Campfire Cooking Hanging Leg of Lamb - Challenge Accepted
We try to maintain an annual family tradition where the extended family ( 10 Adults, 6kids) gets together for a family camping weekend. Each year we choose a location that is normally “off-grid” and away from the crowds so we can simply kick back, relax, have a few cold beverages and let the kids run wild for a couple of days. This years trip included a campfire cooked hanging leg of lamb.
The 2021 camping trip was at Gordon Country, an amazing working cattle property. Gordon Country offers a private and secluded camping experience like no other. Spread out and choose your own space in massive campsites, set on over 4000 acres of pure country Australia.Check them out : https://www.gordoncountry.com.au/
A part of the tradition is to have one of the nights where we have a collective cook up. One of the families provides and cooks each element of the dinner. Typical this works out to be a big chunk of meat with an accompaniment of veggies plus desert.
The spread of food is just amazing, everyone pitches in and we all end up with full bellies after an amazing meal.
Last year it was a large pork roast done over a portable rotisserie, luckily on this occasion, we were able to use the generator to power the rotisserie. I still remember the crackle and the campfire roasted potatoes. My mouth is watering just remembering this meal.
For 2021’s family camping trip it was my turn to provide and cook the meat for our traditional dinner. The only thing I could not cook was another pork roast, as that was the last thing we had.
Decision made – Leg of Lamb
The decision was pretty easy, it was time to do a lamb roast, but I wanted it to be spectacular and memorable for everyone. In my mind, there is nothing more spectacular than cooking a big chunk of meat over a live fire. If I can pull this off and everyone is well fed, then I would be a very happy camper.
After a bit of google inspiration, I narrowed down on doing a full leg of lamb hung over the fire. The images and videos I watched were amazing. Campfire cooked Hanging leg of Lamb – Challenge accepted.
A couple of days out from the camping trip I headed over to a new butcher that I have heard good things about, and it did not disappoint. For those local (Brisbane Australia) you really need to check out Meat @ Billy’s. Service and advice second to none. The team sorted me out with a ~4kg full leg of lamb I also was able to pick up my favourite lamb rub – Tree Bark
The mechanics of how to cook the lamb still needed to be worked out, first I needed to secure a fire tripod, something similar to this Cast Iron Camping Tripod for Outdoor Campfire Cooking Black, 13 lb from Amazon. We didn’t have one in our camping setup.
The day of the cook
I had figured that I was looking at around 7 hours for the total duration of the cook and planned to get started by around 11 am for a mealtime of around 6 pm – Mistake number. I severely underestimated how long this cook would take.
Started to prep the meat around 10 am, a bit of a trim of the excess hard fat, the addition of garlic cloves to the meat. Puncture a small hole with a suitable knife and insert the full clove. Also added a number of rosemary stems in the same fashion. Almost looked like a bush, may have gone a little overboard. A liberal coating of oil and a healthy amount of the Treebark rub. A piece of meat this size could handle a large amount of rub.
At the same time, we were getting a really nice fire going to ensure there was a good firebase and heaps of coals. We were using locally sourced timber, self-collected from the property and the smell was amazing.
Meat meets Fire
11 am rolled around which was the time I had figured would give me enough time to get the meat up to temp, rest and serve by around 6 pm.
Fire management was a really big challenge. Keeping the fire hot enough, providing enough coals without too much heat was really tricky. The weather, although perfect for camping, was a bit breezy and added an extra element of difficulty.
By around 3 pm I was starting to get concerned, as the temp had not progressed as I had hoped. By 4 pm I was really starting to get worried, 5 pm rolls around and I am super stressed as the temp is WAY off. 530pm rolls around and I am in panic mode, how are we going to get this done before 9 pm. By this time I had added a foil cap to the bottom of the leg in an attempt to prevent the lower part from overcooking due to the closeness of the fire.
It all works out in the end
I finally made the decision to call on our little Baby-Q. I thought at least that way I can control the heat and get the leg of lamb finished at a reasonable time. I ended up wrapping the leg in foil and cranked the temperature of the Weber up. Finally, the temperature started to rise and after a really stressful day, we had hit our desired internal temperature , 63C [146F] for that blushing medium rare.
A little rest while the balance of the meal was being prepared and the lamb leg was ready for carving.
Fortunately, it all worked out in the end and the whole meal was amazing. Beautiful smoky cooked lamb, roasted potatoes, roasted corn on the cob and finished off with a camp oven apple crumble. We were all completely stuffed.
Time to relax
After a really stressful day of cooking a full leg of lamb over a fire which was a first for me, it was time to let our hair down a little.
Time around a campfire with family is a special time and this night was packed full of laughs. We were introduced to the game – Cards Against Humanity. Holly molly this game is an absolute crack up. Crude and rude but so bloody funny. If your kind of humour is rude, crude, dry and sometimes shocking – I can’t recommend this highly enough.
Collectively we were falling from our chairs from laughing so hard.
Lessons learned
Don’t underestimate the time needed, cook early and rest if needed.
Fire management is crucial
Learn a technique to allow even cooking of a large piece of meat
Have a plan “b”
Be adaptable to any situation
Cook Summary
Prep ~40 mins
Cook on fire time ~ 6hrs
Cook on Baby-Q ~ 1.5hrs
Internal Temp ~ 63C [146F]
Till next time
Joe On
Oh and be sure to check out my Etsy Store for some BBQ related merch
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