# Camp Oven Cooking



## fraser_john (7/6/10)

Spent the weekend at Beechworth with a fellow brewer and mate, first night there was camp oven chickens and veggies.

Great tucker.


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## Ducatiboy stu (7/6/10)

Fraser...

Get your ass up to the Brass Monkey Brew meet...

We will be doing camp ovens properly, ie buried in a hole with coals and left to cook all day... :icon_drool2: 

Have done that many camp ovens I have lost count...

Its the only way to cook


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## yardy (7/6/10)

fraser_john said:


> Spent the weekend at Beechworth with a fellow brewer and mate, first night there was camp oven chickens and veggies.
> 
> Great tucker.



nice one fj, looks great :icon_cheers: 

just getting into camp oven cooking myself after building a big fire pit at home (just been enjoying a schwarz around the fire with the kids)

i've bought one of _Tommos_ camp oven cook books, haven't actually cooked anything yet but a damper is first cab off the rank :icon_drool2: 

cheers

Dave


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## bulp (7/6/10)

Looks awesome John, im on the camp oven bandwagon too it just tastes better. Did you get to the Beechworth brewery? I'm heading up that way in November love to try their pale ale and robust porter out of keg, had a couple of dodgy bottles but also had a couple of fresh ones :icon_drool2: mmmmm. What was the campground like ? We stay at Harrietville every year at Easter just down the road, can't beat that fresh mountain air.


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## fraser_john (8/6/10)

Camp oven is definitely done better buried with coals, kind of hard to do dig holes at the Lake Sambal carvan park 

We did get to the brewery and had a chat with Ben, they have taken over the building next door and are expanding, so it appears to be going well for them.

Had three beers that were all seemed pretty good, chestnut pilsner, red ale and the IPA. I unfortunately came down with a horrible head cold on Thursday, so I could smell and taste very little. But the people I were with all said the beers were good. We did not have any of the pizzas they make at the brewery this time, but they are also very good.

Bulp, Lake Sambal caravan park is very nice, facilities were very good. He charged $5 for the fire pit and $25 for a wheelbarrow full of wood! We figured out where to local wood yard was and filled my Ford Territory up to the hilt for $25 with lovely dry redgum.

Beechworth is a great spot and a regular place for us to go visit.


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## kirem (8/6/10)

I could go a camp oven and the attached campfire beer, conversation and relaxing times

4 days is not long enough


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## drsmurto (9/6/10)

I posted a comment in the what's on the table thread about camp ovens and rabbits.

A bunch of mates head away for a camping trip every year over grand final weekend to 'speewa island' just north of swan hill on the NSW bank of the murray.

5 days of sitting around camp fire, drinking (i supply the beer), fishing, some of the boys head off for an early morning (pre drinking) shoot so we eat plenty of bunnies and/or ducks.

Bunnies or ducks are cooked for several hours in the camp oven, half buried and checked periodically to top up liquid (beer/cider/port/wine) until we are ready to eat. 

The next day it is refilled. Doesn't get cleaned while we are there, the flavours just build up.

If we don't get any bunnies or ducks we have plenty of meat in reserve but one of the other specialities of the main cook is a whole pumpkin, hollowed out and filled with a chicken curry and slow cooked for a few hours.


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## Katherine (9/6/10)

DrSmurto said:


> I posted a comment in the what's on the table thread about camp ovens and rabbits.
> 
> A bunch of mates head away for a camping trip every year over grand final weekend to 'speewa island' just north of swan hill on the NSW bank of the murray.
> 
> ...



Kind of sounds like India but Im sure there camp ovens dont get cleaned for years.... just continuous cooking! Spent 6 months in India and never got sick.


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## Stubbie (9/6/10)

Now we're talking about my favourite type of dish.........wild rabbit/duck/venison cooked in ale and mustard in a camp oven. :super: In fact I'm partly motivated to brew a scotch ale just so there's a goodly supply of modestly bittered British ale on hand for just such recipes.
Come to think of it, I'm heading down to the family beach house this wk end.........think I might take along some wild duck.........ale an mustard casserole will be perfect for this wintery weather.

Getting hungry just thinking about it.
Stubbie


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## komodo (29/6/10)

Camp oven cooking is something none of my mates seem to do.
My missus and I do a lot of camping and we always take the camp oven. We do roasts, casseroles, curries, pies etc. Even pizza from time to time and eggs cooked on the upside down lid in the morning - beautiful!
We were supprised recently to go camping with a group of 12 friends and find that none of the other people in the group (from 18 - mid 30s) had cooked using a camp oven. Most thought that cooking in a camp oven was too hard. They cooked the entire weekend using a flat plate BBQ and some butane stoves whilst my partner and I enjoyed things like a chicken curry, a roast leg of lamb with roast veggies and some fruit pies (admittedly frozen nannas brand) with icecream (I love my Waeco CF-80). 

They were quite supprised at how easy it was to cook using a camp oven. I'm not one for checking the temperature etc like some people. I tend to bang it in a hope for the best. My theory is that pretty much everything tastes good when your camping as long as its reasonably fresh and nice and hot - not to burned is always a bonus! The girls couldnt believe that we were sitting there eatting roast lamb with roast potatoes whist camping while they ate bangers in bread. Dont get me wrong I love a sausage in bread - but I couldnt go a 4 day weekend eatting "BBQ" food. Mind you we're sometimes a little crackers when it comes to cooking whilst camping. On more than one occasion I've seen my missus roll out fresh pasta on the bench with an empty stubby or wine bottle. 

Even at home I tend to, at least once a month, do a saturday dinner in the camp oven using heat beads as a heat source. I just dont think you can beat it - I'd even suggest that it rivals food out of mums 4 oven AGA. Hell of a lot cheaper too!


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## Wisey (2/8/10)

I gotta get my camp oven back in action.... she is sitting in the corner of my shed


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## Ducatiboy stu (2/8/10)

Wisey said:


> I gotta get my camp oven back in action.... she is sitting in the corner of my shed



Wisey.... you are only a few hrs from my place... get your sh!t together this weekend for the Brass Monkey... will have fire ready for camp ovens


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## Rod (3/8/10)

you may find this site helpful

great stuff , lots recipes 

home page

http://www.aussiecampovencook.com/

cooking in a camp oven with heat beads , if no wood about or in national park

http://www.aussiecampovencook.com/charcoalheatchart.htm

Forum

http://www.aussiecampovenforum.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl


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## Wisey (8/8/10)

Ducati Stu:

Would have loved too, but I have had to work this weekend. Mines think that they can take your weekends off you, ill help take their money off them.


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## Margrethe (26/6/11)

Just knew I'd seen a thread about camp ovens here! We just bought one a month or two ago- I've been looking for some trial recipes to try at home before we go out using it in the big blue yonder! 

Another reason I love AHB.


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## Asha05 (15/11/11)

I always make my Chille con carne in my camp oven on boys trips...Gets a bit like that scene from blazing saddles a bit later in the night though...


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## Amber Fluid (16/11/11)

TBH I have personally never used one or eaten anything cooked in one. However, this sounds like something I must get. One question comes to mind though and I know it maybe hard to answer but......

what size would one suggest to get and how long does it take to heat one up?
I am assuming that bigger may not be better.


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## Malted (16/11/11)

Amber Fluid said:


> TBH I have personally never used one or eaten anything cooked in one. However, this sounds like something I must get. One question comes to mind though and I know it maybe hard to answer but......
> 
> what size would one suggest to get and how long does it take to heat one up?
> I am assuming that bigger may not be better.



Heating one up takes very little time at all.

Heating one up is one thing but a skilled campoven cook is able to control the temperature. Wood is rather variable in the way in which it burns. Some wood has good coals that hold heat a long time and some burns too quick and doesn't hold much heat. You have to develop a knack for reading the fire to be able to use the coals. You don't put the oven in the fire, you bring some of the coals to the oven. During cooking you may need to freshen up the coals under and on top of the oven, or you may need to remove some. With it away from the fire, you can open the lid and stir stuff without getting yourself burnt by the fire. A long handled shovel is in this case a cooking tool. Another must have is a trivet or in home brew terms, a false bottom for you camp oven. This jobby is a very handy device too for lifting the oven or lid without getting fingers near hot coals:



I reckon go for a camp oven of about 25cm in diameter. They are a medium size and can be used for many things. It will always be a useful size whether you later then also get bigger or smaller ones. Forget about cast iron ovens that have feet on them as they will bust off eventually and crack your oven open. Legs or little feet on them is a gimmick, IMO. I am not convinced that the pressed steel Bedourie ovens would suit me either. I prefer a plain cast iron camp oven.


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## Asha05 (16/11/11)

A good tip too is to get a cake cooling tray that fits into the bottom of your camp oven. Especially for cooking big pieces of meat, prevents it from getting burnt by sitting on the bottom...


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## Ducatiboy stu (16/11/11)

I allways dig a hole and put a layer of coals , then dirt, then the camp oven, fill in around the oven with a mix of coals and dirt, and place a few coals on top.

I would get a big one, that way you can put vegies in with your meat.

I allways put about 1" of water in the oven to slow the cooking and stop it burning.

The trick is to keep the heat long and slow.

Camp ovens are really no differnt to cooking in a covered oven dish


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## Malted (16/11/11)

Asha05 said:


> A good tip too is to get a cake cooling tray that fits into the bottom of your camp oven. Especially for cooking big pieces of meat, prevents it from getting burnt by sitting on the bottom...


It is called a trivet.


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## Asha05 (7/6/12)

Malted said:


> It is called a trivet.


same same but different...


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## Ducatiboy stu (7/6/12)

Mmmmmmm....Winter = Camp ovens and fires


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## Malted (7/6/12)

Ducatiboy stu said:


> Mmmmmmm....Winter = Camp ovens and fires


Summer, Winter, who cares! Camp oven cooking rocks. When I lived in central western Queensland I used to cook camp oven food in the backyard. Now I am in metropolitan Adelaide, it is but a distant memory. :angry: 
Occasionaly I am out bush enough to be able to crank the camp oven. As for metropolitan camp ovens, it is not the same when you put it in the oven (e.g. La Cruseut doesn't have the same ring or taste).


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## Ducatiboy stu (7/6/12)

When I do my camp oven fire, it takes me a day to get it ready. Trick is to get a good bed of coals as I like to bury them in the ground


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## Amber Fluid (8/6/12)

Ducatiboy stu said:


> I allways dig a hole and put a layer of coals , then dirt, then the camp oven, fill in around the oven with a mix of coals and dirt, and place a few coals on top.
> 
> I would get a big one, that way you can put vegies in with your meat.
> 
> ...



Using this procedure how long would one expect to take to cook something like a 1.5kg roast?


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## Ducatiboy stu (8/6/12)

Amber Fluid said:


> Using this procedure how long would one expect to take to cook something like a 1.5kg roast?



Depends, but 2hrs should do it, but can be longer. Camp ovens cook different to a regular oven, first up they steam as well as roast, thats why you need water in them.
Secondly is they cook a lot more gently and slower due to the heat being retained in the ground and coals


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## komodo (8/6/12)

Malted said:


> Summer, Winter, who cares! Camp oven cooking rocks. When I lived in central western Queensland I used to cook camp oven food in the backyard. Now I am in metropolitan Adelaide, it is but a distant memory. :angry:




You live in SA you have some of the best camping in Australia on your doorstep WTF are you complaining about?
I have to drive 3 hours just to get past the housing estates. 



9qt is a good sized camp oven to start with


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## yardy (18/11/12)

fraser_john said:


> Spent the weekend at Beechworth with a fellow brewer and mate, first night there was camp oven chickens and veggies.
> 
> Great tucker.



just getting the hang of the camp oven cooking now, i've done some shanks that turned out ok and a couple of roasts








we've been doing a bit of camping so i knocked up this for the oven, it's a 9 gallon keg that i got from the local tip for $10






















cheers


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## Airgead (19/11/12)

yardy said:


> we've been doing a bit of camping so i knocked up this for the oven, it's a 9 gallon keg that i got from the local tip for $10



Dude!

We are not worthy. :super:


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## yardy (19/11/12)

Haha cheers bloke, it was awesome on it's first trip during the winter, it throws some heat


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## Malted (19/11/12)

yardy said:


> Haha cheers bloke, it was awesome on it's first trip during the winter, it throws some heat




Yeah who doesn't like a food incinerator!


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## yardy (20/11/12)

ha from that last pic it looks like it would melt rock but with the door shut it get's a nice controlled burn which suits the oven.


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## KingKong (11/5/13)

Cracking out my camp oven today. What a cracker of a day it is. Cant wait to be sitting around the fire, cooking a roast chook, roast vegies and knocking back a few home brews with the brother in law and dog. (The dog appreciates that last 3ml of my beer in his own bowl.)

Australia really is the lucky country. :beerbang:


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## punkin (11/5/13)

Perfect campoven roast potatoes;

large can Tiny Taters
coat with chilli salt flour.

Shallow fry in oil in pan or in camp oven in a little oil.

Chilli salt;
mix 4 parts plain flour
1 part salt
1 part hot chilli powder in a bag and shake.

Perfect for spuds, chicken wings, prawns, squid ect.


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## KingKong (11/5/13)

Sounds great. I've got the fire roaring now, should have some nice coals in about 90 minutes to start the cook up. Great way to spend a Saturday arvo.


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## simplefisherman (11/5/13)

I usually do the meat on a spit and veggies in the camp oven. One tip I can offer is to put the veggies in ( spuds punkin kumera carrots ) and season with whatever, then spread bacon over the top of it all, along with some kind of greenery. Parsley rosemary and spinach is favorite for me.
Makes for a tasty camping feast... Of course the chef needs extra hydration, what with working so close to the fire and all...


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