Camp Oven Cooking

[fraser_john]

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

Great tucker.

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

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

 

[yardy]

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

 

[bulp]

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.

 

[fraser_john]

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.

 

[kirem]

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

4 days is not long enough

 

[drsmurto]

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.

 

[Katherine]

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.

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.

 

[Stubbie]

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

 

[komodo]

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!

 

[Wisey]

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

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

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

 

[Rod]

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

 

[Wisey]

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.

 

[Margrethe]

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.

 

[Asha05]

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...

 

[Amber Fluid]

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.

 

[Malted]

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.

 

[Asha05]

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...

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

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