Editorial: Kockums JernverkPublished: 2026-11-06

Campfire steak in creamy mushroom sauce with asparagus

Name: Campfire steak in creamy mushroom sauce with asparagus
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 40 min
Cuisine: Swedish
Ingredients: 2 sirloin steaks, about 200 g each and 2.5 cm thick; 2 tbsp rapeseed oil; 20 g butter; 6 garlic cloves; 200 g chestnut mushrooms; 1 red pepper; 150 g green asparagus; 3 sprigs fresh thyme; Salt and freshly ground black pepper; 100 ml beef or veal stock; 200 ml double cream; Good bread

Serves 2 · 40 minutes · Classic frying pan

A whole dinner in one pan over the embers: the steak is seared first, then mushrooms, asparagus and pepper, and finally a creamy sauce for the steak to rest in.

Campfire steak in creamy mushroom sauce is a one-pan dish: the steak is seared hard and set aside while the vegetables fry in the same pan. The browned bits are then lifted with stock and cream into a pale sauce, and the steak is warmed through in it just before serving.

Seared steak in a pale creamy mushroom sauce with green asparagus, red pepper and garlic in a classic carbon steel frying pan over a campfire

Ingredients

Serves 2

2 sirloin steaks, about 200 g each and 2.5 cm thick
2 tbsp rapeseed oil
20 g butter
6 garlic cloves
200 g chestnut mushrooms
1 red pepper
150 g green asparagus
3 sprigs fresh thyme
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Sauce

100 ml beef or veal stock
200 ml double cream

To serve

Good bread

Method

Let the fire burn down to an even bed of embers and set the pan firmly on stones or a grill rack about 10–15 cm above them. Heat the pan for 3–4 minutes. Peel the garlic, slice the mushrooms, cut the pepper into strips and snap the woody ends off the asparagus.
Salt the steaks. Add 1 tbsp oil to the pan and sear the steaks for 2–3 minutes on each side, until well browned and 50 °C in the centre. Transfer to a plate and cover with foil.
Add the rest of the oil, the butter and the whole garlic cloves and let them sizzle for 4–5 minutes until golden and starting to soften. Add the mushrooms and fry until their liquid has cooked off, about 5 minutes.
Add the pepper and asparagus and fry for 3–4 minutes. Pour in the stock, scrape up the browned bits and reduce by half, about 2 minutes.
Pour in the cream and add the thyme. Simmer for 3–4 minutes to a lightly thickened sauce, moving the pan to a cooler part of the embers if it bubbles too hard. Season with salt and pepper.
Return the steaks and their juices and warm them in the sauce for 1–2 minutes, until 54 °C in the centre. Serve straight from the pan with bread.
Use a grill glove or a thick oven cloth, as the steel handle gets very hot over the fire, and never leave the fire unattended.

Why it works

Carbon steel takes the fierce heat over the embers that the steak needs, and the browned bits left in the pan become the base of the sauce. Everything is cooked in one pan, which is exactly what you want out in the woods.