EverStonepoint
45 minClassic Camp-Oven Damper
The bush bread every nomad should master — crusty outside, soft and steaming within, torn straight from the oven and slathered with golden syrup.
Serves 6EasyCamp oven
Cooking on the road
The best meals you'll cook all year have no roof.
There's something about a camp oven over wood coals and a sky full of stars that makes simple food taste extraordinary. These are the recipes we cook on the road again and again — generous, forgiving, and unmistakably Australian.
Why cook out here
Camp cooking is a different kind of pleasure
A camp kitchen strips cooking back to its bones — fire, iron, a handful of ingredients and time you're in no hurry to spend. You learn to read coals the way you once read an oven dial, and the results, shared at a folding table under the gums, somehow always taste better than they should. Everything below is built for a real campsite: minimal gear, pantry staples that survive a corrugated road, and methods that forgive a fire with a mind of its own.
Six to start with
Recipes worth lighting a fire for
45 min
50 minKangaroo Red Curry
Lean kangaroo fillet seared hard and simmered in coconut and red curry paste. Swap in gravy beef if roo's not your thing — it's just as good.
Serves 4MediumOne pot
25 minOne-Pot Camp Pasta
Pasta, passata, salami and whatever veg is going soft in the crisper, all cooked in a single pot. Minimal washing up, maximum comfort.
Serves 4EasyGas stove
20 minThe Big Bush Brekkie
Snags, bacon, eggs, tomato and tinned spaghetti in one cast-iron pan over the coals. The breakfast that fuels a 300 km day.
Serves 4EasySkillet
25 minFoil-Pack Lemon Fish
The morning's catch — or a fillet of barra — wrapped with lemon, butter and herbs, then steamed gently in the coals. No pan to scrub.
Serves 2EasyIn the coals
35 minBilly Tea & Camp-Oven Scones
Smoky billy tea and feather-light scones baked in the camp oven, split warm with jam and cream. The afternoon-tea ritual of the road.
Makes 12MediumCamp oven
The featured recipe
Camp-Oven Outback Roast Lamb
This is the meal that turns a quiet camp into an occasion. A whole lamb shoulder, slow-roasted over coals with root vegetables soaking up the juices — forgiving enough for an uneven fire, impressive enough to draw the neighbours over for happy hour.
Prep 20 min
Cook 2½ hrs
Serves 6
Medium
What you'll need
- 1 lamb shoulder, about 1.8 kg, bone in
- 6 small potatoes, halved
- 4 carrots, cut into chunks
- 2 onions, quartered, plus 1 bulb garlic, halved
- 3 sprigs rosemary and 2 tbsp olive oil
- 250 ml stock, a splash of red wine, salt flakes and pepper
The method
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Step 01 · 45 min ahead
Build your bed of coals
Light a hardwood fire well before you plan to cook so it burns down to glowing, even coals. You want steady radiant heat, not leaping flames.
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Step 02
Sear the lamb
Rub the shoulder all over with oil, salt and pepper. Sit the camp oven on a few coals and sear every side until deeply browned, then lift the lamb out.
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Step 03
Layer the vegetables
Pack the potatoes, carrots, onion and garlic into the base. Rest the lamb on top, tuck the rosemary around it, and pour in the stock and wine.
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Step 04
Set the heat right
Settle the oven on a thin layer of coals and shovel more onto the lid — roughly twice as many on top as underneath. That's the secret to an even roast.
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Step 05 · ~2½ hours
Cook low and slow
Rotate the oven and its lid a quarter-turn every 30 minutes so no hot spot lingers, and top up the coals as they grey over. Resist lifting the lid too often.
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Step 06
Rest, then serve
It's ready when the meat pulls apart with a fork. Rest it 10 minutes, spoon the pan juices over the veg, and serve straight from the oven as the fire dies down.
Kit it out
The camp-kitchen essentials
You can cook beautifully with surprisingly little. This is the short list that earns its space in the boot.
The hardware
- A 10-inch cast-iron camp oven and a heavy skillet
- A two-burner gas cooker as your fire-ban backup
- Long-handled tongs, a lid lifter and heavy leather gloves
- A small camp shovel for moving coals and a trivet
The pantry
- Self-raising flour, oil, salt flakes and cracked pepper
- Tinned tomatoes, coconut milk, stock cubes and curry paste
- Pasta, rice and a few tins of beans for a no-fuss feed
- Foil, baking paper and the all-important golden syrup
Know-how
Camp-oven craft & fire safety
Master a few fundamentals and the camp oven stops being intimidating. Above all, respect the fire — out here it's a privilege, not a right.
Coals, never flames
Cook over a bed of glowing coals for even, controllable heat. For roasting and baking, load roughly twice the coals on the lid as underneath, and rotate everything a quarter-turn each 20 to 30 minutes.
Look after your iron
Wipe the oven out hot, scrape stuck bits with a wooden spatula and a splash of water, then dry it over the coals and rub a thin film of oil through it. Skip the soap, and never pack it away wet — rust is the only real enemy.
Fire safety first
Check the day's fire rating every morning — on a Total Fire Ban, no solid-fuel fires are permitted, full stop. Only ever light fires in provided pits, keep water and a shovel within reach, and drown the coals dead before you turn in.
Leave no trace. Scatter cold ashes well away from camp, carry out every scrap of foil and rubbish, and never feed scraps to the wildlife. The next traveller deserves the same untouched camp you found.
Common questions
Camp kitchen FAQ
A 10-inch (4.5 quart) cast-iron camp oven suits a couple or small family for almost everything — damper, curries, roasts and stews. If you regularly cook for a crowd, step up to a 12-inch. Cast iron lasts a lifetime if you keep it seasoned and dry.
Use coals, never flames, and put more heat on the lid than underneath — roughly a two-to-one split for baking and roasting. Rotate the oven and its lid a quarter-turn every 20 to 30 minutes so no hot spot sits in one place, and lift the lid as little as possible.
No. On a day of Total Fire Ban, solid-fuel fires including wood coals are not allowed anywhere in the open. Check the local fire authority's rating each morning and have a gas cooker as your backup — most gas appliances are still permitted on ban days, but always confirm the local rules.
Wipe it out hot with paper towel, scrape off any stuck bits with a wooden spatula and a splash of hot water, then dry it fully over the coals and rub a thin film of oil through it. Avoid soap and never leave it wet — rust is the only real enemy of cast iron.
Damper. It's just flour, a little salt, butter and water or milk, baked for about 30 minutes, and it teaches you to read coal heat without much that can go wrong. Master damper and a one-pot stew, and the rest follows.