Campfire Surf~n~Turf

I celebrated my birthday during the last camp out. My favorite birthday meal is crab legs...... and heating them over a wood fire is my absolute favorite way to prep them.

I started by splitting some tatoes, stuffing them with a sliver of bacon, onion, butter and salt and pepper. Then wrapped them in foil and set them over the direct fire.

Also added a skillet of mushrooms in butter, with a few onions and some garlic. Then made a small pot of garlic butter..

Threw a couple of steaks on the fire and roasted some asparagus. Both seasoned with oil, salt and pepper. (kept it simple :))

Next came my favorite part....the crab legs!  Since they are already cooked, they just need to be warmed through and need to catch a little bit of smoke.

The stuffed tater, 1/4 of a grilled steak with shrooms, asparagus, smokey crab legs and garlic butter...

Since it was my birthday celebration, I went directly to the crab legs and forgot about the rest of the stuff. I cut down a styrofoam cup to hold the butter...

Pretty much ate crab with garlic butter until I was stuffed, saved the rest of the meal for lunch the next day. Then sat back by the fire and enjoyed the night.

 I don't know.... maybe I'm just odd.... but I'd rather celebrate my birthday kicked back at a quiet, beautiful location, enjoying close friends than to go to some crowded restaurant.

It was pretty nice and I'll probably do it again next year...  :)

Beef Ribs and Beans on the Campfire

Another tractor rim cook from my last camp out. I've slow cooked a lot of pork spare ribs lately on the fire and decided to do some beef back ribs this trip.  I love them slow roasted over an open fire. I've tried foiling them half way through cooking......     Foiled ribs   .....but prefer un-foiled ribs the best.

Soaked some anasazi beans overnight...

Then placed them on the heat first, to let them simmer all day. I added beef stock, smoked pork, onions, garlic, red pepper flakes and a few herbs to the pot, then added more stock when needed.

Slathered the ribs with bacon drippings then seasoned with black pepper and coarse salt...

I let the ribs slow cook on the low heat side of the fire..flipped and rotated them every once in awhile. Added a log of wood when needed...

The ribs cooked for about 6 hours. I watched for the pullback on the bone that I wanted. Same as with pork ribs.

Added a few ears of corn...

and supper was ready!

I just needed one more hand to hold my cold beer. :)

Beef back ribs aren't very meaty but they sure taste good!

Still having photobucket, computer and blogger issues. I think it took over an hour to post these pics. lol
Maybe it's time for me to buy a new laptop!

Fire Roasted Crab Stuffed Salmon

I make this often at home on the grill and smoker but wanted to see how it worked on the tractor rim while camping.

I wanted to cook brussel sprouts too and thought about stringing them onto skewers. Then decided to be lazy and throw them in my popcorn popper instead, with bacon drippings, onions, garlic and seasonings....

I placed them on the fire and gave them a shake every once in awhile.

trimmed a slab of salmon...

made the crab stuffing... crab meat, scallions, garlic, lemon pepper, parsley and Pookie G DaYum rub.

The Pookie G rubs are made by talented friend Wickedcajun ... Hopefully he will have a web site for his rubs soon. If you are interested in trying these rubs, let me know. I can get you in touch with him or his Mrs.

I stuffed the salmon, drizzled well with oil (also oiled the skin side too) and sprinkled with Pookie G Season All...

onto the tractor rim, skin side down with a low burning log on each side of the fish...

I watched for the juices to rise to the top of the salmon and the fish flaked easily....then pulled it off the heat and let it rest for a few minutes. The cook took about 30 minutes.

The salmon was flaky, moist and tender. Had great flavor from the wood smoke and I loved the Pookie G rubs too!

The next day I toasted bagels, spread them with cream cheese, seasoned with pepper and added the smoked salmon and crab..

They were danged tasty too. :)

Now that I know this isn't such a pain to make while camping, I'll do it again!  :)

Bacon Biscuits n Sausage Gravy on the Fire

Did a ton of cooking on my last trip camping. Guess I thought it might be my last time out before winter hits  
I like dutch oven cobbler OK but it's just not one of my favorite things. I guess I am more fond of savory foods instead of desserts.  Thinking along the line of cobbler, I came up with this breakfast.

Browned some sausage over the fire...

added flour, salt, pepper, a dash of cayenne...

then milk...
made the gravy on the thin side so it wouldn't get too thick while the biscuits cooked.

made baking powder biscuit dough. Rolled out, brushed with bacon drippings and topped with crisp cooked bacon pieces...

Rolled and sliced...

I smooshed the biscuits down a bit in size thinking they would cook evenly...
then placed them on the hot, bubbly sausage gravy.

Into the tractor tire rim....

Topped the dutch oven with a lid and shoveled a few hot coals on top...

I let this cook for about 20 minutes...

the biscuits browned and the gravy was hot and bubbly...

I really liked the way this turned out. The gravy wasn't too thick, and the biscuits cooked through. I think I lucked out. :)

The bacon was a great addition to the biscuits. You can never go wrong with bacon though. :)

I'll make this one again for sure. The hardest part was rolling out the biscuit dough. I might try different doughs or even some bisquick and see how well that works.

Overall I loved the stuff!

Thanks for looking!