Camp Oven Pork Loin with Tomato Pesto + Apple Stuffing

Camp oven pork roast with tomato pesto + apple stuffing + a glossy honey-spice glaze. The kind of dish that turns a campsite into a Sunday lunch destination — slow cooked over coals, golden crackling, sweet-savoury stuffing inside, the whole crew gathered round when it comes off the heat.

Takes ~2.5 hours total. Mostly hands-off. Massively impressive result.

Photo by arte sanal on Unsplash

Serves: 6-8 · Prep: 20 minutes · Cook: 2 hours · Equipment: camp oven (12-inch ideal), kitchen string, sharp knife, foil

Photo: Gennady Zakharin / Unsplash

For the pork:

• 1.5-2kg boned loin of pork with flap on, rind removed
• 1 tbsp tomato pesto
• 1 tsp Honey Glaze (recipe below)
• Pinch chilli powder (optional)

Tomato Pesto + Apple Stuffing:

• 1 cup soft white breadcrumbs
• 2 tbsp tomato pesto
• 1 eating apple (Granny Smith or Pink Lady), finely diced
• 1 tbsp Honey Glaze
• Salt + cracked pepper
• Pinch chilli powder (optional)

Honey Glaze (makes plenty — keeps in the fridge for weeks):

• 2 tbsp treacle (or molasses)
• 4 tbsp honey
• ½ tsp ground cloves
• ½ tsp ground allspice
• ½ tsp ground ginger
• 2 tbsp orange juice
• 2 tsp English mustard powder
• 1 tbsp brandy (optional)

To serve: roast vegetables (potatoes, carrots, parsnips), apple sauce, gravy from the camp oven juices.

1. Make the Honey Glaze. Combine all glaze ingredients in a small saucepan. Bring to a gentle boil, stirring. Cool. Store in the fridge in a jar — keeps a month + works on chicken, ham, salmon, duck.

2. Score the pork fat. With a sharp knife, score the fat layer in a diamond pattern (cuts about 1cm apart, 5mm deep). Don't cut into the meat itself. The scoring helps the pork brown + the glaze penetrate.

3. Make the stuffing. Mix breadcrumbs, tomato pesto, diced apple, 1 tbsp Honey Glaze, salt, pepper + chilli (if using) in a bowl.

4. Stuff the loin. Lay the pork open with the flap stretched out. Place the stuffing in a line where the flap meets the loin. Roll the pork TIGHTLY around the stuffing + tie firmly with kitchen string at 3cm intervals.

5. Rub with tomato pesto. Spread the 1 tbsp tomato pesto over the surface of the rolled roast. Sprinkle with a touch of chilli if you like it hot.

6. Pre-heat camp oven over medium-hot coals. Build a good coal bed first.

7. Brown the pork. Place the rolled roast in the camp oven (NO oil needed — the pork has plenty of fat). Lid on. Brown all over by turning every 15 minutes for the first hour. Coals on top of the lid + below.

8. Glaze + foil-wrap. After 1 hour of browning, brush the entire surface generously with reserved Honey Glaze marinade. Wrap the rolled pork in foil. Return to camp oven.

9. Cook another 1 hour at maintained heat. Internal temperature should reach 65°C for safe + juicy. Pulled out at 60°C and resting will get you there.

10. Rest 15 minutes wrapped in foil before slicing. The juices redistribute + the meat carves cleanly.

11. Slice + serve with the stuffing visible in the centre, drizzle with extra glaze, plate alongside roast vegetables + apple sauce.

• For crackling: leave the rind ON (not as the recipe specifies). Score the rind, salt heavily, dry-brine overnight in the esky. Cook with high heat the first 30 minutes for crackling, then medium for the rest. Crackling is the holy grail
• Stuffing variations: add 50g chopped bacon for smokiness; or use prunes + sage instead of apple for a more old-school stuffing
• Glaze variations: the basic recipe is perfect. Maple syrup substitutes treacle; bourbon substitutes brandy
• Pork shoulder version: use a 2kg boned shoulder instead of loin, increase cook time to 3-4 hours total. More forgiving + falls-apart tender
• Pre-prep at home: tie + stuff the day before, refrigerate. Saves campsite hassle
• Without a camp oven: works in a Dutch oven on a butane stove on low heat, or in a kitchen oven at 180°C for the same total time
• Leftovers are gold — cold sliced pork in sandwiches with the leftover glaze + apple sauce

Camp oven pork roast is the centrepiece dinner for the trip. Set it up Saturday afternoon, gather around a few hours later, slice off generous pieces, eat with hot vegetables + cold beer. The kind of meal that makes the trip memorable.

The Honey Glaze recipe is the secret weapon here — make a big batch, keep it in the fridge for a month, use it on chicken, ham, salmon, even drizzled over roast vegetables. Worth keeping permanently in the camp pantry.