Thread: Approx Cooking times for Camp Ovens

I always do my lamb roasts the al la 'Thommo' way. I get my butcher to cut the roast into chops. Shortens the cooking time and there is no carving involved. A quick sear on each side and then onto a trivet. We always do our vege in tin foil. As others have said, hardwood coals are the best, away from the fire. Just replenish them as needed and always preheat, just like the oven at home. I reckon camp oven cooking is great fun. I never do a roast at home. It always tastes better in a camp oven.

cheers

hey this is in another thread which some may find interesting

CampingInOz.com - Free Camping In Australia|Australian Camping And Caravan Parks |Campsites Australia

some good recipes in there



Mrs ho har

Silly question but, why are coals/heatbeads reqired on top?
Heat rises,so is it just to stop the lower heat escaping too quickly?
Cheers Dean.

Originally Posted by 953

Silly question but, why are coals/heatbeads reqired on top?
Heat rises,so is it just to stop the lower heat escaping too quickly?
Cheers Dean.

It is done that way so that heat radiates from all directions.

If you only had heat from the bottom, you might as well be trying to cook your roast in a frying pan.

It also helps that some of the hot surface that is keeping it hot inside the camp oven isn't too close to what you are cooking. Even with a trivet, if too much heat comes from the bottom, things can burn on the bottom before they are cooked on the top and in the middle.

Make sure you season your oven before you use it or everything will taste of cast iron.

Heat rises through convection.
Heat radiates in all directions via radiation.
Heat conducts through conduction.

I suspect that conductive heat transfer is the main mechanism for heat beads on the lid of a camp oven.

HTH,
Peter

Thanks again for the helpful tips. Am really looking forward to how this works out in the campfire. The roast I am doing is always a winner at home...so hoping same out in the bush as cooking for a few of us. I guess part of it...like any cooking...is a bit of trial and error. If all else fails, can always get some green branches and bush bbq the lamb ,

Regards

Stevo

Originally Posted by 953

Silly question but, why are coals/heatbeads reqired on top?
Heat rises,so is it just to stop the lower heat escaping too quickly?
Cheers Dean.

Generally speaking, coals on top ensures relatively even heat all around the oven. However, I often cook roasts (meat and veges) with oven on a fire grate and no heat on top - with a few hours of steady cooking, the heat within the oven is fairly evenly distributed.

It's a different matter though if you are cooking bread, scones or a dessert that needs to be browned on top - it is then imperative that the majority of the heat is placed on top.

Roger