Favorite Camp Meal

[limacharley]

Good big meals is part of our trips. A little different as we're not renting and have everything up there we need. Saw some charcoal today, gonna stock up a few bags for the season. One of our regulars is a fabricator so he made us a nice grill and stand from an old 55g steel drum.

Is that the machine shop pick up I see parked beside Kipawa bait?

[johnny walleye]

I love the smell of Bacon cooking in a cast iron skillet on the camp stove.

[mcsteve]

Billy from Oswego, NY got me in the habit of bringing "Canadian" bacon (peameal bacon) on every trip.  Not the cured ham slices Walmart would have you believe is Canadian bacon, the real stuff.

[Oarin]

mcsteve, I love peameal bacon, but it's near impossible to find here, so my wife and I have been making our own. Not that hard and YUM!

[Canuckbass]

Good big meals is part of our trips. A little different as we're not renting and have everything up there we need. Saw some charcoal today, gonna stock up a few bags for the season. One of our regulars is a fabricator so he made us a nice grill and stand from an old 55g steel drum.

Is that the machine shop pick up I see parked beside Kipawa bait?

No, his shop is in Toronto and he usually jumps in others trucks for the ride up.

[mcsteve]

mcsteve, I love peameal bacon, but it's near impossible to find here, so my wife and I have been making our own. Not that hard and YUM!

That has been on my list to try.  I use my smoker for a lot of different meats and fish and have often thought about curing my own bacon.  Do you have some "secrets" you could share?

[Oarin]

mcsteve, it's not smoked. We went online and found the recipe. You use different kinds of salts,garlic,water,maple syrup, and a few more things I don't remember.One of the salts was hard to find. I'm at my daughter's in VA now or I'd give you the whole deal. You combine all the stuff and submerge it and put it in the fridge for 3-5 days depending on how salty you like it. When you take it out rub cornmeal on it and you're ready to cook! If it comes out too salty submerge it in water put it back in the fridge for a day or two until it's to you're liking. When I get home I'll post the whole recipe. Oarin.

[mcsteve]

mcsteve, it's not smoked. We went online and found the recipe. You use different kinds of salts,garlic,water,maple syrup, and a few more things I don't remember.One of the salts was hard to find. I'm at my daughter's in VA now or I'd give you the whole deal. You combine all the stuff and submerge it and put it in the fridge for 3-5 days depending on how salty you like it. When you take it out rub cornmeal on it and you're ready to cook! If it comes out too salty submerge it in water put it back in the fridge for a day or two until it's to you're liking. When I get home I'll post the whole recipe. Oarin.

I've got a pork cure mixture from cabellas that I use for pork loin.  I wonder if that would work the same.  I know my wife says it smells like bacon whenever I am smoking a loin.

[Flatline]

I like bringing a corned beef brisket with some sauerkraut. Simple to boil over a campfire (or roast if you have an oven) and since the come in a sturdy plastic vacpac, there is no leakage in the cooler.

[Oarin]

mcsteve, a pork loin is what pea meal bacon is made from. We're heading home tomorrow and I'll post the ingredients. Oarin.

[adempsey]

I am thinking it's time to invest in a vacuum sealer.    Seems like a really versatile way to handle pre-made meals for a camping or fishing trip.

Would like to try Sous Vide steak (basically, steak boiled in a bag) as well - supposed to be amazing.

[Oarin]

We vacuum seal most everything,even the spaghetti sauces. It makes them flat and easier to transport. All of our fillets get sealed too. They say nice in the freezer for a long time.

[Oarin]

Pea meal bacon.

2-4 lb. pork loin
4 cups water
1 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 cup kosher salt
3 tbsp Prague powder #1
3 tsp slightly crushed pepper corns
5 slightly crushed garlic cloves
   

Remove visible silver skin and excess fat from loin.
Mix all ingredients together and heat until salts and sugar are dissolved.
Cut loin in half or thirds.
Put mixture into large zip lock bags and submerge loin sections completely, removing as much air as possible. Place bags into pot and place in refrigerator for 3.5- 5 days. We did 5 days and it came out too salty.
  Remove , rinse, and pat dry. Coat with coarse ground corn meal.
If bacon is too salty rinse off corn meal and soak in water in the refrigerator  (in plastic zip lock) for a day or however long it takes to reach your taste.
Redo the corn meal and you're ready to cook it ! Yum!!

The Prague powder was tough to find, but a local spice store had it.

[SgtCrabby]

Thanks Oarin.
That recipe is similar to corned beef recipes.  Probably because both are preserving/pickling processes.

I'm going to have to try that, sounds yummy.

[Fort Wisers]

Side bacon, sliced about 1/8" thick and very, very slowly cooked in an open pan until crispy.....UMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM
The key is not to rush it......low heat, long time but well worth the rate.
Sprinkle with salt and fresh ground pepper as your cooking....both sides.

Also, if anyone if feeling a touch experimental, "batter" up your pickerel or pike with some crushed up cool ranch Doritos. No I'm not kidding.
My brother "invented" this one on a trip up at our old moose hunting camp........a few years later he had a gang of us up to his camp for a fish fry.
He stepped it up a notch and had all sorts of "chip" related batters for us to sample...dill pickle was a good one if memory serves me correctly.

My goodness cant wait to get into the bush and cook up something nice:)