Dutch Oven Pot Roast

One of our very favorite meals in the Z house is a pot roast. As far as the family goes, you can’t get any better than that (well…maybe a good steak).  So, when Mark agreed to cook the meal and I provided the beef, it was a good combination. Something interesting about the roast – it came all the way from Jordan, MT! Yep, we haul hamburger, roasts, steaks and few cube steaks all the way home from Jordan every year. Why? Well because they only have the very best locker in the entire world! We’ve got it down to a science as far as how that frozen meat makes the 2 1/2 day trip without thawing (even when the temps rise sometimes as high as 90+).

I haven’t cooked with the dutch oven and coals outside…ever. Mark, on the other hand, is a pro!

We cooked two of these. The potatoes and carrots were added later (at about the 4th hour). Due to the fact that we were camping, all we had for seasoning was salt and pepper. We added lots of onion for more flavor.

The two ovens were numbered #14 and #12. The #14 required 14 charcoals on the top and 14 on the bottom. The #12 required 12 – top and bottom.  After Mark got me set up, he and the rest of the guys (and a couple of the kids) went 4-wheeling for the afternoon. “Mark, now how in the world am I supposed to know how hot to keep these?”, I ask. His reply, “Come over here and feel the heat. Just make sure it feels like this all afternoon and about 5:00 we’ll add the potatoes and carrots”. And he was off. That’s just how he is! So, between Candi and I, we did our best to manage the ovens while the guys took off.

Later in the afternoon, when they got back, Mark needed to use the right side of this contraption for the Rhodes Rolls – cooked in yet another dutch oven. So, he stacked the two roasts on top of each other and finished cooking them like that.

About six hours after the beginning of this process, this is what the meal we were lucky enough to enjoy under the stars looked like (it was only about 7:00). It. was. out. of. this. world!!!

A meal fit for a king…and a queen (or two)!

The king…(combine king, that is)  🙂

Thank you, Mark! I now feel like I could probably venture out a little on my own with the dutch oven cooking…as long as I can remember how warm it’s supposed to be (yeah right). Don’t think, however, that you’re going to get out of cooking for us while we’re camping any time soon!!