camp-ovens-msg – 11/4/14

Period and SCA camp ovens. Small ovens that can be used to bake food at
SCA and other re-enactment events.

NOTE: See also the files: ovens-msg, bread-msg, breadmaking-msg, flour-msg, 
brd-mk-flat-msg, charcoal-msg, pizza-msg, trenchers-msg, pies-msg.

************************************************************************
NOTICE -

This file is a collection of various messages having a common theme that I  have collected from my reading of the various computer networks. Some messages date back to 1989, some may be as recent as yesterday.

This file is part of a collection of files called Stefan's Florilegium. These files are available on the Internet at: http://www.florilegium.org

I  have done  a limited amount  of  editing. Messages having to do  with separate topics  were sometimes split into different files and sometimes extraneous information was removed. For instance, the  message IDs  were removed to save space and remove clutter.

The comments made in these messages are not necessarily my viewpoints. I make  no claims  as  to the accuracy  of  the information  given  by the individual authors.

Please  respect the time  and  efforts of  those who have written  these messages. The  copyright status  of these messages  is  unclear  at this time. If  information  is  published  from  these  messages, please give credit to the originator(s).

Thank you,
    Mark S. Harris                  AKA:  THLord Stefan li Rous
                                          Stefan at florilegium.org
************************************************************************

From: randalo at iia.org (Otelio Randall)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Aisha's Oven
Date: 2 Sep 1994 16:54:24 GMT

Unto my noble cousins, Greetings!

While at Pensic, many people asked Aisha (Aisha, Mom, or Donna, depending 
on when one spoke to her)  about the oven she used for our meals.  If 
Timothy of Arendale (sp) or one who can reach him can see this, please 
relay this to him and tell him his friends from Caid requested this 
information from me as well.

The oven used at Pensic was generation 2 of attempts to create a portable 
version of one of Aisha's 2 permanent ovens in her back yard.

The following items are needed:

14 Cinder blocks (We are planning on replacing these with fireplace 
		  bricks in generation 3)
3 sheets of grille 2'x4'
1 sheet of airconditioning/heating duct steel 3'x5 1/2'
slate roofing tiles (optional...we had stacks of them burried in Aisha's 
		     back yard from when the house was originally built.)

Dig a rectangular pit 1 1/2' deep, the sides 1'1/2 and 3' wide
Place one grille over the pit and place 7 cinder blocks around it on top 
of the grille, framing the pit.  Dig an inclined trench about 1' long 
between the two side cinderblocks (this is for rolling fresh logs into 
the fire and for shovelling coals into the oven)  If you have the slate 
shingles, line the bottom and 3 sides of the pit with them (number of 
shingles needed varies. Generation 1 took 8, Generation 2 took 12)

Place second grille on top of cinderblocks, then repeat framing with 
remaining 7 cinderblocks and place third grille on top of this

the pit should look like this when viewed from above

  ___________________________________
 |    |        |        |      |    | 
 |    |________|________|______|    |
 |    |                        |    |
 |____|                        |____|
 |    |                        |    |
 |    |                        |    |
 |    |                        |    |
 |____|                        |____|
              Trench

Bend the sheet of steel to form an "L" and lay it on top of the oven, the 
short end has to touch the middle grille.   Pack sides and back of oven 
with earth to help keep the sheet of steel from flapping off of the back 
of the oven.  Weigh the sheet down with something heavy (rocks, bricks, 
younger siblings, your next-door neighbor's smalls)  WARNING:  Generation 
2 does not have a chimney (I'm a musician and graphic artist, NOT an 
engineer) thus, smoke tends to blow out into your face.  A chimney may be 
cut and placed in the top sheet of steel, or dug through the ground to 
the back of the fire pit. (At Pensic, we left a gap in the top level ov 
cinderblocks and in the earth holding the sheet metal down to let the 
smoke out the back)

Aisha prepared two roasts, a leg of lamb, and had a pork shoulder in the 
Generation 2 oven for our feast night.  In the slightly smaller 
Generation 1 oven, she prepared a 7 course dinner large enough to feed 
herself, My Father, 3 sisters, my Grandmother, Great-Aunt, myself, my 
wife and four friends of the family.

The sheet metal on top of the oven serves for toasting bread, heating 
coffee pots (and burning the rear ends of unsuspecting men-at-arms).

I hope someone else has as much fun as Aisha and I had with it.

Grey.
 

Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Period Bread Ovens When Camping
Date: Tue, 07 May 1996 09:04:31 -0700
Organization: Intel IT Technical Publications

Greetings from siobhan!

Master Edward le Carver (I know I didn't spell that right) has recently
made quite a craft of portable bread ovens in camp. Contact him at
edwoodguy at aol.com, or his best customer, Wulfric the mad Baker,
at madbaker at ix.netcom.com

We not only cooked all the bread for 20 people's dinner in this little
charmer recently, but also cooked cinnamon rolls on a pie-pan ;-) and 
lozenges for an evening meal.

siobhan


From: Pat McGregor <patriciaX_O_McGregor at ccm.fm.intel.com>
Newsgroups: rec.food.historic,rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Brick bread oven?
Date: Mon, 24 Jun 1996 08:49:28 -0700
Organization: Intel IT Technical Publications

Kris Dow wrote:
>         I hope this is the right place to post this. I figured that the
> mostly likely people to know about this would be either you folks, or the
> people over on rec.org.sca, and you won the coin-toss. :) So, my
> question is: Does anyone have any information/know of good sources for
> information on building a small (hopefully not overly permanent :) bread
> oven outdoors? I've just recently discovered the fun of bread-baking,
> and was wondering about the possibility of building one in our backyard.
> I doubt, however, my parents would appreciate me putting up something
> meant to last a lifetime. :) Thanks. :)

Master Edward of the West has over the past year developed a portable 
(if you can carry about 50 firebricks) bread oven which we have used
at several SCA events to cook bread and other things 
in. You can contact him at "edwoodguy at aol.com", and perhaps 
Richard Smiley (cc'd on this message) will pass this along to
Edward's accomplice Sean, who has more time to answer email. ;-)

The oven works quite well when laid properly in relation to the
prevailing breezes. I don't know any details of the construction 
except that it involves the bricks and a big bucket of mud. ;-)
I have, however, both had bread baked in it and used it to reheat
dishes made in ceramic baking dishes.

pat
============================================================
PatriciaX_O_McGregor at ccm.fm.intel.com
Pat McGregor 
IT Tech Pubs:Internet writer 


From: "Susan J. Evans" <woofie at gte.net>
Date: Thu, 03 Jul 1997 18:46:16 -0400
Subject: SC - SC-Camp ovens

You can go to a building supply store where they sell bricks and get an
almost ready-made oven.  Buy a chimney liner.  It's masonry - rectangular
and open only at the ends.  Comes in various sizes.  Get enough bricks or
whatever to close the ends up.  Works great - gives you a flat botton for
your pans, plenty of space and solid construction so that the ashes don't
fly about very much and you don't have to worry about the top or sides
caving in on your dinner.  And if you rake up the coals around it, you can
use the flat top as a warming shelf while you bake stuff in it.  

Shoshonnah  


Date: Mon, 29 Dec 1997 10:57:15 +1100 (EST)
From: Charles McCathieNevile <charlesn at sunrise.srl.rmit.edu.au>
Subject: Re: SC - My Profile

On Sat, 27 Dec 1997, Mordonnade wrote:
> I would appreciate it gratefully if any of you have some good receipts for
> good hearty fare.  I have not yet tried baking in camp, haven't figured out
> how to do it over  an open fire.
>
> Mordonna

What you really need t do is find a mason who can build a small brick
dome with a floor. A good compromise is a miniature Nissen hut (those
semi-circle things like Gomer Pyle lived in) covered in dirt. Light a
fire in it, let it burn for a while, then sweep out the coals and put
your food in to bake. (This is moderately tricky. Sometimes it worked and
sometimes it didn't quite, and then we lost the oven (and the land it was
on). But this is how many medieval ovens worked)

Or take an oil drum (best one of the 4-gallon olive oil drums in the
supermarket), clean out the oil, and put a rack in it. Heap upthe coals
around it. To do a really good job, cut a strip out of the bottom, and
put in a steel plate about two inches into the thing (to stop the direct
heat). The heavier your container the better, as you can pre-heat it
properly.

Charles Ragnar


Date: Tue, 30 Dec 1997 18:15:48 -0500
From: dangilsp at intrepid.net (Dan Gillespie)
Subject: SC - dutch oven baking

Howdy from West Virginia:
        One trick that was used a lot in my Peace Corps days was to take the
largest covered pot that you could come by.  Fairly similar in design to
dutch ovens, but they were made locally of cast aluminum.  Anyway, you would
put either a layer of clean gravel or clean sand in the bottom to provide a
sort of a heat reservoir/ buffer against sudden increases in baking
temperature.  The items to be baked were placed in tins on top of the sand.
Many batches of banana & pumpkin bread were made this way by me to help
soothe home sickness & take the edge off my sweet tooth.  Most folks
probably don't realize just how much refined sugar that we consume in the
First world in our daily diets til you go where processed sugar is not a
part of the daily diet.
        With fond thoughts of spicy frogs legs soup & sesame seed candy,
                                        Antoine
Dan Gillespie
dangilsp at intrepid.net
Dan_Gillespie at usgs.gov
Martinsburg, West Virginia, USA 


Date: Mon, 5 Jan 1998 22:26:10 -0500
From: Virginia Legowik <keaeris at fred.net>
Subject: Re: SC - camp ovens

The ovens that I have built at Pennsic have been simple brick beehive
models covered with a heavy coating of clay/mud/straw about 4 inches thick
and basic fire brick floors.  It takes 100 regular red bricks for the body
and enough fire brick to cover the floor itself.  I suspect that good red
brick can be used for the floor, but I have never tried it, myself.

You build the fire inside, heat it up and get the right number of rhinoceri
inside and bake.  Getting a rhinoceros in the oven is tricky work, but we
had Vissevald help when they got petulant.

The most diffuclt part of construction is getting a piece of level ground
to put the thing on at Pennsic.  I generally make my own.  Rain will wash
your oven daubing away, so covering the oven, or putting it under some kind
of fly is a good thing, provided you don't burn the thing down in the
process.  You *really* need to lay everything out so that the coals are not
in the way as you load and unload, as well as keep a bucket of water around
to soak the ground and the unused coals at the end of the cooking.

I suppose I should find my pictures and scan them to put that up in my
firestuff directory, huh?

Fursa the firebug.

Questions and Comments should be  
Directed to: keaeris at fred.net
http://www.fred.net/keaeris/


Date: Fri, 6 Mar 1998 13:08:14 -0600
From: "Decker, Terry D." <TerryD at Health.State.OK.US>
Subject: RE: [Fwd: SC - Re: pasties]

> >A Reply from Lady Lyddy about the pasties.
>
        <deleted>
> >   Of the receipes that I have, they can be fried, baked or boiled. But
> >they are all shaped the same as the pasty we know in Cornwall. The
> >Cornish cooked on the same iron plate with the domed lid that the Irish
> >used as late as the 17th century so we know they baked them.
>
> Interesting.  How early do we know the Cornish, or other people for that
> matter, cooked on an iron plate with a domed lid and how do we know it?

The oven in question appears to be a derivative of the cloche oven.  The
cloche oven consists of a clay bake stone covered with a clay bowl, usually
with a handle on the base of the bowl.  An Athenian example can be seen in
the illustrations of Elizabeth David's English Bread and Yeast Cookery.

It may be that the oven design was introduced to the British Isles through
the ancient tin trade and was later reproduced in more durable iron, but
that is purely speculation.

Bear


Date: Fri, 6 Mar 1998 19:14:00 -0600
From: "Decker, Terry D." <TerryD at Health.State.OK.US>
Subject: RE: [Fwd: SC - Re: pasties]

> At 1:08 PM -0600 3/6/98, Decker, Terry D. wrote:
> >The oven in question appears to be a derivative of the cloche oven.  The
> >cloche oven consists of a clay bake stone covered with a clay bowl, usually
> >with a handle on the base of the bowl.  An Athenian example can be seen in
> >the illustrations of Elizabeth David's English Bread and Yeast Cookery.
>
> If I understand you correctly, the oven tells us nothing about the shape of
> what was baked in it, other than giving a maximum size. I had thought from
> Lady Lyddy's post that it might be something the pasty was somehow formed
> around or shaped in, so that its shape would support her assertion (if I
> understand it) that period pasties looked like modern Cornish pasties.
>
> David/Cariadoc

You are correct.  The shape of the oven has nothing to do with the shape of
the contents other than it must fit within the bell.  The illustrations I've
seen of the cloche ovens suggest that the diameter covered would be about
two feet at maximum and the bells were generally oval rather than circular.

Bear


Date: Tue, 05 May 1998 13:35:06 -0700
From: Librarian <betpulib at ptd.net>
Subject: SC - Re: Bee Hive Oven

Bob & Bobbe Crain wrote:
>> I have been interested in building a bee hive oven.  Can any one help
>> me find a reference to the proper design and construction of a bee hive
>> oven?   Thank you.
>> bob
>     Try Regia Anglorum's web-page far an excellent article and
>illustrations/photos of a bee-hive oven, plus a step-by step account of
>how one was constructed from historic finds, and used at re-enactments
>to bake bread.

I am currently working on a simpler version, which, though not
historically correct, may well be easier to construct and/or transport
and re-use. It involves a large clay flower pot ($10.00-$20.00 in my neck
of the woods) with a  6-8 inch hole knocked in the top  rim and a smaller
one with the entire bottom  knocked off (about $1.50). Place the large
one upside down in the fire-pit and the smaller one in the side hole,
with this 'mouth' facing the interior of the fire-pit. Cover with damp
earth and top with sod taken from the fire-pit, leaving the hole in the
top uncovered ('Bread and Salt' refers to the hole in the top being used
as a "burner" in Eastern Europe. In non-slavic areas I gather this was
not necessarily the case. For a cooking burner for pots, tho, the hole
would need to be larger, and you would need an alternate 'vent'. Don't be
alarmed if fire shoots out the hole. I surmise this is normal). Build a
fire inside. Let it get hot enough to mostly dry the mud. When ready to
bake, rake out the coals and put your bread dough or other item inside
(on a flat rock, bakestone, or pan unless you like to eat cinders. I
can't see why you couldn't rest the oven on one a paving flint). Allow to
bake as needed.

I havn't tested this, mind you, but have read reports that the flower-pot
works well on it's own, and it was a small leap for my mind to make it
into a bee-hive oven. If it ever stops raining I am going to test this
thoery, to see if it works. It's worth a shot, and I havn't much to loose
except time and 2 clay flower pots! I have shamelessly stolen the
flower-pot idea from an article in Stefan's Florilegium, a gathering of
history-related re-enactment articles, mostly from the SCA newsgroups,
containing useful information. One file is on construction bake ovens,
and there are some excellent ideas. Your search engine should be able to
find the Florilegium for you, if you are not already familliar with it.

L. Herr-Gelatt/Aoife


Date: Tue, 12 May 1998 17:13:30 EDT
From: LrdRas <LrdRas at aol.com>
Subject: SC - Portable Ovens

msca at c2i2.com writes:
<<  I am trying to come up with a reasonable portable version of oven to bake
 and cook at Estrella next year.  >>

In Elizabeth Davies bread and yeast book there are several illustrations of
"portable " ovens. She also describes them. Surprisingly they are not as large
as you might think. :-)

Ras


Date: Thu, 14 May 1998 20:41:42 -0500
From: "popdan" <popdan at airnet.net>
Subject: Re: SC - Portable Ovens

A simple portable oven is a cardboard box the size you need to bake in
covered with aluminum foil inside and out.  You will also need to cover the
lid with foil.  Place food inside box and cover with lid.  make a bed of hot
coals and place box on it and then arange a few on top.  Experiment with the
type food you will be cooking to get it down right.  It really works.

Catrin Skynith


Date: Thu, 14 May 1998 23:15:10 -0400
From: mermayde at juno.com (Christine A Seelye-King)
Subject: Re: SC - Portable Ovens

On Thu, 14 May 1998 20:41:42 -0500 "popdan" <popdan at airnet.net> writes:
>A simple portable oven is a cardboard box the size you need to bake in
>covered with aluminum foil inside and out. <snip>

>Catrin Skynith

A few years ago at Pennsic, we used these portable cardboard box ovens,
and they were great!  They were made of standard filing boxes, lined with
foil, and had wires poked through the sides to create a rack.  The lid
had a hole cut in the top with heavy celophane across it, for a window,
and we used an aluminum disposable square pan (like a brownie pan)for the
coals underneath.  I baked peach cobbler in them for our Known world
party, and they came out just great.  I was very impressed.  We even used
a couple of changes of coals, and used them for several hours for
subsequent pans.  No charring or even browning of the box.

Mistress Christianna MacGrain, OP, Meridies


Date: Fri, 15 May 1998 01:00:40 -0500
From: allilyn at juno.com (LYN M PARKINSON)
Subject: Re: SC - Bread

Re the bee hive ovens:  Mistress Catarina von Schilling had one we used
in her camp at Pennsic for her German cooking class.  There are articles
is several magazines within the last year on Egyption bread and oven
experiments.  Large ceramic or pottery flowerpots are available and much
cheaper than they used to be.  If you don't want it to look like a
flowerpot, use some clay on the outside to get a beehive look to it.
Hope this is food or thought.

Lady Allison
allilyn at juno.com


Date: Mon, 22 Jun 1998 11:48:43 EDT
From: THLRenata at aol.com
Subject: SC - Outdoor Baking (was seeking recipes)

Bonne says:

>>I come up with: a very large terra cotta pot instead of the metal bowl on
top, on the bottom, placing coals in a shallow terra cotta dish slightly
smaller in diameter than the metal griddle, and deep enough that the rim of
the dish keeps the griddle from direct contact with the coals. The shallow
dish sitting amoungst more coals.<<

A few years ago National Geographic re-created an ancient Egyptian bakery
which had been excavated near the pyramids at Giza. They had a local potter
throw some baking pots for them -- pots which looked almost exactly what Bonne
describes above.

To bake, they put a lump of dough in the bottom, shallow dish and put the big
cone shaped top on, then it was placed directly into the fire. It made huge
loaves, but when you're feeding 20,000 or so pyramid builders daily, that's
what you need.

They recreated the type of bread the Egyptian might have baked -- they found
someone who sold ancient varieties of wheat and cultavated their yeast on a
Cairo hotel balcony (not something I'd do in modern Cairo, where the air
quality -- I'm told -- is not so good.)

It's an interesting article. I have it photocopied, so if anyone wants it, e-
mail me privately and I'll sned it to you.

Renata


Date: Tue, 09 Mar 1999 07:19:22 -0800
From: Anne-Marie Rousseau <acrouss at gte.net>
Subject: SC-"period" fire pits was Re: SC - Fwd: [aten] Cook's problem

hi all from Anne-Marie

Mordonna asks about making cooksurfaces more period.

Atta girl! :) I know campstoves are soooo much easier, I applaud anyone who
uses fire.

La Maisnie, a 15th century re-enactment group that also acts as a household
in the SCA uses a firebox. In period, we would have built our fires on/in
the ground when outside, but most park sites frown on that for some reason
:). We have picturs of folks cooking on "cookstoves" inside, and we
modelled our box after that. Its rectangular, welded out of scrap steel by
a student welder who needed a project. Its got four legs that remove for
transport, and hands that stay cool so you can move it even if its got a
fire in it. Its 18" off the ground, so a good height for stirring, etc and
doesn’t hurt the grass. Its 2 ft by 4 ft, and we painted it with black BBQ
paint to make it less agregious. there are two grills that are removable so
we can put legless pots and skillets on the fire, and we're in the process
of getting the proper supports so we can hang the pots as we should.

Its not perfect, but its a good compromise.

again, good for you for going to this trouble!!
- --Anne-Marie


Date: Wed, 10 Mar 1999 06:53:37 -0800
From: Anne-Marie Rousseau <acrouss at gte.net>
Subject: Re: SC-"period" fire pits was Re: SC - Fwd: [aten] Cook's problem

Hi all from Anne-Marie

I am asked:
>Can you send more details on firebox.  I will be taking a welding class soon,
>and SCA type projects would be welcomed.

Its sheet steel, welded into a box that's about a ft deep, a yard long and
a half yard wide. If we were going to do anything different, we'd have not
done a solid weld on the bottom, so we' could have more air movement and
drainage in the rain (yes, it rains that much here :)).

The legs are pipe, and seat into sockets. 18" long. They're held in place
with a pin, so that the firebox can be moved without them falling out.
They're removable for storage and transport.

It has substantial handles that stay cool wven when the box is full of a
roaring fire. Has two removable grates of expanded steel stuff to support
pots, etc. We're making appropriate firedogs to support hanging pots too.

The sucker is heavy, but I told our happy welder that it had to be light
enough that when empty I can move it to my car, and it is. We painted it
black with bbq paint and it looks very nice.

- --AM


Date: Wed, 10 Mar 1999 08:51:21 -0500
From: Jeff Gedney <JGedney at dictaphone.com>
Subject: Re: SC - Fwd: [aten] Cook's problem

What about using some large terracotta flowerpots as braziers?
I bet that you could find a couple of the 24 inch diameter size that could
be engineered to look like period braziers.

Vent holes could be drilled with carbide masonry drills.
Add a Slightly smaller pot as a lid, and you have an instant smoker/oven.

then pots would then stack inside each other for storage.

The advantage of these pots is that they are cheap and ubiquitous, so if
they break in transit they are easily replaced.

brandu


Date: Fri, 12 Mar 1999 13:56:31 -0800
From: "James L. Matterer" <jlmatterer at labyrinth.net>
Subject: SC - Portable Pie Oven

I have a picture of some sort of portable pie oven on the WWW at:

http://www.labs.net/dmccormick/huen/mpix/mpix39.jpg

The picture is identified as being "Street sellers, 1417, Constance,
Germany." The source is P. W. Hammond, Food & Feast in Medieval England.

I was wondering if anyone had any ideas or knowledge of:

(1) the large pretzel-like objects above the pie shop, upper right.
Would these be like our modern soft pretzel, or like a sort of cake, or
a bread? Or something entirely different? They look like they would be
fun to make for an outdoor event.

(2) the portable pie oven. Is it a complete oven, where the entire
baking process was performed, or simply some sort of warmer that
transported the food to the pie shop itself? Would a "real" oven like
this really be feasible?

Huen


Date: Fri, 12 Mar 1999 13:28:45 -0600
From: "Decker, Terry D." <TerryD at Health.State.OK.US>
Subject: RE: SC - Portable Pie Oven

> I have a picture of some sort of portable pie oven on the WWW at:
> http://www.labs.net/dmccormick/huen/mpix/mpix39.jpg
>
> The picture is identified as being "Street sellers, 1417, Constance,
> Germany." The source is P. W. Hammond, Food & Feast in Medieval England.
>
> I was wondering if anyone had any ideas or knowledge of:

> (2) the portable pie oven. Is it a complete oven, where the entire
> baking process was performed, or simply some sort of warmer that
> transported the food to the pie shop itself? Would a "real" oven like
> this really be feasible?
>
> Huen

From the look of it, the oven is a field oven with a perspective problem.
The opening is much too large for a wood fired warmer or oven and the oval
shape limits the number of trapps it can hold.  Round or square chambers are
more efficient for holding product.

Using a beehive shape with circular base, the oven is quite feasible.  The
Ulm Bread Museum web site has a woodcut of a field bakery on its homepage.

http://www.opennet.de/brotmuseum-ulm/english.html

I'm slowly working on a project to build a field oven on a small trailer
body.  Time and money have been against me, but that is beginning to change.
I'm hoping to get it built this summer and get me some practice in the art
of baking in wood fired ovens.

Bear


Date: Sat, 17 Apr 1999 10:38:48 -0500
From: "Decker, Terry D." <TerryD at Health.State.OK.US>
Subject: RE: SC - Newbie with bread question

> I realize you have probably covered the topic of bread ad nausium, but I
> would like to try cooking bread with a wood fire and I thought you might
> be able to provide me with good advice and sources of information.  It
> is my goal to cook on site at our War of the Lilies this June, but I
> wanted to try it at home first to make sure I wasn't in over my head.  I
> have a small Coleman type oven that is supposed to go on a white gas
> stove, but I thought there might be a way to use it safely over a wood
> fire.  I also have a bunch of fire brick sitting in my back yard
> gathering bird poop, but I am hesitant to bring that since I go to war
> by myself and I am the only one packing all my stuff.
>
> Melisande Saucheverel
> Calontir
> Barony of Forgotten Sea

Okay, if I remember the Coleman camp oven correctly, it is made from
aluminum and designed to stand above the burner so the heat is transferred
indirectly.  If you place it directly in a wood fire, I think the
temperature differential between the bottom and the top of the oven will not
provide even baking.

Take about four of those fire bricks and raise the oven above the fire
proper.  I would build a bed of coals, then feed it slowly to keep the
temperature even and the flames low.

If you want to try a more unusual method, here's one from an ancient
Egyptian bakery:
http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~aera/Giza_Pages/Aeragram_Pages/bakeries.htm

Bear


Date: Sat, 03 Jul 1999 12:20:48 -0500
From: Helen <helen at directlink.net>
Subject: Re: SC -baking over a fire

I was inspired to bake over my camp fire this week and baked canned cinnamon
rolls and a home made peach cobbler.  I did not have a griddle big enough for my
bowl and so I used a enameled turkey roaster pan and had it a inch or so above a
bed of coal and placed coals on the closed lid.  I put pie and rolls in a foil
lined enameled plate shaped like a pie plate and the bottoms of the rolls were
only slightly burned.  I was very pleased at how they came out.  I have always
wanted fresh biscuits on campouts.  Thanks for the inspiration.

Helen


Date: Sun, 26 Sep 1999 22:03:07 +0200
From: Anna Jartin <anna.jartin at goteborg.utfors.se>
Subject: SV: SC - Bread

>I will be preparing a feast for Great Western War III in November and my
>dream is to bake bread in our 14th century encampment.  I am assuming I will
>have to bake it in a dutch oven and I will need to do a trial run (or two or
>three....) to get it down.  I would like anyone's advice on the best way to
>bake bread over an open fire, either wood or charcoal, and any proven recipes
>for such.
>
>Lady Cristal Fleur de la Mer
>Caid

I have made bread for breakfast in Visby a couple of times. In our camp we were 10 persons and I baked about 30 flat rolls at a time. I used a big cauldron with a lid which I heated for about 30 minutes over an open fire (about 10 inches above the fire).
I used a dough consisting of water, wheat flour, yeast, salt and honey, and I then made flat cakes that I allowed to rise for about 10 minutes. I put them in a circle around the bottom of the cauldron and put on the lid. I flipped them after about 5 minutes and then allowed them to bake about 5 more.
All in all I didn't spend too much time over the fire making breakfast.
My hung-over friends liked them very much with their oatmeal ; )
Hope this helps a little, at least as a sign it can be done : )

YiS
Lady Uta, Gotvik, Nordmark


Date: Mon, 27 Sep 1999 08:27:40 -0500
From: "Decker, Terry D." <TerryD at Health.State.OK.US>
Subject: RE: SC - bread

> I had reasonable success earlier this year baking bread in a Dutch oven. I
> used my standard recipe that I always use at home (I won't tell you what it
> is;  it's so haphazard I can hear Bear wincing from here, but it works
> nevertheless), left it to rise in a greased wooden bowl (lack of other
> space) and warmed up the potjie.  Greased it a little on the inside, put the
> risen dough in very carefully so I didn't squish it, having taken it out of
> its bowl and turned it upside down.  I deliberately turned it uspide down
> for 2 reasons:  I had more control over getting it into the potjie, without
> it collapsing in my fingers, and I also thought that it would continue
> rising in the pot if I put the side uppermost that hadn't formed a skin.
> This is precisely what happened.  I found that the coals which I piled on
> top of the lid were effective, but not as effective as the ones underneath
>
> (I changed them for hot ones whenever they seemed to need it), so after the
> bread had stopped rising and formed a crust on both sides I turned it over
> and let it cook the other way up.  It didn't take much longer than baking
> with an ordinary oven does, though I was at an event so didn't have a
> watch with me to cite actual timings.
>
> Cairistiona

Why should I wince at things which work?  French bakers commonly raise the
bread with the top of the loaf down in canvas-line baskets.  These are then
rolled over onto the peel so the loaf is positioned properly, then the top
of the loaf is slashed and dressed.

I've baked both pies and cakes in a Dutch oven and it is my experience that
raising the pan slightly off the bottom reduces burning.  I used a small
grill for that purpose, but I expect a few small stones might prove equally
effective.

Baking times over a good bed of coals are very close to those in a regular
oven.

BTW, putting the coals on top of the Dutch oven is to help even the heat in
the baking chamber so you don't get cold spots on top of your bake goods.
The primary heat is from underneath.

Bear


Date: Mon, 20 Mar 2000 20:52:51 -0800
From: "Laura C. Minnick" <lcm at efn.org>
Subject: Re: SC - Camp baking

Robin Carroll-Mann wrote:
> I'm thinking of getting a Coleman oven as an accessory to my stove.
> Has anyone used this?  Does it do a decent job, especially on bread?
> 
> (Yes, I know that one can bake in a firepit with a Dutch oven, etc., but
> that doesn't really work for me.)

I have an on-top-of-stove oven, though it is not Coleman brand. I love
it. Mine has a thermometer built into it so I can keep an eye on the
temp. It requires a fair amount of babysitting to maintain even temp,
but I do alot of pies and tarts in camp and it is quite useful for that.
The only problem I have (I think because it is a thin sheet-metal box
sat over the burner) is that the edges/crusts etc. tend to burn before
the insides are completely done. And as it takes up a burner, it reduces
my burner availability for other things and I have to schedule more
carefully. But I like being able to have cinnamon rolls in the morning.
My neighbors hate me for it, but hey...

'Lainie


Date: Tue, 21 Mar 2000 09:16:59 -0500
From: Elaine Koogler <ekoogler at chesapeake.net>
Subject: Re: SC - Camp baking

Robin Carroll-Mann wrote:
> I'm thinking of getting a Coleman oven as an accessory to my stove.
> Has anyone used this?  Does it do a decent job, especially on bread?

We have one and have used it on several occasions.  We have baked pies and
chicken cordon-bleu in it, but we personally have not done bread.  However, we
have friends who have used it for this quite successfully.

Kiri


Date: Tue, 21 Mar 2000 16:17:27 -0800 (PST)
From: Huette von Ahrens <ahrenshav at yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: SC - Camp baking

Robin Carroll-Mann wrote: 
> > I'm thinking of getting a Coleman oven as an accessory to my stove.
> > Has anyone used this?  Does it do a decent job, especially on bread?
> > 
> > (Yes, I know that one can bake in a firepit with a Dutch oven, etc., but
> > that doesn't really work for me.)

I have a Coleman oven that I recently bought from a
church white elephant sale.  It cost me $5.  All that
I have done with it has been to turn is on to see if
it worked.  I haven't baked with it yet.  But it
appears to me to be more like the broiler in a
conventional oven.  The flame comes from the top.  Not
below.  It also has a "burner" on the top, which you
can use to heat stuff in pots, because it uses the
escaping heat from the oven.  I now have to buy a full
propane bottle to find out how long one bottle will
last, and then I will try to bake something in it.

Huette


Date: Wed, 22 Mar 2000 01:12:13 -0500
From: Christine A Seelye-King <mermayde at juno.com>
Subject: Re: SC - Camp baking

I have the version of the Coleman camp oven that sits on top of your heat
source, presumably your Coleman camp stove.  It works very well, but as
Lainie said, it can be tough to regulate the temperature.  The first year
I used one, I was catering the Queen's Tea at Pennsic, and was baking
scones in camp the day after a huge rainstorm.  I found that I could
drape my wet towels around the oven, which dried them out, while at the
same time helping to regulate the oven temp, and kept the wind from
blowing the heat away.  It worked so well, that I was finished drying my
laundry well before I was finished baking, so I actually ended up
re-wetting some towels to do the rest!  My oven just came home from Gulf
Wars, this is the second year it has gone, and I have never been!
I have never heard of the kind of oven Huette describes, but love the one
I have that folds about 2 inches flat.

Christianna


Date: Wed, 22 Mar 2000 00:31:32 -0500
From: "Bethany Public Library" <betpulib at ptdprolog.net>
Subject: SC - Re: SC Camp Baking 

Howdy, all!

There are two different types of Coleman Ovens we are talking about here.
One actually has it's own heat source. I haven't used that type. The other
is a collapsible box which relies on an outside heat source---such as a
propane burner from a camp stove or the coals of a fire. Dutch oven cooking
is an art that needs to be taught, and the Dutch oven needs to be the
correct type with a lid that has a lip or is concave. It took a while for me
to catch on to gauging times and heats, but once I did it is simple and
works very well.  My own trick is to take the oven in and out of the fire to
regulate heat, with the coals still on the top. You need a special
pot-lifter (a modern invention), a trammel hook, a long S hook,  or hooks or
even a pair of vise-grips to do this (as long as the oven has a bail-type
handle), but it works well for me. We cook several times like this at
Pennsic just to stay in practice. We also have "mountain pie" night, just
for the kids (yeah, right!).

I have used the stove-top type oven for about 5-6 years now. It is fussy as
far as heat regulation goes and it takes some real adjustment when it is
windy (not airtight---you'll need a windbreak to reliably maintain heat). It
is labor intensive---using it requires that you stay nearby and check the
heat level frequently. It might be useful to but a piece of soapstone in the
oven, to help even out the heat level. However you can bake the sorts of
things you eat at home in it. It makes small batches of brownies, cookies,
biscuits, pies, etc without any trouble (divide a regular batch into smaller
pieces, and invest in small pans, heavy duty aluminum foil, or toss-away
aluminum pans, as the space inside is perhaps slightly wider than a
loaf-pan. The racks are adjustable, however). It bakes bread just fine,
though not to the quality of a heat-mass oven. I bought mine for about $35
new from Campmore about 5-6 years ago.

I also like (and even prefer) to use a heat-mass oven, which is possible
because I spend 2 weeks at Pennsic. The bread is much more flavorful from
such a source, since the nominal amount of smoke remaining after the fire is
swept out flavors the crust with an essence of the type of wood used to
build the fire. If you haven't had the experience, it's worth trying bread
baked in an oven where fruitwood has been used.

 Does anyone know the source of firebrick near Pennsic? I'd sure like to
have some (rather than the stones we currently use, which work so-so). It's
not possible to haul them from home, however. There was a beautiful
heat-mass oven at the north end of the Serengeti last year, near the north
gate. It had a steel-strap dome over fire brick, and then the mud churned
into straw and covering the bricks, all built onto a platform of earth
surrounded by 1x12's and stakes to retain the earth for the platform. Does
anyone know who built it and how to get the plans (if there are any)? I had
a real good look at it (actually stuck my head inside---must have looked
like a real loon) thanks to a kind gentleman who knew nothing about it in
the camp.  The dome was made out of light steel flat stock that was all
riveted to a common center, and fanned out to form the dome shape. There
were enough arms that the mud on top covered well.  I'd really like to have
one like THAT this year.

Pennsic, for me, is an opportunity to learn something new about primitive
cooking. We try to do something different each year, to build those skills.

Aoife


Date: Wed, 31 May 2000 09:50:05 -0400
From: "Robin Carroll-Mann" <harper at idt.net>
Subject: SC - Coleman oven

I bought a Coleman oven a while back, and at a camping event this 
weekend I got to try it out.  It's the kind that is a collapsible metal box 
which sits over a burner of a propane stove.  I only used it once, and 
that was to make some biscuits.  Judging by the thermometer in the 
door, I could not get the oven as hot as the 425 F that the recipe called 
for.  It would only get up to 400, even though I had the burner on full 
blast.  When I checked the biscuits at the minimum cooking time, they 
were a touch too brown on top and scorched on the bottom.  (And just 
fine in the middle.)

My lord spoke to some gentles at the fireside who said that the door 
thermometer is unreliable and that one needs to put an oven 
thermometer inside.  Has anyone else found this to be true?  And can I 
count on the door thermometer to be consistently unreliable; ie., will it 
always read 50 degrees higher or lower than reality?  If I know that it's 
just offset by a certain amount, that's easy to correct for.

Lady Brighid ni Chiarain
Settmour Swamp, East (NJ)


Date: Wed, 31 May 2000 10:42:44 -0400
From: "Alderton, Philippa" <phlip at morganco.net>
Subject: Re: SC - Coleman oven

While I don't have a Coleman oven as you've described, I have one of those
Coleman cooker/steamer/smoker/whatevers, which has a thermometer on the
outside, basicly telling you it's Cool, Cooking temp, and Hot. I put an oven
thermometer in it, to see what temperatures were where, and now I know that
if the needle is Here, the temperature is about 350- if it's There, about
450, and the other places, it's either cool or hotter than the hinges of
Hell.

Now that I know, I can do anything in it- ask Jasmine ;-) It functions as an
oven, or a burner, or anything else I need, but it wouldn't, if I hadn't
taken the time to calibrate it.

My suggestion is to get up the 3 or 4 dollars for an oven thermometer,
and calibrate your oven. It will save you worry in the long run- they're
great for checking the one in your kitchen, too.

Phlip

Philippa Farrour
Caer Frig
Southeastern Ohio


Date: Wed, 31 May 2000 17:27:34 -0700
From: "Laura C. Minnick" <lcm at efn.org>
Subject: Re: SC - Coleman oven

"James F. Johnson" wrote: 
> 'Lainie used her Coleman oven this weekend past to bake a White Torta
> and A Crust of Tame Creatures. The only problem she seems to incur was
> uneven heating on the horizontal plane (one side/edge of the Torta was
> well browned while the other was just cooked). We were discussing how to
> even the heat out, like augmenting the diffuser in the base, or adding
> stone/brick to absorb the heat and radiate it evenly.
> 
> She could probably elaborate on how well it works better than I can.
> I've never used one of those.

I was really pretty happy with the baked goods this weekend. Yes, I was
having trouble with uneven browning, but I don't think it was the oven
per se- it was quite windy and nothing was cooking evenly. Also, I had
the back and baffles up on the stove, and if there's no wind, I leave
them down so the the oven can sit squarely over the burner. 

My oven is not a Coleman brand- it's something else and I can't tell you
because it is in Eugene and I am not- but it is a box (not collapsible)
with racks that hang on the underside of the lid. The center rack can be
removed. An 8x8 foil pan will fit (well, if you crimp the edges of the
pan up a little). There is a thermometer set into the front panel and it
is pretty accurate. But if it is windy or really cold you have to keep
an eye out because it fluctuates alot. Don't lay your hotpad on top- it
will catch fire.

The uneven baking was annoying but not really a problem- there was an
almost-14-year-old boy to eat the dark bits...

'Lainie


Date: Wed, 31 May 2000 23:47:45 -0700
From: "James F. Johnson" <seumas at mind.net>
Subject: Re: SC - Coleman oven

Robin Carroll-Mann wrote:
> I bought a Coleman oven a while back, and at a camping event this
> weekend I got to try it out.  It's the kind that is a collapsible metal box
> which sits over a burner of a propane stove.  I only used it once, and
> that was to make some biscuits.  Judging by the thermometer in the
> door, I could not get the oven as hot as the 425 F that the recipe called
> for.  It would only get up to 400, even though I had the burner on full

I went to a store and looked at a Coleman collapsible stove. For those
that have never seen one, it's a little larger than a foot square (holds
up to 8" pan plus space to allow heat circulation), with vertical hinges
at the side corners and down the middle of the side walls, allowing it
to collapse front to back like an accordion. To help this, the rack
comes out, the top swings down along the front, and the bottom swings up
along the back. Heat enters an round opening in the bottom about six
inches across, with a stamped metal reinforcing bar about two inched
wide across the opening. Above the opening is a perforated metal plate
in a shallow 'V' to serve as a diffuser. There is a small vent hole on
the top and a thermometer set in the front opening door.

What I noticed is that there are a lot of gaps along the corner and side
hinges, plus the three or four pairs of holes cut in the sides where the
rack notches in. Seems to me there would be noticeable heat loss through
the sides, precisely where the diffuser directs most of the heat via
it's 'V' shape. That combined with the fact that the heat inlet sits
_above_ the gas burner by at least an inch or two, letting every cross
breeze blow the flames sideways rather than up into the oven. 

While the oven is convenient by it being collapsible into a 12-14" x 3"
x 3" package and having a front opening door, it just seems very
inefficient heat wise. Especially for US$45. Not sure I want to find out
for that investment.

I wonder if covering the sides with a layer of heavy duty aluminium foil
would improve it's performance any.

Seumas


Date: Thu, 1 Jun 2000 09:26:18 -0400
From: Christine A Seelye-King <mermayde at juno.com>
Subject: Re: SC - Coleman oven

> My lord spoke to some gentles at the fireside who said that the door 
> thermometer is unreliable and that one needs to put an oven 
> thermometer inside.  Has anyone else found this to be true?  And can 
> I count on the door thermometer to be consistently unreliable; ie., 
> will it always read 50 degrees higher or lower than reality?  If I know 
> that it's just offset by a certain amount, that's easy to correct for.
> Lady Brighid ni Chiarain

	I have found the same to be true, and it usually errs on the side of
showing a lower temp. than what is inside.  As there is no insulation in
the thing, I imagine it is reading a combination of outside and inside
temperatures.  Once you get the feel for it though, you can turn down the
burner to regulate temperatures quite well.   I was using it once at
Pennsic to make scones for the Queen's Tea, the day after a huge
rainstorm.   It was quite windy that day, the typical sunny-breezy day
that follows a rain front like that.  I found that in order to keep the
heat up inside, I had to shield it from the wind, and as I had all of
this wet laundry around, I started draping wet towels around the box. 
Not only did this work wonderfully for the scones inside, having a bit of
moisture added to the oven, ALL of my wet towels got dried off, and I
ended up having to wet a couple down a few more times to get the rest of
the baking done.  I found that the door thermostat never registered much
above 200 or 250 degrees, and I know the center of the oven was closer to
350 degrees to accomplish the bake I was getting.  

Keep playing with it, you will get the hang of it and you will love it. 
	Christianna


Date: Thu, 01 Jun 2000 20:31:24 EDT
From: allilyn at juno.com
Subject: Re: SC - Coleman oven

>>. The only problem she seems to incur was
uneven heating on the horizontal plane (one side/edge of the Torta was
well browned while the other was just cooked). We were discussing how to
even the heat out, like augmenting the diffuser in the base, or adding
stone/brick to absorb the heat and radiate it evenly.>>

Was the barely cooked side on the side of the oven the breeze/wind hit? 
If so, the heat was being blown past the torta, giving too much to the
side that over-browned.  A large wind screen might help, as well as the
aluminum foil wrap for the corners that (Brandu?) suggested.  Seumas, can
you make a wind screen from sheets of aluminum, possible hinged for easy
transport?

Possibly, the over-browned side was next to another burner that was on,
giving doubled heat to the oven on one side.

Regards,
Allison,     allilyn at juno.com


Date: Thu, 01 Jun 2000 23:43:22 -0700
From: "James F. Johnson" <seumas at mind.net>
Subject: Re: SC - Coleman oven

allilyn at juno.com wrote:
> side that over-browned.  A large wind screen might help, as well as the
> aluminum foil wrap for the corners that (Brandu?) suggested.  Seumas, can
> you make a wind screen from sheets of aluminum, possible hinged for easy
> transport?

I think sealing off gaps for air to blow in or hot air to seep out with
foil would be the quickest and easiest improvement. As for windscreens,
I think the weakest point on the heat chain is from the burner upwards
to the oven resting on the stove rack. Some ideas I have at the moment
is to either cut down a #10 can (the big ones) so it sits around the
burner, sits on the drip pan, and is high enough to support the oven at
the normal height (and remove the usual stove rack: easier than cutting
lots of appropriate slots*) so the flame is screened from any cross
wind. I don't _think_ over heating the drip pan/can/stove will occur as
the heat and flame as a path to flow up into and through the stove (as
opposed to a solid and horizontal pan bottom). I have a small wok base
that I use inverted on my Coleman (wider base upwards) that might serve
much the same purpose, except that it does have vent holes cut into it.
It might be advisable to drill a few vent holes into the can ring _on
one side_, the side you can position _away_ from the wind, to allow some
air to draw into the flame.

Actually, an aluminium 'windscreen' of a second box that fits over the
oven with a 1/2 space between would really help by providing a
insulating dead air space around the oven (rather than even the softest
breeze blowing away the air around the oven that has been warmed by
conduction, replacing it with cooler air that draws more heat away.)

I am also contemplating trying to build a rectangular oven to fit over
my stamped metal gas grill (one of those cheap ones with lava rock over
the 'H' shaped gas burner.) 
> 
> Possibly, the over-browned side was next to another burner that was on,
> giving doubled heat to the oven on one side.

I doubt it. Too far away and as I recall, there was nothing on the stove
except the oven by that point.

Seumas


Date: Sun, 04 Jun 2000 10:48:21 PDT
From: "pat fee" <lcatherinemc at hotmail.com>
Subject: Re: SC - Coleman oven

  My coleman oven works fine and the gage is very accurate.  But only if it 
is over two (2) burners.
  We just reciently used it in our display "camp" at the Crossroads Ren 
Faire, surrounded on three sides, and top by bricks.  We baked every thing 
from several kinds of breads to oat cakes to several ale cakes.  Every thing 
turned out fine and it made the best biskets.  Yummm.

   Lady Katherine McGuire


Date: Tue, 21 Jun 2005 13:04:00 -0400
From: "Mairi Ceilidh" <jjterlouw at earthlink.net>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Meat Pies (partially cooked)
To: "Cooks within the SCA" <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>

> Does anyone know where one can get a functional non-period camping  
> oven? (I'll worry about period later. :) )
> I'd much rather reheat these as 'baked' than 'fried'.\

Coleman makes one that sits on top of your camp stove, and is usually
available at WalMart type places.  It folds down, so it takes no space at
all when packing.  The negative is that it is small, no more than +/- 15x15
at the most, maybe smaller.

What I use is a propane smoker.  Remove the chip tray and water pan, and it
will get up to 425*.  Mine has four racks that will hold 9x13 or so pans.  I
wouldn't do a major camping event without it.  The negative is that it takes
up a LOT of space when it is time to pack.

If you are not feeding many, you may do fine with the Coleman model.  I  
feed 40+ in camp, so need more cooking space than some.

Mairi Ceilidh


Date: Tue, 21 Jun 2005 14:42:23 -0400
From: "Terri Morgan" <nothingbutadame at inthe.sca.org>
Subject: RE: [Sca-cooks] Meat Pies (partiallycooked)
To: "'Cooks within the SCA'" <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>

Mairi wrote:
> Coleman makes one that sits on top of
> your camp stove, nd is usually available
> at WalMart type places.  It folds down,
> so it takes no space at all when packing.
> The negative is that it is small, no more
> than +/- 15x15 at the most, maybe smaller.

I've got one of these. I used it at Gulf Wars and found that if you seal the
thing with foil on the outside, it works. If you don't - it doesn't. But
then, it's a cheap product. Cheap or not, however, I cooked rolls, buns, and
pasties in it with no problem other than finding small enough pans to fit
inside. The food came out evenly cooked (once the foil idea blossomed) and
didn't taste of the gas used to heat it. I, too, had puppy-dog faced
fighters watching my oven for me while I worked. It was a grand thing to be
able to thank them for their help insetting up our camp!

    The oven is a propane-waster, though. But with anything needing 15-30
minutes of baking time, that's going to happen. I've retired the oven in
favour of a cast iron pot in the coals (when I can have a fire).

Hrothny


Date: Wed, 22 Jun 2005 21:44:16 +0000
From: "K Francis" <baronesskay at hotmail.com>
Subject: [Sca-cooks] camp ovens
To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org

Just for silly, I will mention that I have been using a nonstick butterfly
omelet pan for years to 'bake' biscuits for myself at SCA events.  I use it
over a diffuser (has a folding handle!) and over a very low flame, simply
turn the omelet pan over several times during the normal cooking time and
checking it now and then.   The biscuits fall to the other side and continue
to cook just fine.  Works like a charm!

Purists - stop reading here, you were warned.......It just fits the 5
biscuits or cinnimon rolls that come in a tube!!

Katira


Date: Sat, 25 Jun 2005 23:56:10 -0500
From: "otsisto" <otsisto at socket.net>
Subject: [Sca-cooks] Dutch oven retailer  was: Trivet
To: "Cooks within the SCA" <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>

Dutch ovens
http://www.campfirecafe.com/category.html?UCIDs=1194948%7C1222171
They also sell Trivets

Lyse


Date: Wed, 13 Jul 2005 14:46:19 -0400
From: <kingstaste at mindspring.com>
Subject: RE: [Sca-cooks] Neat find!
To: "Cooks within the SCA" <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>

Vladimir wrote: [about the Coleman camp ovens which are used on top of their stoves]
>>>
I was hoping to recieve this kind of feedback, what kind of 'temperature
problems'?

And yup, it folds down flat.
<<<

It is not air tight, nor should it be.  However, on a windy day it is really
tough to hold onto your heat.  Once, in a Kingdom long, long ago (Twentieth
Year Celebration at the Texas Ren Faire Site), the sun went away and it did
rain mightily for several days.  After the rains abated, we were left with
squishy ground and brilliant sunshine.  It just so happened that this was
the day before Meridies was hosting a Royal Brunch.  I was baking scones,
and used the oven to dry the wet towels (and everything else) by wrapping
them around the box during the baking day.  This still allowed air to vent
out, but didn't let the wind blow through it.  Towards the end of the baking
time, I was re-wetting towels and wrapping them around the oven to finish
up.  The extra moisture helped the scones from drying out as well.
Oh, and the temp gauge on the front door is a ... suggestion.
You've basically got a thin metal box that diffuses heat from the bottom,
and is pretty efficient at that.  There is no insulation on it whatsoever,
so you have to make allowances.

Christianna


Date: Wed, 13 Jul 2005 14:58:54 -0400
From: <kingstaste at mindspring.com>
Subject: [Sca-cooks] Coleman Oven, was: Neat find!
To: "Cooks within the SCA" <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>

>>>
So basically, a good starter oven, but not good for baking anything too
'delicate'?

And watching your contents carefully is a good idea.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In Service to Crown and Society,
Vladimir Armbruster
<<<

Under normal circumstances, it serves very well.  You will want to get an
8x8 or 9x9 pan that fits it, or find the foil ones each time.
We have used ours to do lots of pastry-type baking: the aforementioned
scones, cornbread, biscuits, quiche, pizza, cobbler, brownies and cookies.
I have not tried to bake any meats in it, although I'd guess it would be
fine for smaller cuts rather than roasts that might take up all the thermal
mass inside the box.  I wouldn't call it a starter oven, it is a nice
portable tool.  It has limitations, but hey, we're campin'!

Christianna


Date: Wed, 13 Jul 2005 15:23:41 -0400
From: "Jeff Gedney" <gedney1 at iconn.net>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Neat find!
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>

> I just stumbled on a 30$ Camp *OVEN* at Coleman..
>
> http://www.coleman.com/coleman/colemancom/detail.asp? 
> product_id=5010D700T&categoryid=27400
>
> Yeah, its cheating.
> No.. I don't care. ;)

I have seen plenty of these.
These are tiny (you can barely fit a six-muffin tin in there)
Its just a metal box that sits on top of a coleman burner, you
need the stove to run it, and it is not very robustly made, and doesn't  
retain heat well when you open the door.
If you are cooking for your self or just a couple of folks they are  
probably ok, but this is definitely not what you need in most SCA  
"house" encampnents.

Capt Elias
Dragonship Haven, East
(Stratford, CT, USA)


Date: Wed, 13 Jul 2005 12:49:30 -0700
From: "Jill Brown" <ldygab at msn.com>
Subject: [Sca-cooks] Neat Find
To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org

My Lord - I have one and have used it quite often, I like it.....yes, it
does have a temperature problem..you have to pay attention to what you are
cooking...I have also put foil on the top to cover holes to prevent some
heat from escaping...but no matter...it's a simple but functional item...I
have cooked custards, cakes, muffins...and warmed up chicken...

Gab


Date: Thu, 13 Apr 2006 10:14:50 -0400
From: "marilyn traber 011221" <phlip at 99main.com>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] how to make bread
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>

> Over the years, I've used several different types of field ovens and
> I prefer Dutch ovens for field baking.  I haven't experimented with
> brick heat mass ovens, but they aren't real portable.  The Coleman
> oven should be adequate, but it may not be economical, as they tend
> to lose heat.  Each oven has its own characteristics that can only
> be learned by experience.
>
> Bear

Think about the Coleman ovens is that they're so thin-walled, that they'll
lose heat easily. You need to keep them out of the wind. On colder days, it
helps to layer them with tin foil, to help trap the heat a bit more, but in
really cold weather, they're worthless- won't get to and maintain a cooking
heat.

Phlip


Date: Wed, 20 Jun 2007 14:16:12 -0300
From: Diane & Micheal Reid <dmreid at hfx.eastlink.ca>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Help!!!  Camp Ovens
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>

  If you owned the land you could do what we did. We made a brick oven in
day using a 45 gallon drum as a mold for bricks . Split in half bottom
inverted for fire bed, with smoke stack out the back and top a piece of
granite for baking bed. It took a while to work out the kinks but it served
bread for a couple of weeks before failing. Course it took time getting the
brick, mortar, and crew together. Couple of days drying before firing.

  Cealian


Date: Mon, 08 Sep 2008 12:39:09 -0700
From: aeduin <aeduin at roadrunner.com>
Subject: [Sca-cooks] Camp ovens, again
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>

We ordered the Amish Camp Oven that was discussed on the list a while 
back but we got it from www.msiwix.com.  They had it in stock though 
we got the last one until he picks up more.

It works well on a Camp Chef 3-burner stove.  With two burners on low 
it got to 375 fairly quickly.  The only problem is that the 
thermometer in the door was low by about 100 degrees.  I've emailed 
the company and he thinks it is a defective thermometer and will get 
us a replacement.

We cooked a pork tenderloin and a loaf of bread concurrently 
yesterday.  The roast took about the expected amount of time, the 
bread a bit longer.

My only other issue is that it isn't insulated.  I wonder if a layer 
of kaowool would improve performance.

We'll have it at Great Western War in a month if people want to see 
it in action.

aeduin


Date: Mon, 8 Sep 2008 13:10:48 -0700 (PDT)
From: Cheri or Anne <celticcheri at yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Camp ovens, again
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>

I line the bottom of my camp oven with fire bricks (purchased at the local Ace Hardware), they help maintain even heat distribution and keep it more consistent. I've been quite happy with the performance of the oven since I've started to use them. Added benefit is that once the fire is turned off, the oven will stay warm for quite some time.

Anne


Date: Fri, 29 May 2009 16:32:53 -0500
From: "Terry Decker" <t.d.decker at att.net>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Bread Question from someone not on this list
To: "Cooks within the SCA" <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>

At 320 degrees F, we're talking about one of the electric smokers.  The 
propane version is good only to 250 degrees.  Smoking is not an issue 
because that is done by adding "flavor bisquettes."  With insulating 
blankets and electronic control, the temperature should be more even than 
that of a camp oven.  It is also low enough that a digital probe thermometer 
can be used to measure chamber temperature.

From what you say, she's thinking about packing the four or six racks with 
little tins.  If she does it, I would expect to see the bread closest to the 
heat source overbaked, the bread on the top rack about what one wants and 
the bread in the middle underbaked.  When you pack the bread into a small 
space, there is a tendency to develop cold spots in the baking chamber.  I 
would use a middle rack (maybe two) and prepare a couple of one pound 
loaves.

I'm also willing to bet that is she bakes those loaves for three hours as 
you seem to suggest, she'll have some fine cereal bricks.

Baking in this environment is sure to be a little tricky, so running some 
tests to see what works will be necessary.

Bear

<<< It seems she has a Bradley smoker, with insulating heating blankets?  The
idea was to put many small loaves in tins in the smoker at about 3 in the
morning, and have hot fresh bread for breakfast at 6.
I would wonder about the "smoker".  Smoked brisket yes, bread, not so 
much.

I have done biscuits in my little oven on the wood stove before, but never
bread because the temperature is pretty unpredictable over an hour.  My
other half is looking into building a beehive when next we camp.

Aldyth >>>


Date: Fri, 29 Apr 2011 14:49:58 +1000
From: bsrlee <bsrlee2 at pacific.net.au>
Subject: Re: [Lochac] ovens at Festival
To: The Shambles: the SCA Lochac mailing list <lochac at lochac.sca.org>

The ones used by Agaricus this year were two 'Jackeroo' portable gas 
ovens which have two extra burners on top and 'piezo' ignition, so no 
problems with soggy matches or dead batteries. They also come with a 
carry/storage bag & a gas hose/regulator. 'Jackeroo' is K-Mart 
Australia's house brand, and price varies, but I bought one for less 
than $200 as a 'Manager's Special'. There was also a gas 'Pizza Oven', 
also K-Mart house brand, which had battery ignition - we used a gas 
lighter as the batteries were flat. Shop around & be prepared to wait 
until they are on special, then get in quick.

In reserve I had a Coleman folding oven - as well as the warning about 
breezes, these cannot support much more than a pie on their single wire 
shelf - if you put too much in the wire shelf pulls out of the tiny 
retainers & falls, spilling everything. 

DAMHIK

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