Skillet Peaches with Bacon and Cornbread Crumble
Dried peaches rehydrated in butter and brown sugar, bacon bits stirred through, cornbread crumbs on top.
- calories
- 520
- weight
- 4.5 oz
- cal / oz
- 116
- protein
- 9 g
- serves
- 2, scales
- prep
- 5 min
- cook
- 15 min
- total time
- 20 min
- water
- 180 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.
- Dessert
- Breakfast
- Campfire coals
- Grill grate
- Canister stove
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Canoe / raft
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Dried peach slices | 2 cups | unsulphured slices, not leathery chips |
|---|---|---|
| Cornbread mix | 1/2 cup | baked into cornbread at home, dried and crumbled |
| Precooked bacon crumbles | 1/3 cup | shelf-stable pouch, not refrigerated |
| Brown sugar | 3 tbsp | |
| Cinnamon | 1 tsp | |
| Ghee or clarified butter | 2 tbsp | travels warm without turning |
| Salt | a pinch | |
| Water | 180 ml |
Method
- Put the dried peaches and 180 ml of water in the skillet. Bring it to a boil over the fire or stove, then pull it to the edge of the coals.
- Let it sit ten minutes. The peaches should swell and the water should mostly go.
- Stir in the ghee, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt. Keep it moving over low heat two or three minutes until the sugar turns syrupy.
- Scatter the bacon crumbles over the top, then the cornbread crumbs. Give it a minute uncovered so the crumbs pick up heat without going soggy.
- Eat straight from the pan.
Fresh peaches are the whole point of the original and the one thing you cannot carry. Dried slices get you most of the way back: they hold their sugar, and rehydrating them in a small amount of water leaves you with fruit and syrup instead of fruit soup. Measure the water carefully. Too much and you are boiling it off for twenty minutes over someone’s dinner fire.
The bacon is doing the same job it does in the skillet original, which is salt and fat against sweet fruit. Precooked crumbles are the trail version and they need no cold storage. Cornbread dried hard at home replaces a cobbler topping you have no way to bake out here; it softens in the syrup on contact, so add it last and eat soon after.
Packing
Bake a small pan of cornbread at home, crumble it, and dry it in a low oven until it snaps. It keeps a week that way. Peaches, sugar, and cinnamon share one bag; bacon and crumbs stay separate so nothing goes damp.
Variations
- Skip the bacon and it becomes a plain peach crumble.
- A splash of bourbon after the sugar dissolves works if you are carrying any.
- Instant oats in place of the cornbread crumbs if you did not bake ahead.
https://www.lodgecastiron.com/pages/just-peachy-8-peach-recipes-taste-summer