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Campfire Cooking – Moose Stew in a Dutch Oven

July 6, 2012   Campfire Cooking, Food, Maine Outdoors, Moose, Outdoors

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Independence Day was cool, gray and sometimes rainy. We skipped the usual cookout fare of burgers, hotdogs and salads for moose stew. I packed carrots, potatoes, an onion, two pounds of moose stew meat in the cooler. Steve had charcoal briquettes and lighter fluid in the truck. We loaded kayaks and supplies and made our way upta camp.

Cooking in a Dutch oven outdoors over coals is simple. It takes a little practice to get the temperature and timing right. If you use too many coals your oven gets too hot; too few and it’s not hot enough. Timing is the same as with an electric or propane oven—too long and food burns, not long enough and it’s under cooked.

Light the briquettes and let burn until they’re gray.

Choose a safe spot. I used the concrete fire pad we have at camp. I’d rather use wood coals but didn’t want to tend to a fire so we brought charcoal briquettes and lighter fluid to keep it simple. I used a six quart, 12” Dutch oven. To create a 350* oven you need 12 briquettes on bottom and 14 on the cover. Use a cover that is flat and has a lip around the edge. It’s helpful to have legs on the oven to allow air flow and not smother the briquettes. I heat extra briquettes in case I need them. Pile them up, add lighter fluid and light. The coals are ready to use when they’re gray. If you can hold your hand 6” above the coals for five seconds they aren’t hot enough.

Moose meat, potatoes, carrots, onions, seasoning, bouillon cubes because I was out of pre-made broth, and hot water.

Brown the meat as usual in a little olive oil. Add your usual soup/stew ingredients, cover with hot water and put the cover on. I use hot water to avoid cooling the hot cast iron. Place 14 hot briquettes or the equivalent in wood coals on the cover. The coals don’t reheat themselves like an oven does so don’t remove the cover and let the heat out until you think your meal is nearly done cooking.

Add approximately 14 briquettes to the Dutch oven’s lid and leave undisturbed until the stew is almost done cooking. I used extra briquettes because of mist and light rain hitting the Dutch oven.

My stew took an hour from browning to being almost finished. I dumped the coals from the lid, took the oven off the bottom heat and put it aside. The carrots finished cooking and the stew stayed warm until we were ready to eat. I left my camera at <gasp> home and the phone battery died so I don’t have a picture of the finished stew. It was a delicious one-pot meal. Donna made homemade biscuits (we’ll make them in another campfire cooking installment) and strawberry pie to top off the meal. We ate well!

Use a lid lifter to pick up the hot lid without disturbing the briquettes.

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