07/19/11 kb

HAYS, Kan. -- Dutch oven cooking is on the educational menu at the Kansas Wetlands Education Center near Great Bend at 1 p.m. Sunday, July 31.

Eric Giesing, KWEC educator and wildlife biologist, will demonstrate how to cook delicious meals over a campfire.

"Dutch oven cooking is easy, quite versatile and, most importantly, allows you to cook everything you could at home right in your campsite," said Giesing. "You can impress your family, friends, colleagues and maybe even a date."

Giesing will teach the basics of Dutch oven cooking. The class -- limited to 50 people -- will participate in cooking various recipes and will enjoy the delicious food at the end of the class.

He will cover a variety of considerations in Dutch-oven cooking: the various fire configurations -- tipi, square or a plain old pile fire; whether the oven should sit on top or be buried in the flames; how to tell when something is cooked; how to gauge the temperature and know when the fire is ready for cooking; the different kinds of Dutch ovens; whether to stack them or arrange them in a circle; and how to make different courses -- appetizer, main course, dessert.

"We'll be hitting on the fact that you can basically make anything in a Dutch oven that you can make at home," he said.

Because of the limited size of the class, registration is required, but there is no charge and the food will be provided.

Contact Giesing at the KWEC at 620-786-7456 or toll free at 877-243-9268 for more details or to register. His email is ergiesing@fhsu.edu.

The KWEC, an arm of Fort Hays State University's Sternberg Museum of Natural History, is at 592 NE K-156 Highway, northeast of Great Bend.

The Wetlands Center's website is http://wetlandscenter.fhsu.edu/.