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Somethings Going Wrong (Read 6023 times)

May 9^th, 2008 at 6:30pm

Tonner Omalley Offline
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Hey Guys I pretty new at all this co cooking but i do confess to visiting this site regularly to pick up tips recipes etc. I recently had a near failure for the second time (still edible with a couple of beers Undecided

Undecided

) & wonder if anyone can shed some light on the problem. A copy of an email I sent to Derek is attached below.

Smiley

G-day Derek, great website full of information. I am having a problem that I am hoping you may be able to shed some light on. The last couple of roasts I have cooked in my 15qt cast iron camp oven have been a bit of a failure. The vegtable oil appears to burn & coat the contents of the oven with a brown coating. This is most evident on the vegetables to the point that you cannot tell the difference between potatoe & pumpkin.

The 1st time I thought it had just gotten too hot however this time I also had another smaller oven 9 qt beside mine cooking a roast with no problems. My oven is quite large so was only half full, the other smaller oven was full. Both had the same oil in them & had the same cooking time & heat as near as I could tell.

I noticed my oven had quite a lot of a smokie vapour when I checked the roast after about 30 mins where as the other didn't. I am at a bit of a loss, the only thing I can think is the oven is too large for the amount of food being cooked in it & the oil is burning.

Thanks in advance for any advice

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Reply #1 - May 9^th, 2008 at 6:41pm

skiproosel Offline
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G'day Tonner Omalley, welcome to the forum. Firstly did you wash your Camp Oven out with very hot water after the last roast?
Also have you cleaned the contaminants from the iron and seasoned it?
If it is your oil that is burning try an oil that has a higher heat rating like peanut oil.
Without knowing all the facts & if I was to take a guess there is leftover fat from the last roast which is what is burning and covering your food in a brown coating
Standby Tonner and you will get a vast array of help from people on this site with a lot more experience than me.

All the best
Skip

PS Are you using a trivet with your Roasts?

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Reply #2 - May 9^th, 2008 at 6:46pm

Derek Offline
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Hi Mate and welcome. Pleased to see you decided to join us.

As I said in my reply this one has got me stumped. I initially thought to much oil on the sides and lid of the camp oven that is burning but Skip could also be on the hammer there as well.

Usually a good well seasoned oven doesn't give any problems.

Here is our best thread on seasoning a camp oven http://www.aussiecampovenforum.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1210065993

Interested to see if anyone else has come across this problem and found a solution.

Derek

Retired
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Reply #3 - May 9^th, 2008 at 8:09pm

Mackerel Whisperer Offline
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G'day Tonner Omalley, I'm with Derek on this one, Stumped. some one round here will be right onto it mate. welcome to the forum.

Cheers

Jono

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Reply #4 - May 9^th, 2008 at 8:50pm

OzJeeper Offline
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Having had a few inedible failures in the past I would offer this FWIW.
CO too hot and with some water added is spitting oil all over the place. Heat coming from the base rather than the top.
If it's smokin' then guess what! Roll Eyes

Roll Eyes

It may be that the smaller CO is not being heated as quickly or the larger CO is being given a bigger ration of coals because it bigger???

Just my 2c worth...

Jack Absalom had the "good oil" on camp oven heat and I direct quote.

Place a piece of paper inside the oven to find out heat the oven is at.
Very Hot Oven - 500f - paper is dark brown
Hot Oven - 375 to 400 - paper light brown
Moderate Oven - 325 to 375 - paper yellow
Slow Oven - 250 to 325 - crust

Too bloody hot - paper black and on fire!

HTH

My mother-in-law fell down a wishing well, I was amazed. I never knew they worked.

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Reply #5 - May 9^th, 2008 at 8:54pm

LogFire Offline
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Happened to me once. Had the Bedourie too bloody hot & when I lifted the lid the lot caught on fire. Less fire solved my problem
LogFire

I have gone off to find myself. If I get back before I return,keep me here.

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Reply #6 - May 9^th, 2008 at 9:10pm

TBF Offline
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I can recall something similar happening to me.
Leg of lamb in a 12" chinese oven at Girraween National Park.
Too much heat is what I put it down to.
I was too anxious to get dinner cooked.
When I opened the CO about 20 mins into the process, I was first met with a lot of smoke and then combustion in the CO soon after.
DINNER WAS NOT VERY FLASH THAT NIGHT
Lesson learnt to take it easy and cook slowly.

TBF

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Reply #7 - May 9^th, 2008 at 9:11pm

skiproosel Offline
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Grin

Skip

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Reply #8 - May 9^th, 2008 at 9:32pm

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Agree with the 'too hot' oven crowd.

One of the glories of cooking in an oven is the slow cooking, yet cooking just right.

Cool

Cool

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Reply #9 - May 9^th, 2008 at 10:19pm

Tonner Omalley Offline
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Thanks Guys so much good advice I dont know where to start Cheesy

Cheesy

. I think I will give the CO a good clean, season again & see what happens. I was using a trivet & have used the oven about a 6-8 times previously without any problems. Maybe as someone suggested the oil was not that good or fat left over from previous roasts or it was jsut too hot, glad it didnt catch fire though she who must be obeyed would still be laughing !!!

I will let you all know what happens

Cheers

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Reply #10 - May 10^th, 2008 at 12:05am

OzJeeper Offline
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Try some plain water or some stock as a base instead of oil or fat next time.

Good cooking

My mother-in-law fell down a wishing well, I was amazed. I never knew they worked.

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Reply #11 - May 10^th, 2008 at 7:37am

Carolyn™ Offline
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Tonner, take some photos next time showing how much heat you are using if your not using beads. This might help the more experienced to judge better.

I have been having some very tender results using stock/wine with a roast type of meat but you wont get crisp skin or vegies that way.

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Reply #12 - May 10^th, 2008 at 7:51am

TBF Offline
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Carolyn™ wrote on May 10^th, 2008 at 7:37am:

I have been having some very tender results using stock/wine with a roast type of meat but you wont get crisp skin or vegies that way.

Purhaps the answer will be to have two COs going. One with the roast as suggested above..
The second with the veges(no water or stock)...I like them crisp on the outside.

TBF

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Reply #13 - May 10^th, 2008 at 9:06am

skiproosel Offline
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Touché TBF

Regards Skip

PS If I am having a bit of strife crisping up my veggies I do one of two things.
1. With the spuds when cooked but soft I scratch up the surface a bit with a fork & up the heat.
2. Lift the lid a little bit and sit it up on the rim (just a little bit) and up the heat, some veggies seem to have more water in them than others and if there's a lot of steam happening in there it's very hard to crisp up veggies.

Which of these do I use, depends how many Mr. Penfolds I've had . A simple mathematical equasion
Mr. Penfold + scratching spuds = lots of little crescent shaped burns on back of thumb. I must use one of those longer forks

Skip

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Reply #14 - May 10^th, 2008 at 11:45am

Carolyn™ Offline
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If I call it a baked dinner I like it crisp and dont use the liquid, not sure what you would call the moist method Cheesy

Cheesy

but both can taste good and vive la difference Cheesy

Cheesy

.

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Reply #15 - May 12^th, 2008 at 8:56am

BillyBushCook Offline
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Carolyn™ wrote on May 10^th, 2008 at 11:45am:

If I call it a baked dinner I like it crisp and dont use the liquid, not sure what you would call the moist method Cheesy

Cheesy

but both can taste good and vive la difference Cheesy

Cheesy

.

Carolyn,
moist would be roast & dry crisp would be baked???????

Skip,
I always do my spuds & carrots in a seperate oven to meat & softer veg in another one again,
To get spuds browned, a light spray of olive oil & a good dose of S&P before they go in, cook flat out (200 - 250C ramping it up at the end) & let the steam out regularily or as you said leave the lid ajar!!

I mostly use my 12" chinese oven for spuds because the lid doesn't seal well if I turn the lid a particular way.

Thats one thing I've noticed about the Metters I bought a few weeks ago, the lid fits so well that when I boil it out it almost whistles like a kettle!!

Mick.

7_2_103v1.gif (27 KB | )

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Reply #16 - May 12^th, 2008 at 9:00am

Derek Offline
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Another good thing to do to spuds is to get a sharp tined fork and scrape them all over to give them a rough surface. This also helps the crisping of them.

I don't know about everyone else but love baked spuds.

Derek

Retired
Camp Oven Cook

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Reply #17 - May 12^th, 2008 at 2:05pm

TBF Offline
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Derek wrote on May 12^th, 2008 at 9:00am:

I don't know about everyone else but love baked spuds.

Derek

I LUV'EM TOO

Crispy "skin on" and fluffy inside.

Sour cream or real butter, S & P.
I'm salivating.

TBF

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Reply #18 - May 19^th, 2008 at 10:14am

BillyBushCook Offline
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Tonner Omalley wrote on May 9^th, 2008 at 6:30pm:

Hey Guys I pretty new at all this co cooking but i do confess to visiting this site regularly to pick up tips recipes etc. I recently had a near failure for the second time (still edible with a couple of beers Undecided

Undecided

) & wonder if anyone can shed some light on the problem. A copy of an email I sent to Derek is attached below.

Smiley

G-day Derek, great website full of information. I am having a problem that I am hoping you may be able to shed some light on. The last couple of roasts I have cooked in my 15qt cast iron camp oven have been a bit of a failure. The vegtable oil appears to burn & coat the contents of the oven with a brown coating. This is most evident on the vegetables to the point that you cannot tell the difference between potatoe & pumpkin.

The 1st time I thought it had just gotten too hot however this time I also had another smaller oven 9 qt beside mine cooking a roast with no problems. My oven is quite large so was only half full, the other smaller oven was full. Both had the same oil in them & had the same cooking time & heat as near as I could tell.

I noticed my oven had quite a lot of a smokie vapour when I checked the roast after about 30 mins where as the other didn't. I am at a bit of a loss, the only thing I can think is the oven is too large for the amount of food being cooked in it & the oil is burning.

Thanks in advance for any advice

I have a definite answer for you Tonner,
on the weekend (an event posted in "lets chew the fat") the mate who got me into it was using some locally produced "first press" olive oil & it did exactly the same thing & left a burnt oil taste on the out side of the meat as well as a brown colour & could ignite when hot, the oil has too low of a flash point, I normally use peanut oil & don't have any problems.

Mick.

Live while your'e alive, you can sleep when your'e dead.

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