Why should you buy a “Potjie Pot” or a three Legged Dutch Oven?

I finally had some time to put pen to paper ( or finger to keyboard lol ) and give a little info why you should get one.

these are heavy three-legged cast iron pots used in south africa to cook food …

here is why you should get one and have it as a Bug in tool :

1. They are almost indestructible and should last a 100 years or more with the proper care.
2. These pots make use of what ever fuel you have on hand – there are tails of people using cow dung or even small twigs and grass to fuel them when wood is scarce.
3. They use very little fuel and once hot, stay hot for very long.
4. They do not waste calories into the fire like a barbecue – all the fat from the meat and veg is retained
5. The meat cooked traditionally in the pot is lower quality and tougher – because its slow cooked this doesn’t matter.
6. You can use the lid turned upside down on the fire as a frying pan
7. Because the fat doesn’t fall in the fire,(which causes most of the BBQ smoke ) it can be nearly smokeless.
8. You can easily bake bread in the pot in the form of dumplings and other “pot bread”

When we go hunting we take this pot with us.. when you get up in the morning, you stoke up last nights camp fire coals and add some fresh wood, fry your breakfast on the lid .. eggs.. last nights pot bread (dumplings) and left overs from the pot …

chop up your meat and veg for the day and add it to the pot left overs etc …

pop some bread dough on the top of the meat and veg for dumplings

and take some coals from the camp fire  about 5 good fist sized coals is all you need to cook the pot for the day..

then close up the pot and walk away for 3 hours.. go fishing .. hunting … on patrol etc…

this pot does quite well unattended …

then come back around mid day and eat …

replace the ingredients and go out again …

come back 3 hours later and eat again …

leave on the fire and put in some more dumpling bread dough for the morning and let them steam overnight .. then repeat again the next day …

you can slow cook anything with the pot…

tactically these are very sound camp cookers

I have even set them up to use a solar concentrator using an old satalite dish covered in tin foil .  the thickness of the pot makes them very good for solar cookers as they are black and absorb the heat well, the heat distributes evenly and the pots retain heat well…

Here is some of the wild goat stew I made and below is an indication of the amount of smoke and firewood i used to cook the whole meal ( it actually took less wood then shown )

Just found this video on a channel I follow

It’s got awesome info on getting and using one

Try my award winning “Chicken and cream Potjie” recipe

put in the pot in this order:

1 spoon oil — stir around and heat till it’s smoking

2 large onions, cut in rings and placed along the whole bottom ( cooks to nothing but stops meat from burning)

one chicken – cut into 8 pieces and salted

1 teaspoon crushed garlic

1 handful of sliced mushrooms

6 potato’s quartered,

6 carrots washed but unpeeled, sliced in rounds

2 cups of cream

2 cups of stock ( one cup wine and one cup boiling water with 2 stock cubes )

DO NOT STIR ( i really mean it)

bring the boil cook with a half closed lid ( keeps bugs out ) till its thickening – about 2 hours

Fish out the bones – the meet should just fall off

serves 4 – 6 — serve with rice on the side, or add more potatoes, if you have more than 6