Brief History of the Dutch Oven


The Dutch oven was developed in the early eighteenth century in England and Holland. Some say that it got its name from the casting process, by the peddlers who sold them or by the Pennslyvannia Dutch who used them in everyday life.

When the first Europeans were coming to the America they brought Dutch ovens with them, even Christopher Columbus, a cast iron pot listed on his manifest. The Pilgrims Dutch ovens were so highly valued in early America, that George Washington’s mother had her dutch ovens in her will.

Lewis and Clark brought a dutch oven with them on their expedition of the Lousiana Purchase and onward to the Pacific Ocean. The mountain men that followed them west used Dutch oven for cooking and trading with Native Americans.

The Dutch oven was a big part of the “chuck wagon” during cattle drives in the late 1800’s.

“These Dutch ovens were in many cases the only cooking utensils used by the early settlers. The meat, vegetable, or bread was put into the pot, which was then placed in a bed of coals, and coals heaped on the lid.” It was featured in an article about Abraham Lincoln in McClure’s Magazine in 1896 by Mrs. Ott, of Petersburg, Illinois.