I forgot to add this in my earlier post (which got separated from this string 'cuz I wasn't watching was I was doing...), but the best way to use a dutch oven over an open fire it to build up a good size bed of coals away from the main fire, plop the dutch oven on the coals, then shovel more coals on the lid (which is why there's a 1/2 to 3/4 lip along the outside) so the food inside is cooked from both the top & bottom. Sort of a primitive microwave...