BigButzBBQ
is Blowin Smoke!
Over my Birthday, this last week, my family and I went camping in Wisconsin Dells. We were bound and determined to not only have fun but, eat every meal at our campsite. We figured that by not eating out, it would cut our costs easily in half.
We got to camp and set to work getting set up.
Our house for the next 2 nights.
There wasn't enough room in the van to bring a big smoker but, no worries, have MUDS, will travel.
The first night we were there, chicken was on the menu. Unfortunately for me, I grabbed the bad remote thermo which meant that the chicken was actually done about an hour before I thought it was. Little on the tough skin and dry breast side but, still darn tasty and was completely destroyed.
The smoker was the easy fire to deal with while camping. The actual camp fire itself was a different story. We didn't bring any wood with us and all the wood we could get while there was some of the worst I've ever had to deal with. It took at least 4 tries to get it going steady and that was only when I would put the logs in the classic teepee formation. On the upside, I did get my fire foot massage in on the first night.
The next morning I figured I had the whole fire situation figured out so, I planned on cooking breakfast over the fire. Out came the cooking grate and some Cast Iron to fry up some bacon in.
Feeling brave, I cut up some taters and started them in another CI pan.
I realized that the smoke coming off of the fire was very dirty smelling and there was just too much of it. I ended up abandoning the cooking over the fire for finishing up on a gas camp stove. From that point on I decided that I wouldn't be cooking over the fire while camping for the rest of our time there. That night, when it came to dinner and getting the camp fire started again, I decided to kill two birds with one stone and use coals from the chimney to start both the MUDS and camp fire.
That night it was chuck steaks with Cow Pow on the menu.
Yet again, there were no survivors and everyone loved the steaks. And when it came to the fire that night I let myself relax and enjoy a drink or two.
I do have to say that I think we were able to do a bunch more than we would have been able to afford by not eating out. Besides, any excuse to do more outdoor cooking can't be bad.
Thanks for looking! :thumb:
We got to camp and set to work getting set up.
Our house for the next 2 nights.
There wasn't enough room in the van to bring a big smoker but, no worries, have MUDS, will travel.
The first night we were there, chicken was on the menu. Unfortunately for me, I grabbed the bad remote thermo which meant that the chicken was actually done about an hour before I thought it was. Little on the tough skin and dry breast side but, still darn tasty and was completely destroyed.
The smoker was the easy fire to deal with while camping. The actual camp fire itself was a different story. We didn't bring any wood with us and all the wood we could get while there was some of the worst I've ever had to deal with. It took at least 4 tries to get it going steady and that was only when I would put the logs in the classic teepee formation. On the upside, I did get my fire foot massage in on the first night.
The next morning I figured I had the whole fire situation figured out so, I planned on cooking breakfast over the fire. Out came the cooking grate and some Cast Iron to fry up some bacon in.
Feeling brave, I cut up some taters and started them in another CI pan.
I realized that the smoke coming off of the fire was very dirty smelling and there was just too much of it. I ended up abandoning the cooking over the fire for finishing up on a gas camp stove. From that point on I decided that I wouldn't be cooking over the fire while camping for the rest of our time there. That night, when it came to dinner and getting the camp fire started again, I decided to kill two birds with one stone and use coals from the chimney to start both the MUDS and camp fire.
That night it was chuck steaks with Cow Pow on the menu.
Yet again, there were no survivors and everyone loved the steaks. And when it came to the fire that night I let myself relax and enjoy a drink or two.
I do have to say that I think we were able to do a bunch more than we would have been able to afford by not eating out. Besides, any excuse to do more outdoor cooking can't be bad.
Thanks for looking! :thumb: