Mountain Man Scramble
Sausage, bacon, peppers, and eggs baked in a dutch oven over coals. Feeds eight out of one pot.
- calories
- 620
- weight
- 9 oz
- cal / oz
- 69
- protein
- 34 g
- serves
- 8, scales
- prep
- 15 min
- cook
- 40 min
- total time
- 55 min
- water
- none
- cost
- $$
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Breakfast
- Dutch oven
- Campfire coals
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Gluten free
- Nut free
- One pot
- Grab and go
- Needs a cooler
- Actual cooking
Ingredients
| Hot pork sausage | 1 lb | bulk, not links |
|---|---|---|
| Bacon | 1 lb | cut into 1-inch pieces |
| Onion | 1 | |
| Minced garlic | 1 tbsp | the jarred kind is fine |
| Green bell pepper | 1 | |
| Red bell pepper | 1 | |
| Mushrooms | 4 | |
| Eggs | 18 | |
| Milk | 3/4 cup | or 3 tbsp powdered milk in 3/4 cup water |
| Grated cheddar | 3 cups | |
| Picante sauce | to taste | |
| Salt and pepper | to taste |
Method
- Build a coal bed and set a 12-inch dutch oven over it at around 375°F for frying. That is roughly 20 coals underneath, none on the lid yet.
- Brown the sausage, breaking it apart as it cooks. Pull it out and leave the fat in the pot.
- Fry the bacon pieces until crisp. Pour off most of the grease into a can, leaving a thin film.
- Dice the onion, both peppers, and the mushrooms. Return the sausage and add the vegetables and garlic. Cook until the onion goes soft.
- Beat the eggs and milk together in a bowl or a zip-top bag. Pour over everything and stir once.
- Move to a baking setup: about 8 coals under, 16 on the lid, for roughly 350°F. Cover and bake 20 minutes, until the eggs no longer jiggle in the center.
- Take the lid off, scatter the cheese across the top, and put the lid back. Five minutes off the coals is enough to melt it.
- Cut into wedges. Picante sauce goes on at the plate, not in the pot.
This is a lot of eggs in one pot, and the order of operations is what keeps it from turning into a wet gray mass. Sausage and bacon come out first so their rendered fat can cook the vegetables, then most of that grease gets poured off. Leave it all in and the eggs sit in a pool of it.
The temperature change between frying and baking matters. Frying heat under the pot will scorch the egg bottom before the middle sets, so move coals to the lid and let the eggs cook from above. Cheese goes on after the bake, off the heat, or it separates. Milk is the one fridge item here — powdered milk works and buys you a day.
Packing
Crack the eggs into a bottle at home and add the milk there. Eighteen shells is the messiest part of this recipe and it does not need to happen in camp. Dice the vegetables the night before into one bag. Meat and eggs need the cooler.
Variations
- Swap the fresh milk for powdered milk mixed with water and this holds a day longer in a marginal cooler.
- No pork: use two cans of drained chicken and a spoonful of oil to fry the vegetables.
- A 10-inch oven takes about three-quarters of everything at the same temperature and time.
https://www.boyscouttrail.com/content/recipe/mountain_man_omelette-1775.asp