You can cook stews, soups, make a roast, Hungarian Goulash, even make a cake in it! AND if need be, you can also put coals on the lid (turned bottom side up) to provide more even heat to the dutch oven (nestled in other coals) to bake items - including cakes! And yes, mine invariably turned out VERY lopsided!!! (I needed to turn the dutch oven!)
Dutch ovens were the original slow cookers and a meal prepared in one and shoved to just the right spot in the coals could guarantee a hot meal later in the day. Hot coals could be carried inside the dutch oven from one location to another - for the purposes of being able to start a fire elsewhere.
Some folks have dug a hole in the ground about twice as large and twice as deep as the Dutch oven and built a fire in that, nestling the pot in among the coals. This helped to maintain the heat and distribute it more evenly than an above ground fire which would be subject to winds and temperature changes. Should you choose to do this, then once the pot is nestled down among the coals, put more coals on top and re-bury the dutch oven with the top dirt covering being about 4" or more thick. this is a slow cooker method - and 4-8 hours later the meat or beans, etc. should be nicely cooked.
As you already know - they are great for roasting in - but did you know you can also deep fat fry in them? You need the pot about half full of fat (or oil) for deep fat frying. You can cook anything from french fries to tempura to fried catfish (oh man, I'm making myself HUNGRY!)
Should you want hot cakes or griddle cakes - you can use the oiled bottom of the dutch oven - or the lid - if you have a flat one. Just make sure it is oiled and hot - like a regular frypan.
Things you can bake in a Dutch oven include biscuits, muffins, cakes, pies, cornbread, cobbler - just make sure the pot is oiled. I know of some folk who have made bread in theirs. Regardless, while some say you don't need to preheat - I always did.
You DO need to watch - and turn the pot about halfway through the cooking - to kind of distribute the heating - unless you have the pot buried in a hole.
Cleaning up - ummmmmmmmm - depends on who you talk to. Many say NEVER soak in sudsy water - because it will remove the seasoning and your pot will rust. And there can be truth to that. However - that being said - I really hate the idea of cooking something in yesterday's gooey meat and bean gravy! And wiping out thoroughly - even with a damp rag, may not do it - and certainly won't if I've done my level best to char whatever is in there (I get distracted entirely too much!) So I wash - with sudsy water. I don't soak however - and I periodically re-season my pans - which is easy to do.
I also like other cast-iron cook pots - and have a saucepan which gets used for just about everything I would use my Dutch Oven for (family is smaller now!). I also have a cast iron corn stick pan - which I use - mostly for making bread stix when I make this'n'that bread (otherwise known as go through the refrigerator and see what can go in the bread!) Works quite nicely! And I LOVE LOVE LOVE my 2 medium sized skillets for everyday, my very small fry pans I use when I make blintzes! or crepes! and my big square griddle that truly would work better over a campfire - or a wood stove than it does over the round heating elements I have! I also have a cast iron muffin pan - which I like - not just for muffins - but also for those times I make coddled eggs or breakfast sandwiches.
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