Find the full article and video HERE
Our group of outdoor enthusiasts gathers throughout the year for camping, food and fun. The secret to delicious campfire food? A dutch oven!
Watch the video above to see how the SOTF pros do camp cooking and follow this recipe:
- 8 tomatillos, husked and rinsed
- 6 hatch chiles rinsed
- 1 jalapeno, stem and seeds removed
- 2 large poblano peppers, stems removed
- 2 medium onions, chopped (about 2 cups)
- 6 cloves of garlic minced
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 4 tablespoons corn or sunflower oil
- 5 pounds pork shoulder, cut into 1” pieces
- 2 medium onions chopped
- salt and pepper, to taste
- 3 cups water or chicken stock
- 3 tablespoons lime juice (about the juice from a lime)
- 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
Heat the oven to 425 degrees. Cut onions in half and place in a large bowl, place whole peeled garlic cloves in a bowl, place the washed tomatillos, hatch chiles, jalapenos and poblanos peppers in the bowl too. Add the oil to the bowl, toss the peppers, onions and garlic until well coated. Line a baking pan with parchment paper, spray with non-stick spray. When the oven is at temperature place peppers, onions and garlic on the parchment-lined pan and cook for 30 min, turning every 10 minutes.
Remove the baking pan from the oven and cover with plastic wrap. Let sit for 10 minutes. Uncover and remove as much of the skin from the peppers and tomatillos as you can. You can also remove the seeds from any of the peppers if you don't want it too spicy.
Add the roasted tomatillos, peppers, onions and garlic into a large blender. Be careful the mixture will be hot, blend until smooth. Set-aside until ready to use.
Cooking With a Dutch Oven
Heat charcoal briquettes, place 12 hot coals in a circular pattern under the base of a 12-quart Dutch oven and place 12 coals around the lid. Allow to heat for 30 minutes. While the Dutch oven is warming, cut the pork shoulder up and place in a bowl. Add the chopped onions, salt, pepper and oil, toss well and make sure the oil coats everything evenly.
Refill the charcoal starter and light the second batch of charcoal.
Carefully remove the lid of the Dutch oven, do not discard the coals, place all of the pork in the Dutch oven and stir well. Next, add the hatch verde sauce, stir well and add the water or chicken stock, stir again then place the lid back on the pot. As soon as the second batch of charcoal is ready, replace all the coals, please do this carefully in the same pattern they were in when you heated it in the beginning. Cook for one hour and stir, add more liquid to the chili if needed. If you feel the temperature is falling place a few fresh briquettes under the Dutch oven. The residual heat will light the new coals. Cook for a total of two hours, once finished remove lid, stir well and add the fresh lime juice and chopped cilantro.
While you wait for chili to cook, enjoy a cocktail:
Becky Clarke (Sister #2) is famous for her elegant lemon-drop martinis, served with powdered sugar on the rim of the glass. “It makes like the trail just much more civilized,” Becky suggest making the simple syrup in your home kitchen and putting it into a canning jar for use on the trail.
- 2 cups of Citron vodka
- 1 cup lemon juice
- 1 cut Triple Sec
- ½ cup simple syrup
Bring the water to a boil. Dissolve the sugar into the boiling water. Remove the pan from the heat. Let it cool.
Mix all the ingredients together in a pitcher half-filled with ice. Stir well. Pour the mixture into sugar-rimmed martini glasses and garnish with a twisted peel of lemon.
