Dutch Oven Pot Roast
A three-pound roast, coals, and three hours of not opening the lid.
- calories
- 540
- weight
- 11 oz
- cal / oz
- 49
- protein
- 38 g
- serves
- 8, scales
- prep
- 20 min
- cook
- 190 min
- total time
- 210 min
- water
- 120 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
- Dairy free
- Nut free
- One pot
- Grab and go
- Needs a cooler
- Actual cooking
Ingredients
| Rump roast or pot roast | 3 lb | |
|---|---|---|
| Vegetable oil | 3 tbsp | |
| Potatoes | 4 | peeled and sliced thick |
| Carrots | 4 | |
| Onions | 2 | |
| Salt | 1 tsp | |
| Pepper | 1/4 tsp | |
| Water | 1/2 cup |
Method
- Peel and slice the potatoes, carrots, and onions before you light anything. Once the coals are ready you will not have time.
- Get a 12-inch dutch oven to frying heat, about 350F. Pour in the oil.
- Brown the roast on every side. Turn it with tongs, not a fork. This takes ten minutes and it is the whole flavor of the dish.
- Salt and pepper the meat, then pack the vegetables around it and pour in the water.
- Lid on. Rebuild the coals for 300F and bake three hours. Rotate the oven and the lid a quarter turn every half hour so nothing scorches on one side.
- Check at two and a half hours if you want it less done. Otherwise leave it alone.
This is coal cooking, not stove cooking. The browning step is where the flavor is made, so it happens dry and hot before anything else goes in. After that, the half cup of water is all the liquid you need: the onions and the roast give up plenty on their own, and a flooded oven boils the meat instead of braising it.
The long low hours are what turn a cheap cut into something you can pull apart with a spoon. Rump roast is full of connective tissue, and three hours at 300 is roughly how long it takes to melt. Keep the lid shut and rotate the oven instead of peeking. Every lift dumps heat you then have to rebuild with more coals.
Packing
Roast stays in the cooler on the bottom, frozen if the trip is more than a day. Root vegetables ride in a paper bag outside the cooler. Measure the salt and pepper into one small tin at home.
Variations
- A 10-inch oven takes about two thirds of everything, same heat, same time.
- Swap two of the potatoes for parsnips or turnips if the cooler is tight on space.
https://www.boyscouttrail.com/content/recipe/beef_pot_roast-1292.asp