Oh, I’ve missed my RV kitchen, especially my oven! I use my oven a lot and I really missed in Mexico.
As some of you may remember, I bought myself a cast iron Dutch oven for Yule. It’s a pot with a tight fitting lid that can go from stovetop to oven. I can’t wait to sear a pork roast in it later this week and then transfer to the oven to slow cook!
Well, quite a few of my friends in Mexico are or were RVers. Those of them who saw the Dutch oven thought I was nuts for believing I could use it in my RV oven. Having seen dozens of RV ovens, I’ve only ever seen another one as large and usable as mine, and that was an upgrade made after purchase, so I understood their concern. Many RVs don’t even have a real oven, just a convection microwave. Some folks, like my friend Vicki, find their oven so useless that they have to make space for a large toaster oven instead.
In my case, I moved the rack to the lowest position to fit the Dutch oven in with an inch to spare at the top, so it will be easy to pull in and out, even when super hot.
I’ll also be able to store the pot in the oven, with the baking sheets and cast iron frying pans fitting neatly under the broiler.
My oven also heats very evenly and is good for baking. Don’t buy into the myth that you can’t cook or bake in an RV as you can in a stick home. Instead, insist on a better and more usable oven!
We seldom use ours but did use it to bake a large salmon in once in Mexico. It worked well but ours is smaller than yours.
I have cooked a small turkey in mine!
Now you have me curious. How high is it?
With the grill at the lowest level, I have just over eight inches. Most RV ovens I’ve looked at have about half that, if not less, just enough to heat a frozen pizza!
I looked at your picture of your Dutch oven and immediately started craving corn bread.
Ooh… 🙂
Cornbread baked in an iron skillet – yum! First heat the empty skillet with a little butter in your oven, add the unbanked cornbread and it will get beautifully toasted on the outside and yummy all the way through. Will need some apple butter to go with it 🙂 🙂
I’ve made corn bread a few times in my cast iron frying pan! But I like it savoury, similarly to hush puppies, with onions and garlic in it. So I’ll pass on the apple butter with my version, although I can imagine it would be wonderful with Cracker Barrel-style corn bread!
Cornbread is a speciality in the part of Monterrey, Mexico where Chris and Juan live. Walking down the road at the end of their lane there are dozens of cornbread stands. We never tried any but the guys say it is very good. I want to go back and spend some time in Monterrey! Juan, Chris – hint. hint!
We baked some in our oven last winter. It worked great. I was happily surprised.
Yay!