What's your favorite camping recipe?

I'm going rafting next week and am going to cook for the group. I have a few recipes picked out so far, but would like to consider other options. Right now I pulled this out of my cupboard:

Chicken stew couscous. Add carrots, celery, onion. Serve with Crystal Louisiana hot sauce.

Beef chili with beans and tomatoes. Garnish with onion, chili, olive. Serve with chips or crackers.

Peanut noodles. Add olive oil. Garnish with fresh peanuts and green onion. Need side dish.

I was feeling experimental and grabbed a can of ham, tomato, pineapple and chick peas and though about cooking that up good and hot with a green pepper and some garlic and adding an asian sauce. Yumm...

We have to pack everything, so the perishibles get cooked the first nights, and everything is cooked in a big pan over a hot fire.

It is nice to pack light, but I always end up bringing a ton of cans. I want to try to style out my crew.

Anyway, go ahead and post your favorite dish you make when camping, or what you hope to be served if you are that lucky.

"Cowboy Mulligan Stew".
Hamburger
Sliced Onions
Hominy (preferably Yellow)

In a frying pan, (preferably a heavy, seasoned, cast iron), Fry up the burger and onions and drain about 3/4 - 7/8 of the grease.
Dump in the hominy (drained or at least partially drained), and heat it up.

Those are the only absolutely required ingredients.

You can use whole corn instead of the hominy if that's all that is available but it is only about half as yummy that way.

If you are a health nut, drain all the grease and add a bit of olive oil.

Add whatever spices you want.
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You can also add any of the following, but probably not more than one, maybe two or three of them per batch: (use common sense).

You can add a can of stewed tomatos or a can of tomato soup.

Alternatively a can of cream of mushroom or cream of chicken soup or a packet of Lipton's dry onion soup mix and a cup or so of water.

Some sliced potatos: canned, fresh (or dried, with enough water to soften them up... Or a package of scalloped or au Gratin potato & the sauce packet).

Canned Pinto, Ranch style beans, or a can of Chili, with or without beans... Or even garbanzo beans or Blackeyed peas.

A small can of green chilies.

A hand full of black olives or mushrooms.

Cooked rice.

cooked Egg noodles.

If you like cheese, top it off with shredded Colby, Cheddar, Longhorn and/or Monterrey Jack just before you serve it, just long enough over the heat to make it 'melty'.

MMMMM, I'm making myself hungry.... Been a couple of years since I thought about making it, and I LOVE it. And the recipe is so flexible that you can pretty much add anything you are in the mood for.

I personally prefer it on the barely moist and slightly sorta greasy side, but you can add water enough to make it more of a real stew or even a soup if you prefer, (or if you have to serve a lot of people with not much of the solid ingredients).

I've fed the several variations of this to some pretty 'food snobbish' people and they thought it was something highly creative rather than one step above 'hobo stew'.

Oh: if you like bell peppers, you can use the dryer versions of this to stuff the Bell Peppers with. Personally I HATE bell peppers in any way, shape or form, but a lot of people like them, and with Cowboy Mulligan Stuffed Peppers they think they are getting something really special.

Thank you sir...that's one I'll try soon!

Wow, that's pretty hardcore cooking there... I was gonna suggest one of the large cans of Castlebury beef stew, mixed with a large bag of Marreneti's tortellini. Fed 3 of us and was really good.

My favorite thing to cook while camping is this:

Simple and YUMMY

A nice good steak of your choice. Sometimes, I soak the meat in Pepsi for an hour or two before cooking.
If using a charcoal grill (my perfered mothod), I like to get a bag of hickory chips and soak them in water for about an hour or two. Then put them on the charcoal once the flames are out.
Then, I lay out some tin foil and cut up potatoes, onions, peppers and zucinni, lay them in the tin foil and add lots of butter, some salt and pepper. Wrap it up and place it on the grill.
I also like to cook corn on the cob with the corn still in the husks on the grill. The hickory chips make the corn taste awsome
Last thing is BEER

CHILI! You should invest in a good cast iron dutch oven, they're great for chili, stews, and we even made blackberry cobbler in it once. For the chili just buy beans, stewed tomatoes and whatever suits you. Throw it together and enjoy!

I like to cook food in double aluminum foil buried in the coals of the fire (when only the hot coals remain, no flame). Fish filets with lemon & butter and steak are my usuals. I cook the veggies right along with the meat. For steak I use a mixture of TexJoy and Cavender's.

Dutch oven cooking is the best. For breakfast I've always liked breakfast burritos. All you need are tortillas, salsa, eggs, and sausage.

Mine is easy, Jack & Coke. Can't beat it.

It's almost rafting time again. Time to come up with 3 new meals so the guys have something new to enjoy, and not just last year's meals over again (although they were well received). I'm going for 7 days, usually by the end of the trip the perishables have gone. I like to cook on the last day, by then the guys are really hungry and will eat anything and think it tastes good.

I'd like some creative suggestions to check out. Last year we had some jerky logs which when sliced thinly made a great addition to a meat stew. We took one extra day on the rafts and made a meal on the last night out by cooking different types of leftover ingredients and it turned out delicious. Anything will taste good if you're really hungry.

I like Bannock Bread

I have an above average amount of camping experience under my belt, and hit the mountains of Arizona about 15 times each summer. After doing steak and beans, freeze-dried options, hotdogs and all other sorts of meals, this is my favorite for sure.

Kabobs

Cut up Steak pieces - put in ziploc baggie with Worcestershire
Cut up Chicken - put in ziploc baggie with Italian Salad Dressing


Mushrooms - ziploc baggie with Italian Salad Dressing
Grape Tomatoes - no marinade needed, they really add a nice tang to the kabob
Yellow Squash - ziploc baggie with Italian Salad Dressing


* shrimp is another option, but is definitely less durable for storage compared to the other meats. I really like the italian dressing marinade, it sounds strange if you've never had it, but give it a try and I think you'll like the taste.

** Other marinade options include: Balsamic Vinegar (not dressing, just the vinegar) for the steak, and Red Wine Vinagrette Dressing.


The great thing is, these can be cooked on a grill over the fire on wooden skewers, or you can use the ol' camper's trick of a wire hanger straightened out. Cooking time is minimal...I'd say 3-4 minutes, turn over 180 degrees and another 3-4 minutes over coals will give you a nice medium rare on the steak pieces, and the chicken will be cooked thoroughly without being dry.

It's not 'minimalist' food, but for a first or second night meal, it really hits the spot after a long day, and the meat and vegetables have plenty of time to soak up the flavors of the marinades.

Additional side effects are:
Although it takes up some room in the cooler, it packs down fairly well, since everything's separated into ziplocs.
YOU don't have to do all the cooking, everyone skewers their own
EASY CLEANUP - I eat my kabobs right off the skewer


** edit - By the way have fun rafting, and I'm anxious to see your pictures again.

The Kabobs sound good!



Anyone ever cook corn in the husk? I have heard you can peel the husk back, butter the corn, put the husk back on and throw it in the fire. I've never tried this, but hear good reviews.

Edit-
sorry, Aaron beat me to it. But can it be thrown in the fire?

I've cooked it on the grill this way, but I would suggest a good 15 minute soak in water if you're going to cook it on a grill over the fire, and a wrap in tinfoil if you are going to actually put it IN the fire.

** By the way, I've seen butter holders, special contraptions, and people who butter bread which they use to butter their corn on the cob, but below is the BEST way I've ever seen to butter corn:

Get a large pitcher and fill with boiling water
Drop a stick of butter in the water
The water melts the Butter and it rises to the top
Dip Corn in the water briefly, and since the butter's on the top it coats the corn on the way out.

Works GREAT for a handful to a crowd of people, probably too much work for just one person...but on a camping trip it would be killa.

Those are great suggestions. We usually don't take along meat cuts, since there is no refrigeration and we're gone for 4-6 nights. The first night or two frozen items can be enjoyed if packed well, but you just had fresh burgers on the way in, so it's not that exciting. I don't like to pack foods that need refrigeration. Ususally just cans/dry/fresh veggies. Usually each person takes a bag of carrots, onions, limes, celery. These last a while and are good in any dish. I always bring a bag of couscous to add to a dish in case it is too watery, it will thicken up quickly.

We cook out of one pot for convenience. The qwik-cook stove acts as a fire pan. Meals that are too complex or likely to spoil are unpopular because the group gets impatient if the food is late. (It's only 5 guys this year.)

Last year I did pretty well with:

Pad thai : Shred carrots/zucchini % sautee with oil and peanut sauce. Set aside. Cook spaghetti, drain, add veg and more sauce, garnish with crumbled peanuts and fresh lime, parmesan and salt. YUM!

Camp chili : Canned chili/tomatoes/corn/jal/olives. Cook with white rice, celery, onion, corn chip pieces (have lots of those). Garnish with lime, fresh onion, olives, corn chips. Cilantro is a no go. I give string cheese packs to each person to add to his meal. I think I take green onions, but they don't keep well.

I think I am going to cook these two again. They were recipes that went over well.

What else?

Take chunks of beef, taters, veggies, and whatever else you feel like eating, and wrap them together in aluminum foil. Bury the foil-wrapped food under hot coals in the campfire (do this well before you're hungry, of course). When dinner time rolls around, pop a top and dig up your slow-cooked beef/taters/veggies. It's excellent.

We're rafting the Klamath river this year to the pacific ocean. It's a long trip, a full week, but so great to get away. We're leaving in the middle of may, so I have about 1 month to get my stuff together. It doesn't take that long, but I like to think about it.

my dad always made rice with meatballs & corn when we went camping... the recipe is perfect to prepare on a single burner stove...

- Cook rice
- When rice is done, make small meatballs (.75" diameter)
- When meatballs are done, put them in with the rice, also add a can of corn (without the can ofcourse)
- Stir the lot
- Eat

You can substitute the meatballs with a can of tuna too...

In my own version I usually add some chopped up chilies too

A favorite of mine is simply Dinte Moore Beef Stew....always took several cans with me when camping and just love the taste. It is very filling however is kind of hard on your system if you are way out in the woods.....lets just say your backside will be making at least 25 lumens if you eat a large can of the stuff.....hehe....enjoy.

Honestly it is great stew (if you like stew) and I learned to cook it in a large pot on simmer. I also found that you can add some plain old biscuit dough balls to the stew as it simmers. In time the dough balls will cook inside the stew and make these really fluffy bread balls already added to the mix....man that is so good and will fill up an army of people on one large can.

Hey vtunderground that recipe you mentioned is called Hobo Stew around here and is really a very easy and excellent meal....love the stuff.