For the longest time, I've been ignoring getting one. When I was working with Cee Dub, we BS'd indepth about them. After debating, I broke down and bought two. Been field testing them for a bit, even using them at home ALOT. Finally came to the conclusion that I'm sold on them. Am tempted to sell off the ones I have, and buy these.
Now, you're probably wondering what the hell I'm talking about. Well, they are Aluminum dutch ovens. Hard anodized to be exact. I've always had cast iron camp ovens (aka dutch ovens to most of everyone else). But upkeep is constant on them. Even then, cold wet weather (and high humidity) you have to keep up on them. Hoh Down was a big one. But heard the pros and cons from tons. Some saying they don't cook even, don't cook at all, not as good as cast iron, etc etc etc. Yup, true they don't hold the heat like cast iron. But you can put that baby on coals, and will heat up just like cast iron, and you just leave it on until it's ready to be served (I'll pull the cast iron a tad early to let it finish cooking with the heat in the iron). After using the aluminums alot lately, I'm S O L D SOLD!!!! It's simply amazing how easy they are to work with. Easy they are to get to temp, and easy they are to clean afterwards. No seasoning needed. Simply clean out of hot water and soap (if you want to add soap) and it's done. Even hard cooked in stuff comes right out with a little soaking. I was really learly about using them. But the more I use them, the more I love them. Now, the only thing I can say about the cast iron is doing breads it's super nice. A slight heat up of the lid and it'll help rise your rolls (so far, haven't played with the aluminum alot, but it doesn't hold the heat well for long periods of time). So will keep some aluminums for my breads. Which, are easier to clean afterwards anyways (at least the way I do alot of mine).
The final bennie, a 12" dutch oven in cast iron is around 26#'s. Same in aluminum is about 6#. When I was carrying 5 dutch ovens into camp, would've been nice if they all were a total of 30#'s, not almost that much for one. LOL.
I'll keep things updated though. Still tinkering a bit with them. But thinking of buying at least 2 more 12". Unfortunately, Camp Chef only has a 12" anodized aluminum. So I may have to buy a couple smaller and bigger ones from GSI.
The hard anodized don't transfer the taste like the cast aluminum do. I love the ease of cleaning. Had two of my iron dutches that had just a SMALL amount of water on them when I put them away from the Hoh Down. Pulled them out a couple days later and were rusted up pretty good already. The wet aluminums were just that, wet. Great for alot of the areas I fish and hunt. I'm still tinkering though with them. I've been checking for the odd taste. But so far, nothing.
