All fired up — Brothers take top honors at Dutch Oven Society's World Championship

Editor's note: Food editor Valerie Phillips served as one of the judges at this year's cook-off.

If you think Dutch-oven cooking means stews and cobblers, consider the menu that took the International Dutch Oven Society's World Championship on Saturday: Tenderloin and Tails (beef tenderloin and lobster tails), Philly Cheese Steak Rolls and Layered Chocolate Cake with Strawberry Cream Filling.

It was all cooked or baked in Dutch ovens, using only charcoal as a heat source, at the International Sportsmen's Expo at the South Towne Expo Center in Sandy.

After a long day of cooking, Scott Clawson of West Jordan and David Clawson of Saratoga Springs bested 13 other teams to take the $5,000 prize money. This represents a second big win for the brothers with the same menu and recipes. In October, they took first place — and $4,000 — at the Zions Bank Sheep Festival cook-off in Cedar City. That win qualified them for the World Championship.

"I want to buy a truck," said Scott Clawson, when asked what he'd do with his share of the money. "We've been driving to all the cook-offs in a single car, and it's pretty tough to get all our food, tables and Dutch ovens in there."

Second place went to Ben and Debbie Auxier of Orem for their Maple and Calvados-Glazed Pork Crown Roast with Brown & Wild Rice, Finnish Yeast Pulla Coffee Bread and Old Jack's Southern Pecan Pie.

Dave and Pamela Monson of Middleton, Idaho, took third place with a King Crabby Chicken Hollandaise (crab-stuffed chicken), Fireside Potato Bread and Tropical Cowboy Cake.

The quality of the food impressed judges such as Troy Wilson, a certified executive chef who teaches culinary arts at Utah Valley State College. "The cooking was very impressive. These are part-time cooks who dabble in preparing food, and they did a great job in creativity, execution and cooking skills. The breads surprised me more than anything, the variations from the very simple quick bread to the yeast roll to the filled breads that were almost a meal."

Wilson found out how tricky it is to get the temperatures and the timing just right, when he cooked on Sunday in the Chef's Dutch Oven Cook-off. Eleven chefs competed, with Todd Leonard of The Garden Restaurant taking top honors for Stuffed Pork Chops on a Potato Cake. Wilson won second place and Eleanor Kondo Ream, a retired chef, took third.

David Clawson said the main advice he could give someone who wants to start competing is to practice. "It's not as hard as it seems," he said. The Clawsons belong to the Storm Mountain Dutch Oven chapter, where members meet and cook a pot-luck dinner once a month. The two got into Dutch-oven cooking as Boy Scouts and have been competing as a team for two years.