Dutch Oven Camp Gumbo
Canned and cured seafood, ham, and chicken over rice. A Louisiana pot rebuilt for a cooler and a fire.
- calories
- 520
- weight
- 14 oz
- cal / oz
- 37
- protein
- 38 g
- serves
- 6, scales
- prep
- 25 min
- cook
- 70 min
- total time
- 95 min
- water
- 1200 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
- One pot
- Grab and go
- Needs a cooler
- Actual cooking
Ingredients
| Oil or shortening | 2 tbsp | |
|---|---|---|
| Green onions | 2, chopped | |
| Celery | 1 stalk, diced | holds a week in a cooler |
| Green bell pepper | 1, diced | |
| Jalapeño | 1, minced | |
| Dried parsley | 1 tbsp | |
| Frozen cut okra | 1 lb | packed frozen, it thaws in the cooler and thickens the pot |
| Tomato paste | 3 oz | tube travels better than a can |
| Canned stewed tomatoes | 18 oz | |
| Canned crabmeat | 1 lb | |
| Canned or frozen shrimp | 1 lb | |
| Diced cooked ham | 1 cup | shelf-stable pouch or vacuum pack |
| Canned chicken | 1 cup, drained | |
| Jarred oysters | 1 jar | |
| Instant white rice | 3 cups dry | |
| Salt, black pepper, cayenne | to taste |
Method
- Heat the oil in the Dutch oven over a bed of coals. Cook the onion, celery, bell pepper, and jalapeño about 3 minutes, until they go soft at the edges.
- Stir in the parsley and give it another 2 minutes.
- Add the okra, pull the pot off the direct heat, and let it cook slow for 15 minutes. It will start to go ropy. That is the thickener doing its job.
- Stir in the tomato paste and about 1/2 cup of water. Keep stirring or the paste will catch and burn.
- Pour in 4 cups of water and the stewed tomatoes with their liquid. Simmer 30 minutes.
- Add the crab, shrimp, ham, chicken, and the oysters with their liquor. Cook 20 minutes more, stirring often. Season hard with salt, pepper, and cayenne at the end.
- Boil water separately for the instant rice, or make it in a second pot while the gumbo simmers. Spoon the gumbo over it.
This is a car-camping recipe, not a trail one. Five kinds of protein and an hour of simmering will not happen out of a titanium pot, so the pot stays a Dutch oven and the cooler does the work. The substitutions are all about what survives two days without power: canned crab, canned chicken, pouched ham, jarred oysters. Only the vegetables are fresh, and celery and peppers are the hardiest ones there are.
The okra is structural. Gumbo without a roux needs something to give the broth body, and okra releases enough to thicken four cups of water on its own if you cook it low and slow before the liquid goes in. Rushing that 15 minutes leaves you with soup. The seafood goes in last and short — twenty minutes is already generous for shrimp and oysters that came out of a can cooked.
Packing
Everything canned or pouched goes in one bin. Okra travels frozen in the cooler bottom and doubles as ice for the first day. Buy the vegetables the morning you drive in.
Variations
- Skip the oysters and the shrimp and it is still a real gumbo, just cheaper and lighter to carry.
- A roux made from 3 tbsp flour cooked brown in the oil before the vegetables gets you closer to the original, but it needs steady low heat and 20 minutes of stirring.
- Andouille or any smoked sausage stands in for the ham and keeps better in a cooler.
https://camprecipes.com/classic-recipes/new-orleans-gumbo