You need to choose your camping buddies wisely. We have a retired biology teacher and a good mushroom hunter in our group, for example. But I recommend snatching up a couple of barbecue judges. Ours are KCBS certified. Here's the deal.
We frequently plan our camping trips around contests that they are judging. They spend 4-5 hours, usually on a Saturday, in judges meetings and judging the contest. In the judging process, they are required to take one bite of each sample of chicken, pork, brisket and ribs that their table judges. The rest goes in a cooler that they bring back to camp.
We frequently plan our camping trips around contests that they are judging. They spend 4-5 hours, usually on a Saturday, in judges meetings and judging the contest. In the judging process, they are required to take one bite of each sample of chicken, pork, brisket and ribs that their table judges. The rest goes in a cooler that they bring back to camp.
This makes for some mighty fine (barbecue talk) meals at our campsite. Now the rest of us aren't complete slackers. We provide appropriate side dishes. But because we have two judges and they each have their own set of samples, it can be a lot of meat. What to do?
This last weekend, while we were involved in wedding festivities, they judged two contests--one on Saturday and one on Sunday. Sunday night, while it poured outside our trailer, we enjoyed wonderful smoked and barbecued delicacies inside. They had so much meat that they gave us some to bring home. Monday night, after unloading the trailer, we devoured more barbecue. Tuesday noon a little for lunch. (Cold brisket and some romaine make a wonderful salad.) But there was still some left and it needed to be used up. So before Tuesday supper, I Googled 'stew with bbq meat' and came up with a recipe for a Brunswick stew.
This is an old Southern dish with as many variations as meatloaf and not all use leftover BBQ, but this one did. And of course, I didn't have all of the ingredients called for. After all, we'd just returned from a 5-day trip, our fridge was pretty empty and we hadn't been to the store. But I think Brunswick stew is kind of like Stone Soup from the old story--you add whatever you have.
I had about four sausage links left that I cut up and cooked in a pot to create some drippings. Then in went left over chicken, pork and ribs--we had polished off the brisket at lunch. I added a pint of my homemade frozen tomato sauce and some beef broth. If you don't have any of my homemade sauce, I think a can of diced tomatoes would work fine. I found a can of northern beans in the cupboard and some frozen corn and peas. I suppose, technically speaking, it's not right to use Northern beans in a Southern dish but I'm kind of a rebel. Finally, a couple of tablespoons each of brown sugar, apple cider vinegar, and WOR sauce plus a tablespoon of steak or Montreal seasoning, simmer for a half hour or so and serve over corn bread. It was excellent.
So I'm thinking for future trips, this would be a great dish to cook in a Dutch oven over a fire. I can smell it cooking now...
This last weekend, while we were involved in wedding festivities, they judged two contests--one on Saturday and one on Sunday. Sunday night, while it poured outside our trailer, we enjoyed wonderful smoked and barbecued delicacies inside. They had so much meat that they gave us some to bring home. Monday night, after unloading the trailer, we devoured more barbecue. Tuesday noon a little for lunch. (Cold brisket and some romaine make a wonderful salad.) But there was still some left and it needed to be used up. So before Tuesday supper, I Googled 'stew with bbq meat' and came up with a recipe for a Brunswick stew.
This is an old Southern dish with as many variations as meatloaf and not all use leftover BBQ, but this one did. And of course, I didn't have all of the ingredients called for. After all, we'd just returned from a 5-day trip, our fridge was pretty empty and we hadn't been to the store. But I think Brunswick stew is kind of like Stone Soup from the old story--you add whatever you have.
I had about four sausage links left that I cut up and cooked in a pot to create some drippings. Then in went left over chicken, pork and ribs--we had polished off the brisket at lunch. I added a pint of my homemade frozen tomato sauce and some beef broth. If you don't have any of my homemade sauce, I think a can of diced tomatoes would work fine. I found a can of northern beans in the cupboard and some frozen corn and peas. I suppose, technically speaking, it's not right to use Northern beans in a Southern dish but I'm kind of a rebel. Finally, a couple of tablespoons each of brown sugar, apple cider vinegar, and WOR sauce plus a tablespoon of steak or Montreal seasoning, simmer for a half hour or so and serve over corn bread. It was excellent.
So I'm thinking for future trips, this would be a great dish to cook in a Dutch oven over a fire. I can smell it cooking now...
RSS Feed