.

yes, we use the 5 qt bail handle DO for bread most of the time. The 5 is a very useful size. We were lucky in that we purchased most of our "new" cast iron during the financial crisis and, at that time, we could buy the dutch oven for the price of the lid.

Cheers

Thanks for checking it out.

Great question, sadly the camp oven lids to not fit on the bail handle pots. The bail handle pot lids do fit on the frying pans however, so that my 9qt lid fits perfectly on the 13.25 skillet and the 5 qt on the 10.25. I am assuming the 8qt lid fits the 12 inch but I do not have that skillet so cannot confirm. Thanks for checking us out.

Yep, glad to see them jump into the market!

It would most certainly do that. I actually chose it for my deconstructed lasagna recipe video for that reason. It is more in the vein of a "soup pot" design and is still a great cooking vessel, just not as versatile as a normal ratio dutch oven.

I am not sure what you mean by straight enamel so cannot give you an opinion. I am not really aware of any enamel or ceramic type cookers that would replace a dutch oven though.

You'll ruin the finish. Get a cast iron. May have enameled inside finish

@@buddy7485 That may be what the question was about-an enamel coated dutch oven? If so I think my Le Creuset, Staub etc. are rated for 500 degrees F which is probably not high enough to hold up in a camp fire. A camp stove would be fine though I think as long as you follow the manufacturers instructions. Thanks for the comment Buddy.

Yep, I have enjoyed your videos cooking in the DOs.

No doubt it works and that was my comment at first that I don't think Lodge makes a bad one, just relative to the other ones this is shaped more like a soup pot (as someone below mentioned). But also remember that all great cooks know the Square Root of their Vegetables! 😁

I have not seen the new enamel series, nice to see a second US made choice in that category for sure! Yes, I wish lodge would have commented on the video, but for now I continue to speculate that it was designed to have the 7qt capacity but still use a lid that fit their 12 inch skillet for manufacturing reasons.

Interesting thoughts and thanks for sharing them. I am not sure we will ever know the reason and Lodge makes great stuff-I use this oven frequently.

Thanks for dropping by and great comment. Yes there is a trade off in that you can get more depth of oil with less oil but you also give up some surface area which would be a negative with shallow frying. But you bring up a great point for deep fat frying for sure!

Thanks for dropping by and I am glad it was helpful.

I am not sure which pots you are talking about but if just looking at the bail handles they are are 5/7/9 qt. You may be looking at the cast pot vs the bail handle? If so I expect it is the additional cost of installing the handle perhaps.

Turns out my new 5 qt. Dutch oven has the cast handle in the center so I can't flip it over to cook in. But it does perfectly fit and even cover the pour spouts on my 10+ yr. old, 10.25 Lodge Skillet that I use several times a week for breakfast. I wonder why there is 2 different lids on the 5 qt. ovens? It was only $50 so maybe I'll buy the other style. Nice review and good info.

Thanks for dropping by and the comment. Others have mentioned this and it certainly may be the case but it would be odd then, that all of the other ovens (not soup pots etc.) tend to ignore burner side and keep the ratio intact. Maybe we can get Lodge to read this and tell us!

Thanks for checking it out and I am glad you found it informative.

I am not sure I understand your question. Sorry

Sadly I was not able to do that as I don't have comparable 7qt lodge (or other brand) which I why I gave the bottom to top ratio to express the difference.

This one is styled more in the mode of a soup pot, which works for sure, but not really described or marketed that way.