I camped in West Virginia with friends this weekend and for dinner we made the most incredible beef and vegetable stew.  After a long day of climbing and hiking it really hit the spot.  I think this recipe works best if you are site camping and have access to a cooler, since the raw meat needs to be kept until you’re ready for dinner. We didn’t have much of a problem since the temperature outside hovered around 30-40 degrees all weekend!

You Will Need:
steak (we used stew steak)
cubed potatoes
diced onions
chopped celery
diced bell peppers
chopped carrots
water
salt and pepper
tin foil
a campfire
a means to time out 30 minutes
a fork (seems obvious but people forget)
Optional: red wine, other sauces or seasonings

You will notice that I did not list any measurements for the ingredients.  This is because each camper makes their own masterpiece.  Mine was light on the steak and heavy on the potatoes, others decided to take the meatless route.  For simplicity’s sake be sure that all of your meat and veggie pieces are bite sized. Additionally, if you don’t want to chop hard carrots and potatoes with your multi-tool in the dark you can prep the food at home before you head out camping.

How To:
All you need to do is take a piece or three of tinfoil and tightly wrap whatever mixture of delicious ingredients your heart desires.  I just happened to have brought a bottle of pinot noir and decided to add it in for some extra flavor.  Once you have wrapped your meat, veggies and a small amount of water (about 2-3 tablespoons worth, plus your wine if you choose) in the tinfoil you can put it right into your campfire. Make sure the foil is tight; the liquid needs to stay in there so that the potatoes will cook through. We flipped ours after 15 minutes for even cooking, they stayed in the fire for 30 minutes total.

Iron Chef: West Virginia. You might be wise to cut up your beef and veggies before you leave the house to go camping. Also since everyone keeps asking- Yes, the belt is part of my coat.

Chopping away at the picnic table.

Wrap the tinfoil tightly so the water doesn’t leak out, you need it in there to tenderize those hard-ass potatoes.

I might be delusional since all I ate yesterday prior to this was fruit and a Sonic burrito, but this is the greatest thing I have ever tasted. Notice that I wrapped mine in more than one piece of foil to prevent the juice from leaking out.