Bacon and Beef Dutch Oven Pot Roast
A chuck roast, a bottle of red, and root vegetables that survive a cooler. Car camping only.
- calories
- 720
- weight
- 16 oz
- cal / oz
- 45
- protein
- 48 g
- serves
- 6
- prep
- 30 min
- cook
- 225 min
- total time
- 255 min
- water
- none
- cost
- $$$
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Dinner
- Dutch oven
- Campfire coals
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Gluten free
- Nut free
- Dairy free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Needs a cooler
- Actual cooking
Ingredients
| Thick-cut bacon | 8 oz | diced at home |
|---|---|---|
| Chuck roast | 4-5 lb | |
| Salt | 2 tsp | |
| Black pepper | 2 tsp | |
| Paprika | 2 tsp | |
| Brown sugar | 2 tsp | |
| Yellow onion | 1 large | sliced |
| Red onion | 1 | 1-inch pieces |
| Shallots | 4 large | sliced |
| Garlic | 1 head | peeled |
| Cabernet sauvignon | 2 cups | |
| Beef broth | 1/4 cup | or bouillon and 1/4 cup water |
| Carrots | 1 lb | 1-inch pieces |
| Turnips | 1 lb | 1-inch pieces |
| Dried thyme and rosemary | 1 tbsp total | dried holds up better than fresh in a cooler |
| Bay leaves | 2 |
Method
- Build a fire and let it burn down to coals. You want steady low heat for four hours, not flames.
- Mix the salt, pepper, paprika, and brown sugar and rub it over the whole roast. Let it sit while the fire settles.
- Render the diced bacon in the dutch oven over the coals. Pull the bacon out, leave the fat.
- Sear the roast in the bacon fat, four or five minutes a side, until it is brown everywhere. Set it on a plate.
- Cook the onions, shallots, and garlic in the fat until they soften and pick up color.
- Pour in 1 cup of wine and scrape the bottom of the pot until nothing is stuck to it.
- Return the roast and bacon. Add the rest of the wine, the broth, the dried herbs, and the bay leaves.
- Lid on. Bank coals around the base and shovel a layer on the lid. Hold a low simmer for about 3 hours, checking every 45 minutes and refreshing coals.
- Add the carrots and turnips. Cook another 45 minutes, until a fork goes into the meat with no resistance.
- Pull the bay leaves. Break the roast apart with two forks and spoon the pan liquid over it.
This is a car-camping recipe and it stays one. A four-pound chuck roast needs four hours of low wet heat to turn its connective tissue soft, and there is no dehydrator trick that gets you there in a backpacking pot. What it does need is a cooler, a dutch oven, and an evening where nobody is in a hurry.
The bacon fat is the whole first half of the recipe. It carries the sear, then the onions, then the fond that the wine lifts off the bottom. The brown sugar in the rub is there for the crust, not for sweetness. Fresh herb sprigs go limp and slimy in a cooler, so dried thyme and rosemary go in instead and they are simmering for three hours anyway. Root vegetables go in late because carrots and turnips fall apart long before the meat gives up.
Packing
Rub the roast and vacuum-seal it at home, then freeze it flat. It thaws over two days in the cooler and keeps the ice alive while it does. Chop the vegetables at home into one bag. Decant the wine into a plastic bottle so you are not carrying glass.
Variations
- Potatoes in place of turnips if nobody in camp likes turnips.
- Skip the wine and use 2 cups of broth plus a splash of vinegar. The pot still works, the gravy is thinner.
- Leftovers reheat into breakfast hash with whatever vegetables are left.
https://www.lodgecastiron.com/blogs/recipe/red-wine-braised-pot-roast-with-root-vegetables