Alaskan Campfire Stew
Bacon, cubed meat, and root vegetables braised slow in a Dutch oven over coals.
- calories
- 620
- weight
- 14 oz
- cal / oz
- 44
- protein
- 38 g
- serves
- 8, scales
- prep
- 20 min
- cook
- 180 min
- total time
- 200 min
- water
- 1500 ml boiled
- cost
- $$
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Dinner
- Dutch oven
- Campfire coals
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Dairy free
- Nut free
- One pot
- Grab and go
- Needs a cooler
- Actual cooking
Ingredients
| Bacon | 1 lb | diced at home, packed flat |
|---|---|---|
| Beef, pork, or chicken | 2 lbs | cubed; frozen solid it doubles as a cooler ice block |
| Onions | 2 large | |
| Garlic | 3 tbsp crushed | jarred is fine and keeps in the cooler |
| Brown ale or water | about 6 cups | enough to nearly fill the oven |
| Bay leaves | 2 | |
| Worcestershire sauce | 4 tbsp | |
| Salt and pepper | to taste | |
| Fingerling or red potatoes | 2 lbs | halved if larger than a thumb |
| Baby carrots | 1 lb | |
| Bell pepper | 1 cup diced |
Method
- Burn a fire down to a solid bed of coals. You want steady low heat for two hours, so keep a second fire going to feed it.
- Set the Dutch oven on the coals and render the diced bacon until the fat runs and the edges crisp.
- Add the onions and garlic. Cook until the onions go clear, scraping the bottom as you go.
- Add the cubed meat and brown it on all sides. Do it in two batches if the pot is crowded, or it will steam instead of brown.
- Pour in ale or water until the pot is nearly full. Add bay leaves, Worcestershire, salt, and pepper.
- Cover and hold a low simmer over coals for about two hours. Check every half hour and top up with liquid so the meat stays submerged.
- When the meat gives easily to a fork, add potatoes, carrots, and bell pepper. Add more liquid to cover.
- Cook until a potato takes a knife with no resistance, 30 to 40 minutes. Pull the bay leaves before serving.
This is a coals recipe, not a stove recipe. The two hours of low heat is what turns cheap cubed shoulder or round into something you can eat with a spoon, and a Dutch oven buried in coals holds that heat far more evenly than a burner ever will. Build more fire than you think you need and shovel fresh coals under the pot as they die.
The order matters. Bacon fat is the cooking medium for everything after it, and browning the meat in that fat is where most of the flavor comes from. Potatoes and carrots go in late because two hours of simmering turns them into paste. Nothing here is trail food: it needs a cooler, a heavy pot, and time you only have at a car site or basecamp.
Packing
Bacon and cubed meat go in the cooler in doubled zip bags, meat frozen. Potatoes, carrots, onions, and the pepper travel in a mesh bag outside the cooler. Worcestershire and garlic ride in the condiment bin.
Variations
- Water in place of ale works. You lose some depth, so add a bouillon cube or two.
- Drop in a handful of dumpling dough or biscuit rounds for the last 20 minutes and cook covered.
- Stir a spoonful of flour into the bacon fat before the liquid goes in if you want it thicker.
https://camprecipes.com/classic-recipes/alaskan-campfire-stew