Hunter's Lot Camp Stew
Odds and ends of game meat browned in flour, then simmered down in one pot at camp.
- calories
- 520
- weight
- 9 oz
- cal / oz
- 58
- protein
- 38 g
- serves
- 6, scales
- prep
- 30 min
- cook
- 70 min
- total time
- 100 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
- Campfire coals
- Dutch oven
- Liquid fuel
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Dairy free
- Nut free
- One pot
- Grab and go
- Needs a cooler
- Actual cooking
Ingredients
| Mixed game meat | 2 lb | venison stew chunks, quartered squirrel, rabbit, upland bird — whatever the freezer holds |
|---|---|---|
| All-purpose flour | 1/3 cup | for a light dredge |
| Olive oil | 3 tbsp | |
| Dried onion and carrot | 1 cup total | or fresh from the cooler if you have room |
| Instant potato flakes | 1/2 cup | thickener, added at the end |
| Worcestershire sauce | 2 tbsp | |
| Dried thyme | 1 tsp | |
| Bay leaves | 2 | |
| Salt and pepper | to taste | |
| Frozen or freeze-dried peas | 1 cup | |
| Water | about 5 cups |
Method
- Trim the small game. On squirrel and rabbit, cut the ribs off the back section — there is almost nothing there and the bones shed into the pot.
- Toss the meat in flour. Thin coat, shake off the excess.
- Heat the oil in the pot until it shimmers. Brown the meat in batches over the coals or a high burner. Crowding it steams the meat instead, so give it room.
- Return everything to the pot with the dried vegetables, Worcestershire, thyme, bay leaves, salt, and pepper. Add about 5 cups of water.
- Bring it to a boil, then pull the pot to the edge of the fire and hold a bare simmer for an hour. A hard boil will make the meat tough and stringy.
- Add the peas in the last five minutes. Stir in potato flakes a spoonful at a time until the broth thickens.
- Fish out the bay leaves. Check for bones before you serve the small game.
This is a clearing-out stew. Whatever odd packages are in the bottom of the freezer — a rabbit, a couple squirrels, a pound of venison tidbits — all cook to the same place given an hour of low heat. Mixing meats does not hurt anything; the flour, the browning, and the thyme give the whole pot one flavor.
Two steps decide whether it works. The flour dredge and hard sear build a fond in the bottom of the pot that water alone will never produce, and the simmer has to stay a simmer. Boiling seizes lean game and no amount of extra time will walk that back. The camp adaptations are the vegetables and the thickener: dried onion and carrot rehydrate in the broth, and instant potato flakes stand in for a roux at the end, so nothing needs a fridge or a second pan.
Packing
Meat travels frozen in the cooler and thaws on the drive. Flour, thyme, bay, and the dried vegetables go in one bag; oil and Worcestershire in leakproof bottles inside a second bag.
Variations
- Beef stew meat from the grocery store works the same way if the freezer is empty.
- A splash of dark beer in place of a cup of the water deepens the broth.
- Skip the potato flakes and serve it over instant rice or with bread.
https://realtree.com/timber-2-table-wild-game-recipes/hunter-s-lot-irish-stew-recipe