Dutch Oven Beef Stew
Two hours of low heat over coals turns cheap stew meat and a bag of root vegetables into dinner for a crowd.
- calories
- 520
- weight
- 14 oz
- cal / oz
- 37
- protein
- 42 g
- serves
- 6, scales
- prep
- 20 min
- cook
- 150 min
- total time
- 170 min
- water
- 500 ml boiled
- 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
- Dairy free
- Nut free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Needs a cooler
- Actual cooking
Ingredients
| Beef stew meat | 4 lb | chuck, cut in 1 inch cubes |
|---|---|---|
| Flour | 3 tbsp | plus a couple more spoonfuls for thickening at the end |
| Salt | 1 tsp | |
| Black pepper | 1/4 tsp | |
| Shortening or cooking oil | 3 tbsp | |
| Water | 2 cups | |
| Bay leaf | 1 | |
| Dried thyme | 1/8 tsp | |
| Potatoes | 6 medium | quartered, skin on |
| Small onions | 6 | peeled, left whole |
| Carrots | 4 medium | cut in 1 inch lengths |
| Celery | 3 stalks | sliced |
| Cut green beans | 1 small bag | frozen from the cooler, or a drained can |
Method
- Build a fire and let it burn down to coals. You want steady heat for over two hours, so keep feeding a second fire off to the side for replacement coals.
- Shake the flour, salt, and pepper together in a bag. Add the beef a few handfuls at a time and toss until every cube is dusted.
- Melt the shortening in the Dutch oven over direct coals. Brown the meat in batches, crowding it as little as you can. Pour off the fat when the last batch is done.
- Return all the meat to the pot. Add 2 cups of water, the bay leaf, and the thyme. Put the lid on tight.
- Move the oven off the direct fire and set it on a bed of coals with a ring of coals on the lid. Cook two hours. Check every 30 minutes and add a splash of water if it looks dry.
- Add the potatoes, onions, carrots, celery, and green beans. Lid back on, another 30 minutes, until a knife slides into the potatoes without argument.
- Fish out the bay leaf. Stir a spoonful of flour into a little cold water until smooth, then stir that into the pot to thicken the liquid into gravy. Give it five more minutes on the coals.
This is old-fashioned camp-oven cooking and it does not shortcut. The two hours are not optional: chuck is full of connective tissue that only turns soft after a long, low, wet cook. Rush it and you get chewy cubes in thin broth. The vegetables go in at the end because ninety minutes past that point they would be paste.
The flour does two jobs. Dredging the meat gives the browning something to grab, which is where most of the color and flavor comes from. The second spoonful, slurried in cold water so it does not lump, thickens the cooking liquid at the end. Pouring off the browning fat matters — leave it and the gravy separates.
This one needs a cooler and stays in car camp. Four pounds of raw beef and a bag of potatoes are not backpacking weight, and none of it is shelf-stable.
Packing
Mix the flour, salt, and pepper at home and carry it in the bag you will dredge in. Cut the carrots and celery at home too. The meat rides in the cooler on the bottom, under everything else, in a doubled bag.
Variations
- A can of beef broth in place of the water makes the gravy taste like it cooked twice as long.
- No frozen beans in the cooler: use a drained can and add it in the last ten minutes so it does not turn to mush.
- Cook it over a two-burner camp stove instead of coals if fire restrictions are on. Lowest flame, lid on, same timing.
https://camprecipes.com/classic-recipes/beef-stew