Beef Stew in Aussie Camp Oven

In this post we show you how to cook a beef stew in an Aussie camp oven. Super simple recipe where you can chop and change the ingredients with whatever you have in your camp setup. A perfect meal for these cooler months. Total cook time of around 2 – 2 1/2 hours.

The Gear We Use

This is the gear we use when cooking beef stew in our Aussie camp oven.

• 12 inch spun steel camp oven.
• Olive oil and paper towel to season your camp oven.
• Companion double gas burner in our Drifta trailer DOT373.
• Chopping board and sharp knife.
• Oven gloves or fire resistant gloves to handle your camp oven.

Ingredients

• Olive oil
• 2-3 x garlic cloves
• 1 x brown onion
• Beef chuck steak x 500-1000 grams
• 3-6 x potatoes (normal and sweet potatoes)
• 3-4 x carrots
• Salt and pepper
• Tomato paste x 2-3 tablespoons
• Flour x 2 tablespoons
• Liquid beef stock approximately 500 mls
• Red wine
• 1 x bay leaf
• Basil
• Worcestershire sauce x 1-2 tablespoons
• Water

Check Out Our Video Showing You How This Is Done

So in the below YouTube video we were cooking for 4 and didn’t want any leftovers. So we used about 600 grams of beef. Increase the amount of ingredients if you are cooking for more. You can also chop and change ingredients with anything you have. Such as different veggies, herbs and spices.

Chuck steak is really cheap so this meal will cost you less than $10-15 and can feed a lot of people. A super simple and great meal for these colder months of the year.

Method

Chop the beef into chunks approximately 3 cms or so and then season generously with salt and pepper. Chop up the onion and garlic.

Heat up some olive oil in the camp oven, either on coals or on a gas burner, and then start to brown the beef.

Then add the onions and garlic until the onions are nice and soft. Now add a few tablespoons of tomato paste, stir this in and then add a couple of tablespoons of flour. Stir until the flour is dissolved and brown in colour.

Now add beef stock, basil (basically any herbs you really like), bay leaf and a splash of wine and stir. Add additional water so that it is approximately an inch or so above the meat.

Now cover and and add to the coals. More coals on the bottom than the top.

Leave for an hour to an hour and a half. Check half way through to make sure the mixture is still simmering. If not add a few more coals underneath and on top.

Chop up the potatoes and carrots into chunks – you can do this earlier so that this already done for the next step.

After an hour to an hour and a half add the potatoes and carrots and put back on the coals for another hour to an hour and a half.

Check the camp oven half way through after the potatoes and carrots have been added to see if the mixture has thickened.

Top Tip to Thicken Mixture if Required

If it is still quite runny, mix a tablespoon or two of flour with a little water, and once dissolved add to the stew. It is a good idea if adding any more flour to add a bit of butter to make sure you don’t get a floury taste.

Once done, the stew should have a nice thick mixture and the beef should be nice and tender. The longer you can cook it the better, remembering you only really want to cook the potatoes and carrots for an hour or so. The beef can be cooked a lot longer, just don’t add as many coals.

Use Whatever Ingredients You Have in Your Setup

You can chop and change a lot of the ingredients to whatever suits. If you don’t want to use chuck steak and go a bit more high end, try ox tail.

Add different herbs and spices like thyme or oregano. You can also add different veggies like frozen peas near the end. Basically throw anything you like or can find in your camp setup. If you like a bit of a bite, add some hot sauce or chillies.

Really simple one to cook, not much effort required and while its cooking, sit back and relax around the fire having a few cold ones.

Serve with a bit of garlic bread on the side if you like. Wrap the garlic bread in aluminium foil if it isn’t already and sit beside the fire for an hour.

A really simple and tasty meal for a cold nights camping with mates.

If you would like to see some of our other bush cooking recipes then check them out here.

To keep up to date on what we are up to then follow us on Instagram.

For any questions post a comment below or send us a message on Instagram. We hope you have enjoyed this recipe and method for cooking a beef stew in an Aussie camp oven.

Thanks for reading legends!

Recipe and method by Peter.