Campfire Skillet Hash with Summer Sausage
Dried potatoes, dried onion, and hard sausage, browned in one pan over coals.
- calories
- 720
- weight
- 5.5 oz
- cal / oz
- 131
- protein
- 26 g
- serves
- 2, scales
- prep
- 10 min
- cook
- 20 min
- total time
- 30 min
- water
- 400 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.
- Breakfast
- Dinner
- Campfire coals
- Grill grate
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Canoe / raft
- Dairy free
- Nut free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Dehydrated hash brown potatoes | 1 1/2 cups | the shelf carton kind, not frozen |
|---|---|---|
| Dried onion | 2 tbsp | |
| Dried bell pepper flakes | 2 tbsp | |
| Summer sausage | 6 oz | shelf-stable, uncut until camp |
| Olive oil | 2 tbsp | |
| Smoked paprika | 1 tsp | |
| Garlic powder | 1/2 tsp | |
| Salt and black pepper | to taste | |
| Hot sauce | a few shakes | optional, packed in a small bottle |
Method
- Build the fire early and let it burn down. You want a bed of coals and a steady grate, not flames licking the pan.
- Pour 400 ml of boiling water over the potatoes, onion, and pepper in the pot. Cover and leave it ten minutes, then drain off anything that did not soak in.
- Cube the sausage. Set the pan on the grate, add half the oil, and brown the sausage until the edges crisp. Move it to the pot lid.
- Add the rest of the oil and spread the drained potatoes in a flat layer. Leave them alone for four or five minutes so a crust forms.
- Turn the hash in sections, not all at once. Repeat until most of it has color.
- Stir the sausage back in with the paprika, garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Cook one more minute and pull the pan off the heat.
A hash needs three things: dry potatoes, hot fat, and patience. Dehydrated hash browns get you the first one for free, since you control exactly how much water goes back in. Drain them well. Wet potatoes steam instead of browning, and steamed potatoes taste like nothing.
The home version of this uses fresh potatoes, onion, and breakfast sausage out of a refrigerator. Dried vegetables and hard summer sausage do the same work with no cooler, and the sausage renders enough fat that the olive oil is mostly insurance. Coals matter more than the recipe here. Flames will scorch one side of the pan and leave the rest raw.
Packing
Potatoes, onion, pepper, and the spices go in one bag at home. The sausage and the oil bottle ride separately. A folding-handle steel pan handles coals better than nonstick, which will not survive a real fire.
Variations
- Stir in a foil packet of chicken or a can of drained corn during the last minute.
- Swap the sausage for shelf-stable bacon crumbles and cook them first for their fat.
- Skip the meat and use a packet of dried mushrooms rehydrated with the potatoes.
https://primusequipment.com/products/campfire-cookset-stainless-steel-small