Why do Dutch Oven lids have little bumps all over the inside?

I just got a Calphalon Dutch Oven, and noticed that the inside of the lid is covered with dozens of bumps, like rings of nipples. I have an idea what they're for, but I wonder if anyone knows for sure. If not, give it your best guess along with some good reasons.

Asked by MightyCow_DontFollow 50 months ago Similar questions: Dutch Oven lids bumps inside Food & Drink > Cooking.

Similar questions: Dutch Oven lids bumps inside.

They help distribute the condensation The lid of a dutch oven collects evaporated steam from the food. Without those little stalagmites, that steam would all drip down the edges or evaporate away. They help distribute it evenly over your food.

For meats, that will continuously baste the food with its own juices without you having to open the lid (which would allow all of the heat to escape, especially bad if you're cooking over a camp fire and all that heat lost means more firewood to gather and a longer time before you can eat. ) Not all Dutch ovens have them, so they're probably not entirely necessary. But some people will even go so far as to put ice or water on top of the dutch oven to encourage that condensation to drip down onto the food for the basting effect.

Sources: Alton Brown .

Steam nipples! The comb of bumps on the inside of a dutch oven are to make sure that steam droplets fall evenly over the entire top of the casserole/cake/whatever you are cooking. A usual domed lid, the water droplets collect and drop from two places... either from the very peak of the dome (which means there may be a puddle on top of or in the middle of your cake/casserole) or runs down the sides, which means you might end up with the cake/casserole not cooking evening along the edges.

The honeycomb bumps make sure that the steam droplets drop evening across the whole top, and cannot collect in just one or two places in/on the food, since dutch ovens are not ment to be opened and stirred during cooking.

To baste the stuff in the oven It helps condense the moisture on those points so it drips back down into the pot in a nicely spaced out way and bastes the food cooking inside. If the bumps weren’t there, the steam would all just run down to the sides and you would get uneven basting. Sources: dutchovencookware.com/ .

Self-basting feature Your dutch oven is intended to perform a rudimentary self-basting operation. The vaporized liquid from the bottom of the dutch oven collects on the lid, and slides down the bumps to drip onto whatever you are cooking. Other dutch ovens have a smooth lid, as the lid was occasionally used upside-down as a sort of a griddle.

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1 There's been a worldwide outbreak of "Dutch Oven Lid Chickenpox"! This user has been banned from Askville.

1 There's been a worldwide outbreak of "Dutch Oven Lid Chickenpox"! .

There's been a worldwide outbreak of "Dutch Oven Lid Chickenpox"!

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I just burned the inside of my forearm on a hot oven door. What should I treat it with?

The burners on gas stove work and the oven works but the broiler on the inside of oven won't come on.

I saw a solar oven on a news program on t.v. This morning. Has anyone tried cooking with one?

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