Deboned Leg of Lamb (prepared in a ‘vuurvarkie’)

In our family, Christmas lunch traditionally consists of leg of lamb, gammon, roasted potatoes, yellow rice and caramelised sweet potatoes. And even though we were camping this past Christmas, we wanted to enjoy the same meal again.

We realised that preparing our traditional Christmas lunch without a stove might be a challenge. But we were also hopeful that our ‘vuurvarkie’ (fire piggy) might be able to stand in for the stove. And to our surprise, it not only met our expectations, but exceeded them!

What is a ‘vuurvarkie’ (fire piggy)?

As explained in a previous post (read here), a ‘vuurvarkie’ is a traditional South African bread oven. Surrounded by hot coals and fire briquettes it guarantees even heating. And we were hoping that it would do the same for our leg of lamb.

Traditional ‘vuurvarkie’ (fire piggy)

Put it on the table:

Cooking the leg of lamb is usually my mother’s forte. On our camping holiday she prepared it, while Berto ensured that the ‘vuurvarkie’s’ temperature remained at 150°C/300°F at all times. We decided on a deboned leg of lamb, because that way it would cook faster.

Ingredients for deboned leg of lamb

Deboned leg of lamb (1.5kg)

½ onion, chopped in big pieces

6 big garlic cloves, sliced

cloves

Worcestershire sauce

salt & pepper

fresh rosemary

My mum made small incisions into the lamb, using a sharp knife, at an angle, about 5cm into the meat. She filled each little hole with a piece of chopped onion, garlic, clove and rosemary.

The leg of lamb is now rubbed with salt and pepper and then with Worcestershire sauce. The remaining chopped onion was sprinkled on top of the lamb.

Leg of lamb stuffed with onion, garlic, cloves and rosemary

Meanwhile, Berto prepared the fire with charcoal.

Charcoal fire for the leg of lamb

The leg of lamb was placed in a stainless-steel dish, covered with foil and then placed in the ‘vuurvarkie’.

Leg of lamb going into the ‘vuurvarkie’

The temperature on 150°C/300°F

When the temperature dropped below 150°C/300°F, Berto placed more briquettes below, on the sides and on top of the ‘vuurvarkie’ to push the temperature back up again.

Keeping the temperature of the ‘vuurvarkie’ at 150°C/300°F

After about 1½ hours, Berto took the leg of lamb out of the ‘vuurvarkie’ to see how it was progressing. It looked promising and the leg of lamb was then placed back into the ‘vuurvarkie’ for another 1½ hours.

Leg of lamb after 1½ hours

Leg of lamb after 3 hours in the ‘vuurvarkie’

After 3 hours in the ‘vuurvarkie’, the leg of lamb was placed aside, covered with foil. The next day (Christmas Day) it was placed back in the hot ‘vuurvarkie’ (without the foil) for about half an hour to brown.

Our Christmas leg of lamb (done in a ‘vuurvarkie’)

We all agreed that this leg of lamb was probably the best we had ever eaten. I think it’s possible that we will cook the leg of lamb for Christmas 2025 again in the ‘vuurvarkie’ – mind you, even if there is a stove available.

Gammon:

Gammon is another meat we cook on Christmas Day. Usually we buy an uncooked gammon and cook it on the stove top for a few hours with onions, celery and carrots and then roast it in the oven.

But since we didn’t have a stove at our disposal, we took a shortcut and bought a cooked gammon and simply grilled it on the hot coals.

This is how we did it:

Ingredients for gammon

Cooked gammon

Honey & Mustard Glaze

While the leg of lamb was browning, Berto made another fire with charcoal next to the ‘vuurvarkie’.

Separate fire with charcoal for the gammon

While the gammon was on the fire, Berto heated the sauce in a small pan and occasionally glazed the gammon.

Gammon and sauce heating

Glazed gammon

Christmas gammon

Both the leg of lamb and gammon were perfectly cooked – and that without a stove. I think that’s proof that you can make really good food while camping.

Leg of lamb and gammon (with roasted potatoes)

We had more than enough meat to share with our fellow campers. They were quite surprised that we could cook this type of food on a fire, but all agreed that it was really delicious.

Meat and roasted potatoes on our Christmas table

Next week we’ll show you how to make the best ever caramelised sweet potatoes while camping (or, as we call it in Afrikaans, ‘soetpatats’).