Camp Fish Stew with Poached Eggs
Tomato, sausage, and potatoes in a smoky broth, with eggs dropped in at the end.
- calories
- 610
- weight
- 11 oz
- cal / oz
- 55
- protein
- 38 g
- serves
- 8, scales
- prep
- 20 min
- cook
- 60 min
- total time
- 80 min
- water
- 1400 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
- Campfire coals
- Liquid fuel
- Dutch oven
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Canoe / raft
- Dairy free
- Nut free
- One pot
- Grab and go
- Needs a cooler
- Actual cooking
Ingredients
| Thick white fish fillets | 2.5 lb | bass or catfish; whatever came off the water that day |
|---|---|---|
| Thick-cut bacon | 6 slices | cut crosswise into half-inch pieces |
| Smoked sausage | 1 lb | sliced into coins; fully cooked kind keeps better |
| Onions | 2 | halved and sliced thin |
| Red potatoes | 2 lb | quartered, skin on |
| Tomato paste | 1 can (6 oz) | |
| Beer | 2 cups | anything cheap and light |
| Water | 4 cups | |
| Eggs | 8 | |
| Red pepper flakes | 1 tsp | |
| Cajun seasoning | 1 tsp | |
| Bay leaves | 2 | |
| Hot sauce | 1 tsp | plus the bottle on the table |
| Salt and pepper | to taste |
Method
- Set the pot over the coals or a low burner. Render the bacon until the fat is out and the edges are crisp, then lift the bacon out and hold it aside.
- Cook the onions in the bacon fat until they slump and darken, about ten minutes. Stir in the pepper flakes and Cajun seasoning for a minute.
- Add the tomato paste and let it fry in the fat until it turns brick red. This step is worth the two minutes it costs.
- Pour in the beer and water, scrape the bottom, and add the potatoes, bay leaves, and hot sauce. Simmer until the potatoes give to a knife, 20 to 25 minutes.
- Add the sausage and simmer another 10 minutes.
- Lay the fish on top in large pieces. Do not stir it. Cover and cook 8 to 10 minutes until it flakes.
- Crack the eggs one at a time onto the surface of the broth. Cover and leave it alone for 5 minutes, until the whites set.
- Salt and pepper to taste. Serve with an egg in every bowl and the bacon crumbled over the top.
This is a lake-shore recipe, not a backpacking one. Everything in it is heavy and half of it lives in a cooler, so it belongs at a car camp or a paddle-in site where the pot can sit over coals for an hour while people do other things.
The broth carries the whole dish. Frying the tomato paste in bacon fat before the liquid goes in is what turns it from thin tomato water into something with a bottom to it, and the potatoes release enough starch over the simmer to give it body. The fish goes in last and whole, because stirred fish becomes shreds. Eggs poached in the broth at the end are the part that makes it this stew and not any other one: they set into the surface, take on the pepper and the smoke, and stretch eight servings out of two pounds of fillets.
Packing
Bacon, sausage, fish, and eggs ride in the cooler. Potatoes, onions, tomato paste, and spices go in a dry box. Pre-measure the pepper flakes and Cajun seasoning into one small tin so you are not hunting for shakers at dusk.
Variations
- No fish worth cooking? Doubling the sausage makes it a potato and sausage stew that still works.
- Swap the beer for another 2 cups of water and a splash of vinegar if you are not carrying cans.
- Canned mackerel or a pouch of tuna stirred in at the end will feed a smaller group off the shelf.
https://realtree.com/timber-2-table-wild-game-recipes/eastern-north-carolina-fish-stew-recipe