Camp Rib Roast with Horseradish Cream
A bone-in rib roast cooked slow in a dutch oven over coals, with a horseradish sauce built from powdered dairy.
- calories
- 820
- weight
- 16 oz
- cal / oz
- 51
- protein
- 62 g
- serves
- 5
- prep
- 30 min
- cook
- 180 min
- total time
- 210 min
- water
- 60 ml cold
- 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
- Real dishes
- Pre-mix at home
- Needs a cooler
- Actual cooking
Ingredients
| Bone-in standing rib roast | 5 to 6 lb | two bone; keep it cold until it goes in the pot |
|---|---|---|
| Salt | 2 tbsp | |
| Black pepper | 2 tbsp | coarse |
| Garlic | 6 cloves, minced | or 2 tbsp granulated garlic |
| Dried rosemary | 2 tbsp | crushed between your palms |
| Sour cream powder | 1/4 cup | |
| Powdered whole milk | 2 tbsp | |
| Prepared horseradish | 2 tbsp | single-serve packets or a small jar |
| Cider vinegar | 1 tsp | |
| Cooking oil | 2 tbsp |
Method
- Burn a fire down to coals an hour before you want to start. You need a steady bed, not flames.
- Rub the roast all over with salt, pepper, garlic, and rosemary. Let it sit out of the cooler for 45 minutes while the fire settles.
- Set the roast fat side up in a dry dutch oven, lid on. Bank about 8 coals under the pot and 16 on the lid. Aim for a low, even heat.
- Cook 2 to 3 hours, rotating pot and lid a quarter turn every 20 minutes so it does not scorch on one side. Pull it at 120F in the center for medium rare. Without a thermometer, this is a gamble; bring the thermometer.
- Lift the roast onto a board. Rake the lid coals away, set the pot back over a hot bed with the oil, and sear the roast on every face for a minute or two until the crust is dark.
- Rest it 20 minutes. It keeps cooking while it rests.
- For the sauce, whisk the sour cream powder and milk powder with 60 ml of cold water in a cup until smooth, then stir in the horseradish, vinegar, and a pinch of salt. Let it stand 5 minutes to thicken.
- Carve against the grain along the bones. Serve with the sauce and pour any fat from the pot over the slices.
This is a home holiday roast moved outdoors, and the parts that had to change are the dairy. The original leans on whole milk, eggs, and sour cream, none of which belong in a cooler for three days. The Yorkshire pudding is gone with them, since it needs flour, eggs, and an oven that holds a real temperature. What is left is the roast itself, which cast iron over coals handles well, and a horseradish sauce rebuilt from powder.
The cook order is reversed on purpose: low heat first, sear last. Coals are uneven, and searing at the end means the crust forms after the interior is already where you want it, instead of burning while you wait. Coal counts are a starting point, not a rule, so rotate the pot and check the meat rather than the clock. This is a car-camping dinner, one night out from the store, and it is not cheap.
Packing
Salt, pepper, garlic, and rosemary go in one small jar as a rub. Sour cream and milk powders in a second. The roast stays in the bottom of the cooler on ice, double-bagged, and gets cooked the first night.
Variations
- Halve the recipe with a single-bone roast and cut the cook time to about 90 minutes.
- Potatoes quartered and dropped in around the roast for the last hour catch the drippings.
- No dutch oven: cook it on a grill grate over indirect coals with a foil tent, same temperature targets.
https://www.lodgecastiron.com/blogs/recipe/standing-rib-roast-yorkshire-pudding