Campfire Cooking: Caravan Park Envy Roast with Golden Bickie Whisky Butter

There is camp cooking—and then there is filling an entire caravan park with the smell of a smoked scotch roast.

The Ninja Woodfire Pro XL has quickly become one of our favourite ways to cook while travelling. It fits easily into a camper or caravan, gives you genuine woodfire flavour without building a fire, and only needs access to suitable mains power. That makes it ideal for powered caravan sites, fire-restriction periods and those nights when you want a proper feed without dragging half the kitchen outside.

For this cook, we kept things beautifully simple: a 1.779 kg scotch roast, Hunter’s Own The Bee’s Knees Sweet Honey Rub, a little wood smoke and four pickles thrown in at the end—partly for a laugh, but mostly because smoked pickles are far better than they have any right to be.

The plan was medium-rare beef with a dark, smoky crust. The real cook ran further than planned and finished at 67°C—but the scotch marbling, smoke and a completely unplanned Golden Bickie whisky-dripping butter turned it into the sort of meal that makes every neighbour in the park suddenly interested in what you’re doing.

Why the Ninja works so well at camp

The Woodfire Pro XL delivers the flavour and theatre of outdoor cooking without needing charcoal, bottled gas or an open flame. It packs neatly into a camper or caravan and provides enough cooking space for a substantial family roast.

You will need a powered site or another properly rated 240-volt power supply. Always confirm that your campsite circuit and extension lead are suitable for the appliance, and operate it outdoors with the clearances specified by Ninja.

Once that is sorted, load the pellet box, set the temperature and let the smell do the advertising.

What you’ll need

• 1.779 kg scotch fillet roast
• Hunter’s Own The Bee’s Knees Sweet Honey Rub
• A little olive oil, optional, to help the rub bind
• 4 whole pickles, drained
• Ninja Woodfire pellets suitable for beef
• Instant-read thermometer or the Ninja temperature probe

The plan

This method is a reverse sear. The beef is cooked gently with smoke until it is just below the desired internal temperature, then finished over high heat to build a proper crust. It gives you more even pink meat from edge to edge and far more control than blasting the roast at high temperature from the beginning.

Our target was to have the beef off the grill and resting at 5:45 pm, ready to carve at approximately 6:05 pm.

2:15 pm — Prepare the beef

Remove the roast from its packaging and pat it completely dry. Apply The Bee’s Knees generously across every surface, using a light coating of olive oil first only if the rub needs help sticking.

Insert the Ninja probe horizontally into the thickest part of the roast, making sure the tip is centred and not sitting in a large seam of fat.

2:25 pm — Preheat the Woodfire

Add a small scoop of pellets and select Smoker at 120°C. You want a gentle cook and clean smoke rather than an aggressive hit of pellet flavour.

2:35 pm — Roast on

Place the beef in the Ninja with the fat cap facing upward. Close the lid and leave it alone. Avoid constantly opening the cooker—you lose heat each time and the probe already tells you what matters.

4:30 pm — Check your progress

At this point, the centre should be heading toward 40°C. Every piece of meat behaves differently, so cook to temperature rather than relying entirely on time.

If it is moving slowly, lift the smoker temperature to 145–150°C. If it is ahead of schedule, remove it when it reaches the target and hold it uncovered until the final sear.

4:45–5:00 pm — Add the comedy pickles

Pat four whole pickles dry and place them around the roast for the final 30–40 minutes of smoking. Keep them whole so they pick up smoke without drying out.

Do not pour pickle juice over the beef. Scotch fillet has plenty going for it already; the pickles are there as a sharp, smoky side that cuts through the richness.

5:15–5:25 pm — Remove the beef

For medium-rare, take the roast out when the internal temperature reaches 46–48°C. Leave it uncovered while you switch the Ninja to Grill – High and allow it to preheat.

5:35 pm — Sear hard

Return the beef to the hot grill and sear each surface for approximately 90 seconds to two minutes. Don’t forget the fatty edges.

You are looking for a deep brown crust and an internal temperature of approximately 52–54°C when it comes off the heat.

5:45 pm — Rest

Remove the roast and tent it loosely with foil for 15–20 minutes. The internal temperature should continue rising toward 55–57°C, leaving you with juicy medium-rare beef.

Slice the smoked pickles while the meat rests, then carve the beef across the grain.

Internal-temperature guide

Carryover cooking will usually add a few degrees during the rest, so remove the beef before it reaches your final target.

What actually happened

The target was medium-rare. The roast moved faster than expected and reached 67°C internally before it came off the Woodfire, so the high-heat finishing sear was abandoned.

That put the beef into medium-well territory, but it was far from a write-off. The scotch fillet’s marbling kept it tender, the crust was exceptional and slicing it thinly across the grain made the most of the finished texture.

Golden Bickie whisky-dripping butter

This began as a rescue sauce and may have ended up becoming the headline. Every drop of flavour from the Woodfire fat tray went into a saucepan with butter, garlic, Hunter’s Own Oh My Butta and a generous pour of Golden Bickie Australian Whisky Liqueur.

Ingredients

• 200 g butter
• All beef drippings collected from the Ninja Woodfire fat tray
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• A generous sprinkle of Hunter’s Own Rubs Oh My Butta
• 30–45 ml Golden Bickie Australian Whisky Liqueur

Method

1. Add the beef drippings, butter, garlic and Oh My Butta seasoning to a small saucepan.
2. Warm gently until the butter has melted.
3. Take the saucepan off the flame before adding the Golden Bickie—it is 32% alcohol and can ignite.
4. Return it to low heat and simmer gently for 3–5 minutes, whisking until glossy and combined.
5. Taste before adding salt; the drippings and seasoning may already provide enough.
6. Serve warm beside the beef or spoon it straight over thin slices.

The Field Notes verdict

This cook did not land exactly where the temperature plan said it would—and that is precisely why it belongs in Field Notes. Real camp cooking is about watching, adjusting and occasionally inventing a whisky-butter sauce because the roast got away from you.

The Ninja Woodfire Pro XL produced a genuinely excellent crust, plenty of smoke and enough aroma to make the whole caravan park jealous. The pickles started as a joke and turned into a sharp, smoky counterpoint to the beef. The Golden Bickie whisky-dripping butter brought the whole plate together.

Next time, we would remove the roast earlier and allow more margin for carryover cooking. This time, we sliced it thin, poured over the sauce and demolished it anyway.

The pickles are staying. The whisky butter is absolutely staying.

Quick campsite checklist

• Use the Ninja outdoors in a well-ventilated position.
• Confirm your powered site and extension lead are appropriately rated.
• Pack the temperature probe—this cook depends on internal temperature, not guesswork.
• Keep the pellet load modest; scotch fillet needs smoke, not punishment.
• Allow at least 20 minutes between finishing the cook and serving.
• Expect visitors once the smoke starts drifting through the park.

Cooked with: Ninja Woodfire Pro XL
Cut: 1.779 kg scotch fillet roast
Method: Low-temperature smoke and high-heat reverse sear
Total cooking window: Approximately 3 hours 10 minutes
Serves: 6–8