"Rules-of-Thumb" Regarding Temperature Control of a Dutch Oven

(from Ragsdale ):

heat should come from above when baking
put 1/4 of briquets on bottom, 3/4 of briquets on top
for a 12", 6-7 on bottom, 15-18 on top give good baking heat

(from BSA ):

It's better to have too few coals, then too many.
check food every "cooking_time/3"
for novices, check food every 5 minutes
for a 12" oven:
- 27-30 on top, 27-30 on bottom will pre-heat to 450F in 12-15minutes
- can maintain for 30 minutes with 12 on bottom and 9 on top
for a 10" oven:
- 18 on top, 18 on bottom will pre-heat to 450F in 12-15minutes
- can maintain for 30 minutes with 9 on bot and 9 on top

for a liquid:

condition	temperature	prescription
much has evaporated	way too high	remove from heat, add liquid
boiling hard	too high	remove coals
light bubbles	just right	recheck later
no movement	too low	add fresh coals

for dough, at 1/3 cooking time:

condition	temperature	prescription
some browning	way too high	cut coals by 2
hard crust	too high	remove a few coals
crust starting	just right	recheck later
no crust	too low	add fresh coals

for dough, at 2/3 cooking time:

condition	temperature	prescription
dark brown	way too high	remove all coals from lid, see if done
considerable brown	too high	remove a few coals, see if done
starting to brown	just right	recheck later
no brown	too low	add fresh coals

(from http://www.chuckwagonsupply.com/faqs.html ):

Keep in mind the briquettes must be apply to both the top and the bottom. Use only quality charcoal briquettes for consistent temperature control. The chart below tell how many briquettes to use for a desired temperature.

Temperature	10" Oven		12" Oven		14" Oven
Degrees F	Top	Bottom	Top	Bottom	Top	Bottom
300	12	5	14	7	15	9
325	13	6	15	7	17	9
350	14	6	16	8	18	10
375	15	6	17	9	19	11

(from http://www.idos.com/idoshnts.html ):

There are several ways to test the temperature of your dutch oven. I will go over some of these ways, but the one main way to test the temperature is to lift the lid. If the food is not cooking enough add some heat. If it is cooking to fast take off some heat. Here is one ways to test the temperature of a heated oven:

Place a teaspoonful of flour in a pan inside a hot dutch oven and place the lid on the oven
Leave it for 5 minutes:
- If the flour has not turned brown, the oven is less then 300 degrees
- If the flour is light brown, the oven is about 350 degrees
- If the flour is dark brown, the oven is about 450 degrees
- If the flour is dark brown after 3 min. reduce the heat, the oven is to dark to cook with

There is another good way to test the temerature. It could be called the 2-3 briquet rule. Using this rule, you take the size of the oven and place that amount briquets on the lid and place that amount under the oven. Then take 2-3 briquets from the bottom an move them to the top also. This technique will maintain a temperature of 325 to 350 degrees. Refer to the table below for common oven sizes, For every 2 briquets add or subtracted to this amount will effect the temperature 25 degrees. These temperatures per amount of briquets are for the Rocky Mountain area. If you live in another area, check these setting with an oven thermometer to make sure they are OK. I mention this because temperature are effected by altitude.

There are a couple of other things to remember about temperture control.

The first is that you should rotate your oven a third of a turn every ten minutes. And you rotate the lid a third of a turn the other direction.
Next if you are baking bread, rolls, or cake remove it from your bottom heat after two thrids of the cooking time. It will finish cooking from the top heat. This will keep it from burning on the bottom.

Oven Size	Briquets on top	Briquets on bottom
8"	8-10	6-8
10"	10-12	8-10
12"	12-14	10-12
14"	14-16	12-14
16"	16-18	14-16

(from http://www.ida.net/users/aa7pu/mideas.htm ):

Start with moderate temperatures when cooking with your Dutch oven. The design of the Dutch aids in the process of steaming. Start cooler and increase the heat if necessary. You may love a black pot, but not burned black food!
Cooking coals can be from natural coals like you get from a camp fire, or from charcoal briquettes.
Use high quality briquettes placed underneath and on top of the oven to give off consistent heat.
Here is a list of the average quantity of charcoal briquettes for Dutch oven cooking:
- 8 inch - 8 on top, and 5-6 on the bottom
- 10 inch -13 on top, and 7 on the bottom
- 12 inch -15 on top, and 9 on the bottom
- 14 inch -17 on top, and 11 on the bottom
- 16 inch -19 on top, and 13 on the bottom

As you can see, when you are first experimenting with Dutch Oven cooking, take the size of your oven, for example a 12 inch, add three more briquettes to the top (15), and subtract three from the bottom (9). This will of course vary from food to food, wind conditions, and outside air temperature, but it is a good place to start, and you will eventually get a feel for temperature requirements with a little practice.

High altitude lowers the cooking temperature. Therefore, the cooking time increases. Outdoor temperature affects the cooking temperature. Warm breezes or winds will raise the cooking temperature. Cold winds will of course lower the temperature, increase your cooking time, and may require that you use more briquettes. Breezes will heat the upwind side of the Dutch oven, so rotate the Dutch oven occasionally. You may make a windbreak with bricks around the cooking area.
Humidity will also lower the temperature, so add more charcoal briquettes. Sunlight will also increase the temperature while shade decreases the temperature.
For soups, stews, or liquid dishes, more heat is needed on the bottom of the Dutch oven than the lid .
Meat, Poultry, potatoes, vegetables, and cobblers require an equal distribution of heat on top and bottom.
Cakes, breads, biscuits, and cookies require most of the heat to be on the top of the oven, with very little on the bottom.

General rule for baking: Place 1/3 of the coals below, and 2/3 or the coals on the top of the Dutch oven. For boiling, deep frying, or stewing, place 2/3 of the coals below, 1/3 on the top of the oven.