camp cooking

[stephent-TNT]

I make these out of 4 1/2 horseshoes (just over 12" in diameter on the outside). Some people use a few more for additional strength, but I can stand in the middle of this one and bounce up n down and it doesn't bend or break....nuff said there.

They work for the flat bottom skillets/DO's/etc to help keep them stable and up enuff to put the briquettes/coals under them. I have a bean pot that has the 3 little legs under it, but they are not long enuff for my tastes. I also made a 3 legged tripod-crane for hanging the cast iron stuff from chains over the fire.

It works very well even for my coffeepot. I made the top where it hooks together sloppy so it would level up a bit easier....3 "S"-hooks thru the emt tubing flattened on one end with a drilled hole and then thru each other and bent shut. "S"hooks also support the chain and whatever bail you hook under them..I like cooking my beans outside with that little CI gallon and a half round bottom pot in the tripod picture.

 

[stephent-TNT]

I also make these simple charcoal holders for the cast iron lids without the outside upturned ring.. It's just a simple 1 1/2" to 2" tall sheet metal ring. This one is on a slightly rounded DO lid with the horseshoe trivet legs under it. Nothing new, but it's quite useful.

 

[CAJUN LADY-TNT]

Very cool horse-shoe trivet!

 

[stephent-TNT]

Thanks CAJUN LADY..... I made myself 2 of those and use one on coals to cook with and one off to the side for a hot lid holder. It really helps keep the lids clean. Specially if there's hot coals on top of it still and you are just checking yer biscuits,,,,or something...lol
I could sell 10 of those easily this week if I made them and put them on my FB page.. Lots of scouting in this area and many folks are discovering/rediscovering cast iron camp cooking too. There's a few calls for the sheetmetal ring to hold coals on top of round top lids too, I think my next one of those will just have simple half-across slots to hold it together and be adjustable for differing size lids too..The quickie weld shove the rod thru the metal looks like a mud fence but works...but isn't adjustable.

 

[tomhawk]

Used horse shoes make good trivets. I could not find a horse shoe source around here. I should have checked in the Mennonite community near here, they have many active horse and buggies.

Instead I made a trivet for my 10" dutch oven out of 3/8" rebar.


Some features I found for this design:

• It disassembles compactly to store several trivets in a single dutch oven.
• The disassembled ring works as trivet in the dutch oven to elevate small pans from the bottom.
• The legs are removable bolts and thus may be changed to different lengths (heights).
• It fits an inverted lid for use as a fry pan.
• A 12" dutch oven is acceptably stable on it. Other types of pans should fit too.

I made another where the legs splay out a bit that I think looks better and might be even more stable:


Here is how I did it:


Welded 3/8" nut to rebar:


The most difficult part for me was bending the rebar. I bent it cold but I would guess heating with a proper torch or forge would make it easier. My circles were not perfectly round. I think the most important part is to get it fairly flat so the dutch oven does not rock. That is probably not going to make much difference functionally but rocking lacked aesthetic appeal. I used galvanized nuts and screws that should be food safe as long as they are not immersed in acid food. I don't plan to have my food directly contact with the trivet anyway.

Tom

 

[bobhenry-TNT]

You will never guess where I get mine.....

 

[ae6black]

Bob, I never would have thought of this if you hadn't posted it before. What do you use in a Dutch Oven for a Pizza? I suppose you need a trivet of some sort. I haven't wanted to buy one when I saw what Lodge wanted for theirs.

Art

 

[bobhenry-TNT]

Put your camp lid on the trivet (gas stove grate) smooth side up ( handle down) . Place your makin's on the lid and invert a skillet also placed upside down . (The lid should fit the skillet ). Add your coals to the bottom of the now upside down skillet as well as a few under the lid. The shallower skillet allows the heat to be a bit closer to the food for a much crispier crust. I wait till the last 4-5 minutes before I add the cheese topping so it will not over cook. If you are worried about burning the crust place a single layer of parchment paper between the lid and the crust.

Hint: diameter of the skillet times two for a coal count and place 3/4 of them on the skillet and 1/4 under the lid.

 

[tomhawk]

There are a lot of advocates for the "inverted" DO pizza method.
I am thinking rebar trivets would work well for this too.

• Place DO upside down on a trivet.
• Place at least one additional trivet on top of the upside down bottom of the DO to contain coals.
• [optional] If DO has legs, wire this trivet to the bottom to stabilize it and give you something to hold onto.
• Preheat the inverted DO by placing coals under it and ontop.
• Use heavy gloves to prevent burning yourself.
• Lift the heated DO bottom off the heated DO top. Slide an uncooked pizza onto the top and replace the bottom over the lid and pizza.
• Allow the pizza to cook.

You want this to be really hot to make the crust brown properly. Those Neopolitan pizza ovens are way over 500 degrees F!
A 10 inch DO is a bit small for pizzas. If it is hot enough, you can be done cooking the next pizza before you finish eating the first. A wind screen might be helpful to improve heat retention.

A problem is how to lift the hot DO bottom off the cooking pizza. It has no usable handle. I guess you could use your welding gloves. If you attach the rebar rings with wire to the bottom handle flange, you could grab on to the legs on the rings to lift the bottom of the DO off the lid.

Tom

 

[dwg16b]

Very cool horse-shoe trivet!

What she said! and another reason to play with fire.