Any Ideas for a camp oven??

[IamSam]

My good self and a few friends are going out this weekend and would like to cook a sunday lunch while out. Was wondering if anyone had any advice on this we are stuck on how to cook the meat, think its going to be lamb, do we cook it over the fire or try to make an oven.

If we do make an oven we would like to make it from stuff we don't have to take with us dirt and rock.

All advice will be gratfull taa.

 

[led]

You could cook it in a fire pit. Abbe succinctly describes how to make a fire pit.

 

[Gibbsy]

Just found this on the internet maybe an idea ?


Pot-roasting - Is a method of roasting a joint of
meat, without an oven. An ideal container is a
large billie, having a capacity of seven to eight
litres and a diameter of about 20 cm. Hard root
vegetables such as turnips, swedes, parsnips are
cut into large pieces (onions are best left whole),
packed tightly into the bottom of the billie to a
depth of about IO cm, and just covered with water.
The meat is then placed on top of the vegetables,
standing clear of the liquid. The billie is brought to
the boil and simmered with a lid on until the meat
is tender - this normally takes about half an hour
per pound, depending on the cut. The billie must
be checked regularly during cooking to make sure
it does not boil dry.

 

[moduser]

That's similar to a dutch oven

Look here

Rgds

Moduser

 

[Ogri the trog]

.... do we cook it over the fire or try to make an oven.

If we do make an oven we would like to make it from stuff we don't have to take with us dirt and rock.

All advice will be gratfull taa.

If you're really not going to take "anything" with you, then your options might be a little more limited. That doesn't mean to say that you can't make an oven out of sticks, you're only trying to create a heated cavity after all. An old biscuit tin or bucket are ideal for sealing into a mud/earth pocket above a firepit.

Lets think a bit more here. This weekend the weather is likely to be hot and humid, so you might not want to be tending a fire all day just to cook a "Sunday Roast". Go with the flow, cut the meat into smaller chunks and barbeque as kebabs, lamb would be great with some barbied apples, pineapple, mushrooms, small bannock.... glass of wine.... afternoon in the hammock... cool grapes..... Oh boy have I got a hunger coming on.....

Good Luck

Ogri the trog

 

[Phil562]

A mate of mine did a beef pot roast in a Zebra billy, lovely

 

[dommyracer]

Many moons ago I cooked a joint of Lamb in a pit with hot stones and embers.
We did it this way:-

Dig a square pit with all four slides sloping down into the pit.
Cut some live green sticks (make sure you don't use anything poisonous) so that you can wedge them into the pit about 5-6 inches from the bottom - As I remember it we had a rectangular pit, so cut three that would lay across the width of the pit for support and the others would lie lengthwise.

Then we made a fire next to the pit and put a load of stones in the fire.
Once we had plenty of embers and hot stones we shovelled this into the pit.
Then we put in the sticks so we had a 'rack' for the meat, put the meat onto this rack.
Then we laid more sticks across the top of the pit, and covered this with moss/leaves/ferns, and then mud to seal it in.

As I remember we left it for couple of hours or so.
It works better if the lamb has a nice bit of fat on it, that way if you leave it a little too long it doesn't get too overcooked and tough.

 

[pteron]

That's similar to a dutch oven

Look here

I've wanted one of those for a while but the cheapest I can find the 6 quart in the UK is over £70 - they are just over $50 (=£30) in Bass Pro.

Maybe a trip to Canada this summer....

 

[beachlover]

Have a look at this idea. A wok over a pan would probably work too.
http://forums.outdoors-magazine.com/viewtopic.php?t=7005

 

[Stuart]

cut the lamb into steaks and split a large peice of alder into a plank an inch thick and with a surface area large enough to accomidate your steaks with between 1-2 inches space all round.

soak the alder plank in water (or better apple juice) for two hours, then place the steaks on the plank and place the plank over a good bed of coals.

the steaks will roast nicley and take on a plesant flavour as the plank chars, keep a small container of water/juice handy to snuff out the edges of the plank should they catch alight, you dont want it to burn just blacken.

 

[jdlenton]

I'm a fan of the biscuit tin idea but I've got some coffee cans that would work with an improvised lid of an old pan of some sort for pot roasting. As for making mud ovens they are not something i would make for an afternoon out ,a good one could take several days to make and a good week to be properly ready to use at full strength, a make do and mend one could be made in a morning provided the local stone will provide flat paving slab size pieces. How about a hangi like the pig was done in at the summer moot last year dig pit, line with rocks, lite fire, throw in a few more rocks, let fire burn down wrap meet in muslin and then straw place in hole and then fill in on top with earth leave for a few hours and dig dinner up.

James

 

[miniac]

When I was a little scout we use to pot roast a chicken in a large dixie which had a small billie upside down in it just covered with water and left it simmering for about 1 and 1/2 hours.

The chicken used to just fall apart all moist and tas....sorry started to dribble

 

[IamSam]

Thanks so much for all the replys

will be trying the sloping pit idea seems quite a neat solution. Also intregued by the alder planks last time i was at the site i think a saw a large alder that had been blown over so will give that a go as well.

will let you know how it goes.
mabe some photos ?????

 

[hilltop]

ever tried hangi?

 

[iamwill]

what hangi?

 

[falling rain]

On a major NATO exercise in Germany my troop caught a wild boar, and we cooked it in a hangi (I didn't know it was called 'hangi at the time.....just knew how to do it) We had to dig a seriously large pit, and severely under estimated how long the beast would take to cook. After 12 hours it still wasn't thoroghly cooked so we jointed it and stuck it in for another 6 hours which did the trick. This was about 1984/5 and as I remember it tasted rather good

 

[weekend_warrior]

I've wanted one of those for a while but the cheapest I can find the 6 quart in the UK is over £70 - they are just over $50 (=£30) in Bass Pro.

Maybe a trip to Canada this summer....

Try here:

http://www.sanza.co.uk/apps/shop/shop.asp?sc_id=417

R.

 

[iamwill]

After 12 hours it still wasn't thoroghly cooked so we jointed it and stuck it in for another 6 hours which did the trick. This was about 1984/5 and as I remember it tasted rather good

respect to that man i mean really, but seriously after waiting 18 hours even a pot noodle would taste good.

i am going with sam this weekend, just been to tesco for food and ended up buying a 23cm diametre terracotta plant pot for 73p, just about the right size for a lamb joint me thinks

one of my female friends said something really funny on an email earlier to my wife quote: 'oh yeah forgot they (us) were going on a bushcraft weekend, boozecraft more like' i chuckled anyway.

peace, will

 

[pteron]

Try here:

http://www.sanza.co.uk/apps/shop/shop.asp?sc_id=417

R.

Thanks for the link Rich but I was specifically after one of the Lodge ovens as they are very highly regarded.

 

[Biddlesby]

Check out Fenlanders clay oven:

Here is another little project for you Bidlesby, if you have a tin with a lose fitting lid......A clay oven

Baked some bread in this one this evening.

I used a 14cm billy as the oven and a 12cm billy tray as a shelf.

http://www.bushcraftuk.com/community/attachment.php?attachmentid=209&stc=1
Pictures here:

http://www.bushcraftuk.com/community/showpost.php?p=98175&postcount=25
http://www.bushcraftuk.com/community/showpost.php?p=98177&postcount=26