pre heat test for your dutch oven

[bobhenry]

I found this on an Australian D.O. forum.

Simple and practical

Testing camp oven heats by paper test

Here’s a way to determine the heat of an oven when using coals from a fire.

Pre-heat the oven on a bed of coals. Place a piece of paper inside the oven to find out what heat the oven is at. The paper will change color according to the heat of the oven within a few moments.

HEAT DEGREES PAPER TEST

Very hot oven 500 Dark brown

Hot oven 375-400 Light brown

Moderate oven 325-375 yellow

Slow oven 250-325 Crust

TOO BLOODY HOT
Black & on fire!

didn't understand "crust" but the rest made sense just toss in a piece of white paper and give it a few minute and read your results.

[S. Heisley]

Clever idea, BobHenry. Thanks for sharing.
I'm guessing that "crust" might be a little bit of brown on the edges and maybe a slight curling around the edges of the paper, sort of like a pie crust?

[StPatron]

Thanks BobHenry, I'll have to try that out.

I've used the "how long can you comfortably keep your hand over it" method before, which works pretty well.

I think Sharon's on target with the crust description, but you might have to make a research trip to Australia in order to confirm it.