This is quite a thread going about knives and scouting ! Knives are only one example of the PC unreality out there ( or in there.) The Ranch is a frequent site for the local cub scout pack. I was asked to prepare a meal and teach the boys. 5 dutch ovens, cowboy coffee pot ( cocoa) and a hand cranked icecream maker were well attended as the parents arrived. One mother had a fit! Cooking food that way would lead to "diseases" It was dirty, it was, well, OUTSIDE! Turns out the poor kid thought hot food came from a drive through window or the microwave. Peer pressure ( and tahitian vanilla icecream without wood cellulose ) won that arguement! The local harware store had to special order more dutch ovens. It was amazing what he found behind his old stock!

Hey! It ain't camp food if it doesn't have a little grit in it to aid digestion! <br><br>Dutch oven cooking is one of more fun activities in camp. The leaders patrol in our troop tries to out do each other on campouts. One leader made dutch oven french toast for breakfast that was out of this world. The recipe came from Scouter magazine. The scouts tend to follow their noses and invade our patrol area around meal time asking for tastes. We send them on their merry way and remind them to plan their menus better for the next outing!

Here's the recipe I mentioned.<br><br>Peachy Dutch Oven French Toast<br><br>Egg mixture ingredients:<br>* 1 dozen eggs<br>* 2 cups milk<br>* 1/2 teaspoon vanilla<br>* 1 tablespoon cinnamon<br>* 1 loaf of French or Italian bread, sliced<br>* 1/2 pound butter or margarine<br>* 1 pound brown sugar<br>* 3 one-pound cans of peaches, drained and quartered<br><br>Heat a large Dutch oven by covering it with coals for 15 minutes. Beat the eggs, milk, vanilla, and cinnamon in a large mixing bowl. Slice the bread and let it soak in the egg mixture.<br>Remove preheated oven from coals and melt butter in the bottom. Add brown sugar and mix well with butter until caramelized. Put the drained peaches over the caramelized sugar. Place the eggbread mixture on top of the peaches, cover with lid, and return the Dutch oven to the coals.<br><br>Bake 45 minutes at about 350 degrees (medium hot coals). (Cooking time is shorter if the temperature is higher, but watch the edges so they don't burn.) For the first 10 minutes, use coals on the bottom only. Then add coals to the oven top and continue baking until done. With the caramel topping, you probably won't even need syrup.<br><br>Option: Try substituting 3 pounds sliced bananas for peaches.<br>Serves 8.

Thats it! Im tossing out my mainstay rations and esbit stove! My new PSK is my oldest, 10" Dutch oven ! Heres some trivia; they are called "dutch ovens" because the old settlement of New Amsterdam ( Sleepy Hollow theme music) used them extensively. The cast ironware actually came from Great Britain. Our modern oven is the product of an obscure 'smith named Paul Revere. Paul added the tripod legs and the flanged lid.

Not having horses to lug my stuff around, we only have two dutch ovens - a 12" and a 12" deep - that are reserved for car camping and "special occasions" at home. Dutch oven cooking is awesome. They are a mainstay in our unit, which has one for each patrol. I honestly have not had a bad meal cooked by the boys - they take to it well and the parents all take note of it.<br><br>...and I had to whip up a batch of french toast when I went home for lunch - gee, Willie timed his remarks poorly (or well, depending on how you look at it)!<br><br>Tom