Pie Iron Leftovers Sandwich
Two slices of bread, whatever is left in the cooler, and a pie iron in the coals.
- calories
- 520
- weight
- 7 oz
- cal / oz
- 74
- protein
- 20 g
- serves
- 1, scales
- prep
- 5 min
- cook
- 6 min
- total time
- 11 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.
- Dinner
- Lunch
- Campfire coals
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Foil packet
- Grab and go
- Needs a cooler
- Basic
Ingredients
| Sandwich bread | 2 slices | plain white holds the seal better than seeded whole grain |
|---|---|---|
| Margarine or butter | 2 tsp | a tub scoops faster than a stick in cold weather |
| Leftover cooked filling | about 1/2 cup | sloppy joe, chili, taco meat, stew, pasta with sauce, pizza sauce and pepperoni |
| Sliced or shredded cheese | 1 oz | optional, but it glues loose fillings together |
Method
- Build a bed of coals. Flames blacken the outside before the middle is warm.
- Butter one side of each slice. That side faces the iron, not the filling.
- Lay one slice butter-side down in the open iron, spoon in the filling, add cheese, and cap it with the second slice butter-side up.
- Close and latch the iron. Trim any bread hanging over the edge or it will char.
- Set it in the coals for two to three minutes, flip, and give it the same on the other side.
- Open it a crack to check color before you commit. Let it sit a minute before biting; the filling holds heat far longer than the bread.
A pie iron is a sealed pan, which is the whole point. Anything wet that would slide out of a skillet sandwich stays put between two slices of bread, and the closed edges crimp shut as the bread toasts. That is why leftovers work here when they would not work anywhere else in camp.
The butter on the outside is not seasoning. It keeps the bread from bonding to the cast iron, and scraping a welded sandwich out of a hot iron in the dark is a bad end to a night. Coals over flame, and check early: the difference between toasted and ruined is about ninety seconds. Note the cooler requirement on this one. It is a car-camping recipe and does not scale down to a pack.
Packing
Nothing to prep at home. Keep the leftovers in a sealed container in the cooler and the bread on top of the food box so it does not get crushed.
Variations
- Chocolate chips and marshmallows instead of savory filling makes it dessert.
- Scrambled eggs and crumbled bacon turns it into breakfast off the same iron.
- No cooler? Canned chili or a foil pouch of chicken with a squeeze of pizza sauce works the same way.
https://camprecipes.com/classic-recipes/left-over-pudgie-pies