Best salsa harvest we've ever had!
I really wanted to be able to do some BBQ for the gang at this year's Labor Day Camping Excursion. We were expecting about 25 people between the families camping and the guests who were coming to hang out for the day, and some of them requested that I bring my pit and make some BBQ. However, we planned to use our newly-acquired tent-trailer this year, so I wasn't able to tow both my trailer-pit and the tent-trailer to the campground. I searched the Internet for some sort of redneck camping BBQ method that would get us some real, smoked, 'Q over a campfire. After reaching the end of the Internet, and not quite finding what I was looking for, I decided I would just set out with a roll of heavy duty tin foil and some oak firewood and wing it. (Note: Always use a hardwood for BBQ such as oak, hickory, maple, alder, or fruit - never use pine, fir, or other soft woods as it makes the meat taste bitter and nasty. Most campgrounds in the northwest will sell fir or pine firewood, so you'll need to make sure you bring your own hardwood if you plan to BBQ).
Before we left for the trip, I pulled a pork butt out of the fridge, put some butt rub on it, put it in a vacuum-bag, and put in a cooler with some ice. I figured when it came time to cook at the campground, I didn't want to have to deal with the mess of putting the rub on -- this way I could just cut open the bag, and plop the meat on the grill grate.
When we arrived at our campsite, I was happy to see the campfire-ring had an adjustable cooking rack on it, which was perfect for making what turned out to be a "tin foil campground BBQ oven." I started with a single sheet of foil to cover the rack as I didn't want any fire coming up directly under the meat and I didn't want any flare ups. I poked a couple of holes in the foil to allow for drainage.
Then I covered the top, sides, and back of the rack with more foil to trap the heat - at this point I basically had a 5-sided box of foil. Here's my makeshift BBQ oven:
As I toasted my glorious creation with a Corona, I realized my folly -- while I had made a nice little "foil oven," there wasn't enough to encourage the smoke and heat from the fire to enter the box in order to flavor the meat or cook it evenly. This hunk of meat was going to take all day to cook. Thankfully, I brought my trusty wife along who expertly analyzed the situation and said, "how about another piece of foil draped from the top of the oven to the opposite side of the fire ring?" I married a genius. That last piece of foil was exactly what was needed to help guide enough heat and smoke into my little foil oven to impart that delicious smoky BBQ flavor.
The pork butt cooked for around 6 hours at who knows what temperature - probably around 250-275 I'd guess. I didn't use a thermometer to check the meat, nor did I use one to check the temp inside my "oven" -- I just guessed when it was done. I probably left it on about 20 minutes too long, but I think the only thing I'd do differently is to make sure that no coals or heat comes up directly under the rack/meat. That caused the bottom of the roast to get a little too crispy.
Since this was only an experiment, we just set out the plate of shredded pork on the table and let people pick it apart. This trial was a success.
I decided to do it again the next day with some beer-can chicken. I cooked the chicken using the same method for about 3 hours (and using most of the foil from the day before). The chicken turned out tender and moist and probably about as good as any beer-can chicken I've made at home. If I had it to do over again, I would have seasoned the chicken before I left home since it didn't have enough time to really soak in the flavors of the rub. Here's some pictures of the process:
So next time you go camping, find out if the campground has grill racks on their fire rings before you go. If they do, bring along some heavy duty tin foil, some firewood for BBQ, and a seasoned hunk of meat. BBQ at a campground is really easy and there's very little mess.
Defying CHF with every strip of bacon.
