Help Never Cooked A Camp Oven Roast

[Bronson&Danni]

HI guys never cooked over a camp fire before and was wondering if someone would tell me how its done please? thanks guys.:thumb:

[tasmq]

just be careful not to have much flame jst coals and use oil in the bottom of oven, don't lift lid too much and place a shovel full of cooler coals on the lid. lots of trial and error all ovens cook differant

[RUT RAT]

The best advice I could give is get a trivet(not sure on spelling). Its like a cake rack. That way your roast wont burn on the bottom. Place a shovel full of coals away from the fire, place your camp oven on and put another shovel full of coals on the lid. As said before DONT CHECK IT TOO OFTEN. It usually takes the same amount of time as your oven at home.

[Maxfli113]

Make sure you season the camp oven first if new, add oil and burn it off in the fire then wipe clean with paper towel. Don't wash the camp oven just wipe out with paper towel and clean oil. I use a steel wire rack in the bottom to stop things from sticking. Make sure there are lots of coals, put roast in camp oven and make sure lid is only properly. Spread coals out with thin layer on ground then place camp oven in middle, add coals to the lid and push up against the sides. Don't open for 1hr as I find that is a good starting point then just judge the time to suite whatever you are cooking. I love a cooked roast when others are having baked beans.

[luxa]

Nothing Like a camp roast !!!!

Flinders Ranges Area
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a69/luxa/roast2.jpg
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a69/luxa/roast.jpg

Mallacoota Caravan Park
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a69/luxa/PotRoast2.jpg
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a69/luxa/PotRoast.jpg

A few tips:

As per Maxfli113 - Clean (good HOT wash with soap & water) and season (heat and rub with oil) any cast iron cookware beforehand. Its often coated in wax to prevent rust so you want to get this off!!!!!

If you are going to put coals underneath, use a Trivet, cake stand - or even a few egg rings (work fantastic) to keep the meat from sitting on the bottom.

Heat the oven before you put the roast in.

Don't use to excess heat, or direct flame to cook - you can always cook a little longer, its much harder to recover a burnt meal!!!! Just use a few shovelfulls of hot coals.

Get a LONG WOODEN HANDLE SHOVEL, and a set of welders gloves are handy also.

Get a stove with the lip on the lid to hold the coals. Just before you lift the lid to check - give it a good few taps with a tent peg or the like to knock off any loose ash so it doesn't drop into the oven.

There are a few great books - but the one the springs to mind is "Outback Cooking in the Camp Oven" by Jack and Reg Absalom.

There is also the Hillbilly Cookbook (Cooking from the top and Downunder) and Australian Bush Cooking.

Luxa

[yowie]

Camp roasts rule :D

[Walt]

Practice, ive only recently (in the past 12 mtnhs or so) started cooking them too, only had one disaster, never realised how quickly pork can shrink and char. But same story, stupid mate put on wood after i set the roast up, so yes, no flame. The trivet also helps alot, and as for veges. get a freezer bag, fill it with flour, then put the veges in there and toss them around, gives em a nice crunchy batter.

And i just take them off the heat when they are almost about to stop leaking blood.

[PK1]

I dig a hole, coals on the bottom, camp oven, coals on top.
No flame, but plenty of coals, don't lift the lid too often.
Trial and error, and yes great to eat a roast when everyone else is eating beans and sausages!!
Beef is my fave, followed by pork then lamb.

Also do casseroles with diced beef, crushed tomatoes, potatoes, carrots etc, frozenpeas I also make a damper to put on top about 20mins from the end - like a dumpling.
Now I'm getting hungry!!!

[Peter ST_R]

Just use some bits of stick to keep meat & veg off the bottom if roasting (less to wash up!), have a tent peg on hand to lift the lid off and welders gloves to pick the thing up. Be carefull as they hold their heat for a while after you have finished cooking.

Cheeers

[nilla60]

Have a go at home. It's a nice twist on a regular barbie and unlike being out in the middle of nowhere, you can always order a pizza if you char your roast. Roasts are pretty straight forward as long as you keep it away from flame. At home I have an old washing machine drum that I use as a brazier; at night with some mates and a few beers it's nearly like being there.

I season new/old cast iron by getting it red hot & quenching it with veggie oil so it gets a beautiful blue colour.

[Tomax]

All of the above, with special emphasis on coals (no flame) under and on top away from the main fire and a trivet in the bottom. The type of wood can make a big difference - the best (eg mulga) coals hang on for a long time and give plenty of heat. We've been using them for nearly 40 years and cook everything in our ovens when out in the scrub, from the usual roasts, casseroles, bread, scones etc to pizzas to golden syrup dumplings, jam/fruit tarts and so on.

[GQANDGU]

There is also heaps of different variations and recipes on Internet, some of which are great others not so much. Just google in Camp Ovens and be prepared for lots of reading.

[Unsane]

Seasoning before first is realy important.

I scrub the blazes out if when new with hot soapy water, then dry on stove.

Then the best to season is with a fire, or use your BBQ with hood down. The BBQ trick worked great for me just last week, when I lost my good oven - long story.

Close hood of BBQ and get temp inside to 250 degrees. Coat oven and lid in good cooking oil. Place the oven and lid seperatly in BBQ for 30mins. Be warned that the oven will smoke a fair bit the first few goes. This is fine, its burning the wax and crap out of the cast iron.

After 30mins in the oven/BBQ, give the oven and lid a wipe out and repeat process. Wipe with cooking oil and cook for 30mins. Keep repeating this process (I did mine 6 times) until the you have an even black "patina" coating on both the oven and lid. This will provide a great non-stick surface, that will only ever require a wipe with warm water to clean.

For more great info check out:

CAMP OVEN COOKING IN AUSTRALIA (COCIA) -- WITH 'THE CAMP OVEN COOK' - DEREK BULLOCK (http://www.aussiecampovencook.com/campovencooking.htm)
CAMP OVEN COOKING IN AUSTRALIA (COCIA) -- WITH 'THE CAMP OVEN COOK' - DEREK BULLOCK (http://www.aussiecampovencook.com/index.htm)

The bloke who runs it will answer any questions.

[Unsane]

For the roast. Get yourself a lid lifter from a camp shop - very handy to lift whole oven and to remove lid. Welders gloves live in my cooking box, which are also great for tipping, pouring and handling oven (and to save my arms when fetching coals).

A trivet or cake rack inside will save you burning the bottom or roast and provide a space underneath meat for even cooking.

Make sure you pre-heat oven. Placing is next to fire for 20 mins is enough to do this. Prepare you meat at least an hour before you plan to cook it, and let it sit at room temp for at least 1 hour.

Season you roast with whatever you like. For lamb I use garlic, rosemary, salt and pepper. For beef I use a salt, pepper and mustard mix. For pork just score skin and salt to get crackle. Drizle with oil.

The time taken to cook meat will depend on heat of oven. If you have nice red gum coals and change them every 30mins you generally cook a 2kg roast in 2 hours - or there abouts.

For your first few times it pays to take it slow and check it often. There is few tricks to make sure you oven is hot enough. I use the tough principle - hold your hand about a foot above lid of oven, if you have to move it within a second or two, then its hot enough.

For veges, cut into even size chunks. Can use potato, pumpkin, sweet potato, parsnip, carrot, etc. Again the time taken to cook these will depend on size of pieces and heat of coals. Drizle with good oil - beautiful.

Also remember to let you meat stand for about 15 mins after removing from to rest. This allows the liquids to equalise.

Gravy is easy. In oven that has meat juices add some gravy mix or flour and on stove or coals heat and stir until level of thickness is obtained.

Everyone will have there favorite ways of doing things. Its best to get out there and give it a shot mate. Remember the more you use the camp oven the better they get. So try using it home too.

Check the website I mentioned earlier for heaps of good info and a forum too.

[rodeo2005]

Nothing Like a camp roast !!!!

Flinders Ranges Area
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a69/luxa/roast2.jpg
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a69/luxa/roast.jpg

Mallacoota Caravan Park
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a69/luxa/PotRoast2.jpg
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a69/luxa/PotRoast.jpg

A few tips:

As per Maxfli113 - Clean (good HOT wash with soap & water) and season (heat and rub with oil) any cast iron cookware beforehand. Its often coated in wax to prevent rust so you want to get this off!!!!!

If you are going to put coals underneath, use a Trivet, cake stand - or even a few egg rings (work fantastic) to keep the meat from sitting on the bottom.

Heat the oven before you put the roast in.

Don't use to excess heat, or direct flame to cook - you can always cook a little longer, its much harder to recover a burnt meal!!!! Just use a few shovelfulls of hot coals.

Get a LONG WOODEN HANDLE SHOVEL, and a set of welders gloves are handy also.

Get a stove with the lip on the lid to hold the coals. Just before you lift the lid to check - give it a good few taps with a tent peg or the like to knock off any loose ash so it doesn't drop into the oven.

There are a few great books - but the one the springs to mind is "Outback Cooking in the Camp Oven" by Jack and Reg Absalom.

There is also the Hillbilly Cookbook (Cooking from the top and Downunder) and Australian Bush Cooking.

Luxa
Great photos ,very yum.
Being in the tropics we find we need barely half the coals as pictured for a good roast!:thumb:

[bloke76]

agree with most comments, no flame and the rack in the bottom but we tend to use about a litre of water in the bottom when it first goes on (no need for oil cause that will ooze out of your roast) and about 500ml water top-up every hour or so when you check it. we have a massive camp oven which you can get a few roasts into at one time as you can see in the pics.
we have roasted lamb, chicken, turkey, and whole rib fillet...mmmmm

[KRUZIN]

season your oven first.

for a stand we had a small cake stand in the cupboard that was a perfect fit.

as everyone said, have a bed of coals away from the fire.

for a lid lifter, i bought a long set of supercheap tent pegs & bent one into a handle.

*****DONT OVERHEAT IT*************

damper :
http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n114/rodeo1_2006/The%20Springs/thesprings2.jpg

next night halved the temp & did this roast.

http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n114/rodeo1_2006/The%20Springs/thesprings001.jpg

[Bushie]

Camp oven cooking - for a few

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v491/bushie_defender/Louth_2007/dinner.jpg

Followed by brekky for a few the next morning

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v491/bushie_defender/Louth_2007/brekky.jpg


Bushie

[luxa]

Damn Bushie - your on breaky duty next camping trip !!!


Luxa

[harding.1970]

camp ovens to day are very thin. made in china i think. just go steady on the heat. enjoy learning it's the best way. dont limit your self to roasts. i cook everything in my oven, scones cakes bread you name it. lots of fun to be had.

[Unsane]

HI guys never cooked over a camp fire before and was wondering if someone would tell me how its done please? thanks guys.:thumb:

So guys, have you started cooking yet?

Let us know how it all goes ey.

[Brucey]

Try a pork roast with a couple of green apples and a couple of diced onions in the bottom with a cup of water apple sauce to die for mixed with the meat juices.

[Wal]

One thing that hasn't been mentioned yet is 'sealing' the meat so that the juices stay inside rather than ooze out during the cooking process. For this you need flour and oil/dripping/lard to coat the joint. You can then either; give the joint a quick fry in a pan to brown the outside or trust that the flour coating will do the job at the start of the cooking process in the camp oven. a number of the camp oven cookbooks I've read recommend this as the way to go.

Finally, allow your roast to 'rest for at least 15 - 20 minutes before carving!

[Thirsty2454]

Who the hell can wait 15-20 minutes?:D

[toddles09]

ill be cooking my first one this weekend id say ill get a small pumpkin roast for those that dont know its a nice peice of lamb usually the shoulder(boned)then sausage mince in the middle then tied up into a ball looks like a pumkin i normally mix sage and onion herb mix into the sausage mince before i tie it up and ill throw in spuds and pumkin inthere as well so ill see how i go

[muttly]

As per all above ,Seasoning your items first is the way to go.
With getting a stick free pan or oven season(prepare) as follows.
Wash with hot water and soap,
Heat item with salt covering the bottom of pan/oven etc...
This draws out all the oil/protective impurities that you don't want in your cooking utensil. We're talking blue to red hot here.Gas is best.
Once salt is discolured and smoking tip/ discard accordingly.(watch out this is white hot salt which needs respect)
Wipe pan with thick paper/hany towel folded.(have a stack of these handy.)
Heat till dull blue
1: Next with a bowl of oil, dip paper in and swirl oil around inside of pan.
This gives a thin layer of oil,
2:place back on heat -up to dull blue, oil will seal iron pores ,smokes as it does this.
Repeat 1: and 2:Do thes two stages repeatidly (replace paper accordingly)
Keep going and you will notice that an almost varnish finish will come up/be it black or honey coloured.
This is a non-stick surface,which will improve with use and only need a wipe with a cloth to clean.Cake racks are good ,put a little water with salt/pepper in it on the bottom this will allow the juices to collect ,ready for a gravy.Talking less than a thumb knuckle here.(water)
Of course excessive heat will burn anything eventually,just don't let your mate boil mince in it and fall asleep when he's doing this as the
re-percussions of such an act can last for years..I'm still not satisfied..ha..ha..
Good luck and watch the drool drip from other unprepared-campers.

[muttly]

Ignore the faces i don't know how they got in the script??

[toddles09]

http://img251.imageshack.us/img251/5522/my1stroastzi5.jpg
my first attempt best damn roast ive ever had 2 its all about the slow cooking

[toddles09]

sweet potatos ,potatos ,onons ,pumpkin bloody beautiful

[wandera]

i was taught many yrs ago, first thing i had to cook was a chook, i think even the bones were burnt, as someone mentione3d before, watch ur heat, i find most heat on the lid not underneath works well but trial and lots of error is the best way to learn, still waiting to hear how u went with ur first go

[Urshtnme]

Far out, I know they say that when preparing the camp oven that you'll get a fair bit of smoke but holy crap, I'm going to have the Fire Dept round here soon if I'm not careful!

[BissGXL]

All the fun is in learning, you've got heaps of great advice above! Whether you use a tivot or not the meat and veggies taste great!! I don't use a tivot cause I like the veggies to soak up the meat juice it's awesome! Don't rush it, it's slow cooking and it's worth the wait. Don't be afraid to try things! Damper is always a good easy start
Andy

[luxa]

Try a google search on "camp oven cookoff" there are contests & all sorts of other useful links !!!

Luxa