How to Make Campfire Sausage and Beans

No matter how wonderful the scenery, meals around the campfire are often the highlight of the camper's day. Modern camp stoves and specialized cookware make the cook's job easier, but nothing beats the taste and appeal of a meal cooked over the campfire.

Try this easy-to-cook sausage and beans recipe you and your family can enjoy around the campfire.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• 1 medium sized onion, thinly sliced
• 1 medium sized green pepper, cut into 1/2-inch squares
• 1 or 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 15 ounce can baked pork and beans
• 1 15 ounce can butter beans, drained
• 1 small can sliced mushrooms, drained
• 5 ounce ready-to-eat smoked sausage
• 1/2 cup catsup
• 1/4 cup mustard
• 2/3 cup maple syrup
• 1 teaspoon oregano
• 5 whole cloves
• 2 small bay leaves
• Large cast iron skillet
• Campfire

1. Start by building a campfire using very dry wood. Let the fire burn down until the wood turns to red coals, then stir the coals. The goal is to have a clean burning, very hot campfire. Place the grate across the fire about 6" above the coals by placing rocks on either side of the fire to support the grate.

2. Heat the oil in the large cast iron skillet over the fire and gently sauté the onion slices and pepper squares until the onion is slightly transparent, about 3 or 4 minutes.

3. Add baked beans, butter beans and sliced mushrooms and stir well.

4. Cut the sausage into bite sized pieces and add to the beans, together with the catsup, mustard, maple syrup, oregano, cloves and bay leaves.

5. Cook the beans, stirring occasionally, until all the ingredients are piping hot. Serve immediately. Serves 4.

Tips & Warnings

• Make sure the campfire consists of red coals before cooking. This will ensure consistent heat. Burn down more dry wood to coals if you find you don't have enough heat.
• If you cannot make a campfire, use a camp grill with a high output burner. This will ensure the cast iron skillet is evenly and completed heated before cooking.
• A dutch oven can be used as well. Transfer the contents from the skillet to the dutch oven, remove grill, and place dutch oven right in the hot coals. Cover and simmer, adding water if necessary.

Resources

• How to Build a Campfire for Cooking

[LilacGirl]

on 5/21/2008 This sounds delicious and very filling. Every one is so hungry on a camping trip.

[familybuddy]

on 4/17/2008 This will be a big hit this summer! Great article.

[jjfitts]

on 10/18/2007 MMMM.... sausage!