My kind parents gave me an old 8 inch dutch oven for Christmas that I’ve been eager to put into play. I made an apple pie to test its mettle. We had a stew going in the family 12 inch dutch so it was no problem to put a little apple pie to bake on top of it.

It doesn’t bear a maker’s mark. Probably old Cee Dub could I.D. this dutch from a trotting pack mule saddle at a distance of a hundred yards, but I can’t make heads or tails of the tell tales of this pot. 

On the dutch’s lid the inch designation is engraved in the lid instead of raised, and on the dutch’s bottom the designation is raised instead of engraved. Really mysterious. All in all it’s a very fine pot. Smooth cast, sturdy feet. All of it top notch.

I built a normal shortening crust the Fanny Farmer way, rolled it out, and pressed it into the pot. Then I put it on top of the top coals of our family stew to par bake. In the meanwhile I cut up some normal apples and cooked them awhile with some brown sugar and cinnamon. Robin gave me some dissapproving looks during this step. Normal apple pie chefs like Robin like to put raw sugared apples into their pies but I don’t. 

I like my apple pies to have the feel of mince meat pies. Next time I bake an apple pie I’m going to boil the apple peelings to get the pectin out of them and add some other do-dads like walnuts and beef suet.

We ate our apple pie with caramel ice cream.

Sarah and Darian were making this savoring, “oh this is too good” expression all night because of the Norwegian cheese, and later because of the normal stew, and then because of the apple pie. 

The pie tasted a little too much of iron because the pot has lost most of its season. I plan to re-season it straight away.

My preliminary feeling is that this 8 inch dutch and I are going to become very fond friends. It is just right for small family dinners. Our family 12 inch is most times too big and puts us in the unfortunate place of having to eat leftover stew for longer than we have a taste for it. On a group camp, the little dutch is just right for double-dutch stacks, side dishes, and desserts. 

Rating: Five stars.

Price: Who knows?