By Diane Sagers

GUEST COLUMNIST

Summer time means taking the cooking outdoors for barbecues and Dutch oven dinners. Dutch oven cooking is something of a resurrected art from centuries past. A Dutch oven was a necessity for our ancestors who cooked over an open fire in a fireplace. To the pioneers who took their families on the trail to settle the West, that big black iron pot was indispensable and it probably hung somewhere on the wagon as it jostled and jolted over the trails. With tight space in a wagon, there may have been room for only that one cooking pot but it was versatile and essential.

Cooking over a fire was a way of life for the frontier women, but moving the cooking outside the house was also a highly prized luxury for affluent families. If you could afford to build a summer kitchen -- a small building outside the house and slightly away from it -- it meant you didn't have to build a fire in the house during the hot summer months. It was also a form of fire insurance: if the kitchen caught fire -- as it too often did -- chances were you could still save the house.

Today, outdoor cooking is a form of leisure and an alternative way to provide delicious meals for a few or for large crowds. Dutch oven cooking is popular among both men and women and they line up to exhibit their talents at Dutch oven contests throughout the summer.

For most dishes, Dutch oven cooking is not the instant meal option -- this is cooking for fun and for taste. And it really works.

The advent of charcoal briquettes has simplified the project by providing even, measurable heat. Modern recipes can help you gauge the right temperature by dictating the number of briquettes to put on top and under the ovens for even cooking. Those who are not particularly fascinated by taking the cooking outdoors can still enjoy a brand of Dutch oven cooking using the oven of their kitchen range. The finished product may not be exactly the same, but it is still delicious.

The pioneers were well aware of the utilitarian uses of their cast iron Dutch ovens. It provided a kettle for cooking stews, soups, chili, casseroles and other moist meals. The lid can be inverted over hot coals for use as a fry pan and as the name implies, a Dutch oven can serve as an oven for baking biscuits, breads, cobblers and other items. It is all a matter of knowing how to manipulate the heat. Doing it every day, our ancestors undoubtedly became very good at that cooking, as attested by the Dutch oven section of the Tooele County Daughters of the Utah Pioneers cookbook "Recipes thru Time."

The book holds a collection of recipes from Tooele's ancestral roots, with a few modern-day embellishments for today's cook.

It includes recipes that are prize winners at Dutch oven cook-offs and even one for an Oriental stir fry, which must be more modern. I rather doubt stir fry was a big item among and 18th and 19th century cooks. That such a modern twist fits this form of cookery attests to the versatility of the method.

The DUP is an organization dedicated to remembering the people and histories of the pioneers who came to Utah in wagons and by handcart before the arrival of the Transcontinental Railroad in 1869.

You can learn more about Dutch oven cookery and an assortment of other pioneer skills and have fun at the same time. Simply attend either or both of two Daughters of the Utah Pioneers (DUP) Jubilees scheduled for this Saturday and next. The Tooele County DUP is now composed of two companies -- the Tooele County Company encompassing the area from Tooele City south and the Tooele Valley Company which includes Grantsville and all communities north of Tooele City. Each has arranged a summer jubilee.

The Tooele County Company will celebrate this Saturday, June 7, at the Pioneer Plaza museum, 39 E. Vine St. in Tooele from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The Tooele Valley Company celebration will be at Benson Grist Mill. 325 SR-138, the following Saturday, June 14 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Come tour the museums and take part in free family activities at either jubilee. Take a moment to do a little computer research on your family history. Enjoy the free entertainment of fiddlers, barber shop quartets, and more. Kids can participate in traditional games like jacks and jump rope while the grown-ups might find interest in the "lost arts" demonstrations such as candle making, weaving, spinning, knitting, butter making, tatting, quilting and smithy work. For a nominal fee, your family can stay and enjoy lunch.

Dutch oven recipes from "Recipes thru Time."

Covered Wagon Chicken

1 cup ketchup

1/2 cup mustard

3/4 cup brown sugar

1 8-ounce can pineapple chunks, drained with juice saved

1/2 teaspoon mesquite liquid smoke

6-8 split chicken breasts

Cooked rice

Preheat Dutch oven. Mix ketchup, mustard, brown sugar, juice from pineapple and liquid smoke. Add chicken to Dutch oven. Baste chicken with sauce. Cover with a lid and add 18 to 20 briquettes on top and 14 to 16 under the Dutch oven. Cook for 35 minutes until the chicken is done. Add pineapple chunks the last 10 minutes of cooking. Serve over warm rice.

Apple Sausage Pie

1 pound sausage links

1 pre-cooked pie crust

1 can apple pie filling

1 1/2 cups cheese shredded

1/2 cup brown sugar

Cook sausage links and drain on paper towel. Put pie crust into warmed Dutch oven on rack. Pour pie filling into pie shell and arrange sausage on top of pie filling. Sprinkle with shredded cheese. Top with brown sugar. Cover with lid and put 14 to 16 coals on top and 10 to 12 coals on bottom. Cook until cheese is melted and apple filling is warmed.

Rush Valley Dutch Oven Biscuits

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons flour

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

2 tablespoons shortening

1/2 cup buttermilk

Place 1 tablespoon shortening in bottom of oven. Place coals on oven and bring temperature to 500 degrees while making the dough. Combine flour, baking soda, salt and baking powder in bowl. Cut in shortening until mixture becomes grainy. Add buttermilk and stir with fork until it forms dough. Turn out on floured surface and knead briefly. Do not over-knead. Flatten to 1/2-inch thick. Cut out with glass or cup. Place in oven and turn once to brown both sides. Bake at 500 degrees for 10 minutes or until done.