First off, let me thank *everyone* who helped me figure out where to start on Dutch ovens. I wanted to try cooking in one while on a Girl Scout training campout last week.

I ended up buying a #12 Lodge oven, the welder's gloves, and the lid lifter.

I'm happy to report that the DO worked great, and my cherry crisp was the highlight of our evening meal! I took Chris' advice & threw in two burrito-sized flour tortillas to act as a scorch & moisture buffer. The old heads at the campout were highly impressed with that technique. (BTW, I gave ETS full credit for the info....)

I didn't have any scorch marks (I rotated the pan 90 degrees clockwise & the lid 90 degrees counterclockwise to reduce any hot spots).

Because they weren't scorched, the tortillas were actually a delicious part of the crisp. They soaked up some of the sweet cherry juice and mooshed up nicely into the dessert.

If I could only buy one accessory, it would be the welder's gloves. They were a godsend.

Thanks to all of you who gave me advice!

Very cool! Keep using it - you'll learn all kinds of savory things to do with it. Pretty soon you'll be wanting a second one... <grin>