A dozen men and women created contemporary dishes and desserts in the cast-iron utensils of a bygone era at the inaugural Dutch Oven Cook Off Cookin' for a Cure.

The event, held earlier this month in Piedmont, was a warm-up for outdoor cooks who may soon be preparing meals in their Dutch ovens for summer camping trips.

Shelia Hernandez and Shirley L'Esperance of Blisters for Sisters organized the fundraising event as a benefit for Avon Walk for Breast Cancer. It attracted first-time cooks as well as others who have owned and cooked with Dutch ovens for years.

Even a spring blizzard couldn't detract from the festival feeling of the outdoor cooking contest.

"We dug out, loaded up the snow blower and cleared out all the snow on the deck," Hernandez said of the back deck of The Barn, a rural Piedmont roadhouse.

Nine people competed in the cooking contest while 10 more warmed up inside The Barn. Shanesa and Wade Rhodes of Piedmont decided to enter the contest at the last minute.

"We thought this would be fun," Shanesa Rhodes said.

At their home, Wade Rhodes is the undisputed grill master. They decided to expand their repertoire into Dutch oven cooking, buying two cast-iron pots with flat lids that morning.

"It's about as new as it can get," she said of the new utensils.

"It's fun actually and pretty easy to do," she added as she began preparations for enchiladas.

Tom and Nancy Russell of Black Hawk borrowed their Dutch oven. Having owned their own catering business, the Russells were pretty comfortable in the kitchen. But they also were intrigued enough to try out a simple recipe in the cookoff.

"It was our first try, but it didn't look too complicated and we wanted to keep it simple," Tom Russell said of his recipe. For the finishing topping to his beef skillet, he was torn between using croutons or crushed crackers.

"We chose to go with the Ritz crackers," he said.

Casey Besler, a Bison native, lived in Alaska when he learned his signature dish of Plank Salmon - salmon cooked on a cedar wood plank. "I like to cook," he said.

The contest was all the motivation Besler needed to buy his first oven and enter his first Dutch oven "rodeo." For this event, he brought along some country-style pork ribs, a variety of sauces and a chopped onion sweetened by molasses.

"It doesn't take much to get started in this," he said of the new cooking method.

Stacy Dole agreed.

"It's not hard at all; you're only limited by your imagination," she said.

Handy Dutch oven tools

Leather gloves to protect hands.

Shovel to move coals (a folding camp shovel is the best).

Whisk broom to sweep ashes from the lid.

A long lid lifter to remove the oven from heat.

A hot pot pliers, with specially designed jaws to grip the oven lid securely.

What's a Dutch oven?

Dutch ovens have been used by people for hundreds of years and are still popular today. When the American frontier was being settled, pioneers cooked outdoors, putting their large, heavy cast-iron pots directly into the coals of an open fire. Dutch traders purchased many of these pots for trading with Indians. The pots became known as "Dutch ovens."

As the exploration movement traveled west in America, so did the Dutch oven. It's recorded that one of the most important pieces of equipment in the Lewis and Clark expedition was a Dutch oven.

A Dutch oven has a flat bottom sitting on three short legs protruding about two inches. It has a strong wire handle and the lid is made of cast iron with a small handle in the center. The rim of the lid is flanged so that hot coals will stay on the lid while cooking. Dutch ovens come in different sizes and weight from 7 to 30 pounds.

Recipes are Dutch-oven delicious

The secret to the Dutch oven cooking success may be the food is layered in the oven as well as how the charcoal briquettes are layered on the exterior. Mary Taylor offered "The Rule of Three." For a 350-degree oven, you will need 24 briquettes for a 12-inch Dutch oven, with 15 briquettes on top (three more) and nine briquettes on the bottom. But

exceptions have been noted.

Casey's Wild West Ribs

12-inch Dutch oven

Serves 6 to 8

5 pounds country-style pork ribs

1/2 cup ketchup

2 tablespoons Tabasco sauce

1-3/4 cups chili sauce

2 medium onions chopped fine

3/4 cup vinegar

1/3 cup molasses

3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

1 teaspoon salt

In Dutch oven, mix ketchup, Tabasco sauce, chili sauce, onion, vinegar, salt, molasses and Worcestershire sauce. Add ribs and mix with sauce. Cover. Place 12 briquettes on bottom and 24 on top.

Cook, stirring occasionally until meat is very tender, about 1 to 2 hours. During cooking, add new coals on top and bottom as needed to keep the heat up. With baster, siphon fat from oven juices and discard.

- Casey Besler,

Piedmont

Rhodes' Spicy Enchiladas

10-inch Dutch oven; 12-inch Dutch oven

Serves 10-12

Filling

2 pounds lean ground beef

1 medium yellow onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 (11-ounce) can mexicorn, drained

1 (15-ounce) can black beans, drained

1 cup black olives, chopped

3 tablespoons fresh cilantro, chopped

2 teaspoons chili powder

1 teaspoon paprika

1 teaspoon ground cumin

Salt and pepper to taste

2 pounds Cheddar Jack cheese, shredded

24 (10-inch) flour tortillas

Sauce

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 medium yellow onion, diced small

4 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 cup green bell pepper, diced small

2 (14-ounce) cans tomato sauce

1 (4-ounce) can diced green chilies

1 tablespoon chili powder

1/2 teaspoon paprika

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes

Salt and pepper to taste

Prepare filling: Heat a 12-inch Dutch oven using 20-22 briquettes at the bottom until hot. To oven add ground beef, onions and garlic. Brown beef and cook onions until translucent. Spoon off fat. Stir in mexicorn, black beans, olives, cilantro, chili powder, paprika and cumin. Add salt and pepper to taste. Heat thoroughly then remove mixture from Dutch oven.

Prepare sauce: Heat a 10-inch Dutch oven using 12-14 briquettes bottom until hot. Add olive oil, onion, garlic and bell pepper. Saute until peppers are soft and onions are translucent. Stir in tomato sauce, green chilies (juice included), chili powder, paprika, cumin and red pepper flakes. Add salt and pepper to taste. Bring sauce to a boil and simmer gently for 10 minutes. Remove from heat.

Assemble enchiladas: Place a tortilla in oven with sauce covering both sides of tortilla. Place on a plate and fill with 1/4 to 1/3 cup of meat filling and sprinkle with cheese. Fold in ends and roll up tortilla. Place in original 12-inch Dutch oven seam-side down. Repeat process for each tortilla covering the bottom of the Dutch oven. Make additional layers as needed. Cover tops of enchiladas with remaining meat filling. Pour remaining sauce over top and sprinkle with remaining cheese.

Bake: Cover and bake using 12-14 briquettes bottom and 12-14 briquettes top for 20 minutes until sauce bubbles and cheese is melted.

- Shanesa and Wade Rhodes,

Piedmont

Russell's Best Campfire Beef Skillet

12-inch Dutch oven

2 pounds hamburger

1 medium onion

4 tablespoons steak sauce or Worcestershire

2 (10-ounce) packages frozen green beans

2 (10-3/4 ounce) cans cream of celery soup

2 (4-ounce) cans mushroom pieces, drained

Garlic croutons or crushed Ritz crackers

In a 12-inch Dutch oven, which has been warmed and lightly greased, fry hamburger and diced onion. When fully cooked, drain off excess grease and add sauce of your choice. Add green beans, soup and mushrooms. Stir enough to mix. Heat to a simmering boil; cover for 10 minutes. Sprinkle with croutons or crushed crackers just before serving.

- Tom and Nancy Russell,

Black Hawk

Peach-Orange Dump Cobbler

12-inch Dutch oven

2 (30-ounce) cans sliced peaches, drained

2 (8-ounce) cans mandarin oranges, drained

1-1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

3/4 cup brown sugar

1 yellow cake mix, dry

1 (12-ounce) bottle orange-cream soda

4 tablespoons butter, cut into pieces

Vanilla ice cream

Line a 12-inch Dutch oven with heavy-duty foil. Press some of the excess juice out of the canned fruit so it isn't so juicy. To the Dutch oven add peaches, oranges and cinnamon. Stir to mix. Sprinkle brown sugar over fruit. Dump cake mix in a large pile over center of fruit. Make a well in the center of the cake mix. Pour orange soda into the well then stir cake mix to moisten. Spread mixture evenly over fruit. Dot top with butter.

Place lid on Dutch oven and bake using 8-10 briquettes bottom and 14-16 briquettes top for 45 to 60 minutes. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream. Serve 8-10.

- Amy Vermulen

Stacy's Caramel Apple Crisp

12-inch Dutch oven

Filling

8-10 large Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and sliced

2 tablespoons lemon juice

2/3 cup sugar

1/3 cup flour

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

3/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 (12-ounce) jar caramel sauce

Topping

2 cups brown sugar

2 cups flour

1 cup instant oatmeal

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1 cup butter, melted

In a buttered 12-inch Dutch oven, added apples and lemon juice; stir to coat apples. In a separate dish combine sugar, flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and salt; stir to mix. Pour dry ingredients over apples and stir. Spread out apples and pour caramel sauce over the top.

In a medium bowl, combine brown sugar, flour, oatmeal and walnuts; stir to mix. Using a fork, mix in melted butter to form coarse crumbs. Spread topping evenly over apples.

Cover the Dutch Oven and bake using 10-12 briquettes bottom and 16-18 briquettes top for 60 minutes.

- Stacy Dole,

Black Hawk