We tried to roast a chicken in our potjie this afternoon and it was a huge disaster.

There was chopped potatoes and a chicken (with stuffing) inside. Everything ended up coasted in a thick black sludge....and we put the thermometer in after 1.5hrs and it wasn't even at 60 degrees!
I don't understand, there were plenty of coals and it was making lots of 'cooking' noises. No idea what happened or where we went wrong. Maybe because there was butter in the stuffing that dripped out and burnt?

My husband is out off forever, and I'm trying to encourage him to try again sometime. He was so excited to try the chicken after several successful stews we've cooked in the past. I want to get this right so we can move into fried chicken.

Any help appreciated!!!
http://i.imgur.com/0MHJC92.jpg

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A bit more like a cremation, (Sorry) I don't think I've ever cooked a chook for that long, It looks like too much heat over a long period of time. Did you happen to baste or glaze the outside of the chicken. Also, where abouts in Sydney are you  (roughly) as I might be able to help. cheers Ron. 

I have seen photos like this before :) and usually after much discussion it has been found that the cause is a camp oven that has not been properly seasoned.

When I say not properly seasoned, what has happened is that there is a reasonable amount of oil on the inside surface of the camp oven that has not been properly heat treated and remains tacky to touch or has pooled in the bottom of the camp oven with the same results.

When you go to cook that oil inside, which is partly been burned, lets off a huge amount of smoke hence all the black on the food.

I would suggest reseasoning the camp oven after first giving it a good scrub.  Might even be worthwhile getting a lot of high heat on it first to burn away all the old oil.

Have a look on the website for ideas on seasoning - http://tinyurl.com/l3q6ner

Cheers

That makes so much sense!!! Thank you!!

We tried seasoning it before the first time we used it and the stew seemed ok so we thought we did ok. But husband is the one who cleans and stores it so I think there may be a weak link there. I'm pretty sure there was a pool of oil in the bottom when he put the trivet and chook in...tsk tsk.

We've got a project for next weekend now :-) thanks again, and I'll let everyone know how our next attempt goes!

We're out Sydney west, so if there is something in the greater Sydney area we'd be keen to come along. He has fond memories of going to potjie cook-out competitions/groups when the family was still in their home country. It would be nice to restart that family activity here with his new family (me!).

I find a Potie is better for wet dishes like stew/curry.

KD