As a newbie to camp oven cooking, just need to know what other people do after cooking in co.  Do you give outside of co a spray with cooking oil once all cleaned or just worry about inside of co.

If I know that it will sit a while before I use it again I will do the outside with oil, it can't hurt. Especially my collectables. Just don't wash them with detergent.

After cooking....wash....scrape and dry then spray cooking oil.inside and out...and wipe dry with paper towels......let them air out for some time before storing away....dont store in a air tight plastic box...(they can get rancid)...unless your using it each day while travelling.

(Thats what we do...remember no detergent when washing.........we 3/4 fill with water...put back on fire to boil)

Dave

You will get as many different opinions as there are brands of camp ovens!

In my opinion exterior surface rust on a camp oven looks unsightly but that could be because I'm used to dark oiled well-seasoned cast iron - shrug.   Surface rust on the outside of a camp oven is a nuisance because it stains your tea towels/oven mitts and anything else you touch.   

You only need a very light coating of oil to act as a moisture/oxygen barrier to prevent rust forming.  Too much oil used to wipe over a camp oven before packing it away may well lead to rancid ovens - puddles of oil could form in the bottom of the oven when the excess oil slides off the side walls.

For my cast iron - after washing I dry thoroughly over heat, then I use an oily paper towel to give the inside and outside a bit of a wipe over while it is still fairly warm, then put it inside my canvas bag once it cools down.  I don't think I have ever seen rust on my cast iron ovens once they are thoroughly seasoned - maybe because they don't sit unused long enough   ;)

I once put away my new carbon steel Bedourie without wiping the outside with oil.  I had dried it thoroughly over heat but only oiled the inside.  There was a lot of orange powder [surface rust] on the outside when I got it out of the cupboard about 2 weeks later.

:o   Lesson learnt - oil all over! 
Now I dry thoroughly using heat, wipe lightly with oil, then put back over high heat to 'lightly season' before packing it away.   My 'blued' carbon steel Hillbilly doesn't seem to rust as heavily as the Bedourie, but it will if not oiled.

I don't know why carbon steel doesn't season the same way cast iron does but it doesn't make much difference to me because I heat dry - oil - pack away both types of ovens - I just use a tad more oil and a second bout of heat on the steel.


HTH
LG

There are as many ways of looking after your camp ovens as there are directions and strengths of the winds.

Some traditional and some modern.

I season my camp ovens using olive oil and when stored they have a very light coating of olive oil inside and out.

As for cleaning I am very non traditional. I use hot soapy water and a Teflon scouring pad. Wipe dry and lightly coat with olive oil.  I have several dozen camp ovens so they can be stored for quite a while before reusing and I have never had go rancid.

Only time I have seen a rancid oven is if it has had a fatty meat cooked in it and then not cleaned properly.

As for not using detergent, I honestly believe that comes from the "good old days" when detergent wasn't available and people used whatever method they could to clean them. In some cases even scouring them out with sand.

Cheers


Derek  [smiley=chef.gif]

only time we cooked a meal when the CO was rancid was when the CO was oiled and stored in a air tight plastic bin......the chicken went black.and the stink...putrid......didnt notice it till it heated up

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You sure it wasn't oiled with old sump oil.  ;D ;D ;D ;D

Crikey that must have been upsetting.

It was canola oil.....bit too much when oiled to put away......only salution was to scrub it and re-season the CO.....after that we use canola oil spray thinly and wipe it dry then air before storing away in wooden box

a lesson learnt..... :-[ at first we thought the chicken was burnt........but it wasnt cooked...peeeeeeuuuuuu!!

Dave

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oh dear Dave - hope nobody ate it and got upset tummies!

Made me wonder... why doesn't canola, or any other oil for that matter, go rancid in the plastic bottles they sell them in these days?  I can understand while they are sealed, but once opened - shouldn't we see and smell the degradation over the next few weeks?

Antioxidants inhibit oxidation by air, which makes fats, especially unsaturated fats, turn rancid
src: http://alibi.com/food/7072/What-Makes-Food-Go-Bad.html

So... we rub oil onto our metal to prevent it from rusting - but the air should make the oil go rancid? 

OOOH my brain hurts now, must drink more muscat to alleviate the pain   ;)

After each use, I religiously coat my COs inside and out with either vegetable oil or animal fat. Furthermore when greasing, I focus equally on maintaining a good non-stick and water resistant patina on both the inside and the outside of the pot.  I particularly hate rolling out of my swag in the early morning after a heavy dew only to find fresh rusty residues on camp ovens which were left by the fireside from the night before.
Rusty pots are unsightly and with time and continued neglect, the rust may gouge deep pits, ruts or holes into a CO, which may seriously compromise the performance of the cookware. This situation is so unnecessary and wasteful, when it only takes a few seconds to oil a pot after each use.

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Hi Alan
I try to season my pots with animal fat, i don't get too concernerned with the outside usually just rub over the outside with whatever i wipe out of the inside after cooking a roast then maybe back on low heat to burn off any excess that said my pots don't look as pretty as some of the others on this site on the outside. I also live a long way from salty air so rust takes a while to get going, i always cook on coals so whatever i have tried on the outside seems to burn off after a few runs in the ash.
if you wash it out with detergent make sure its air dried properly (but not for too long) a week max) then wipe with a greasy/oily rag.
I also gently pre heat my oven before cooking anything that way any bugs are or other nasties have cooked out. and i get time for an extra beer :D
Mook
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