Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Your go to recipe, one you think others should try during lockdown

Well, I have some good old trailer trash comfort food I make from my childhood... we weren't really poor, my dad was an engineer and my mom a school teacher, they grew up in the depression... we just ate like it. My wife was from a family of 7 kids and an alcoholic father, big family to feed.

Anyway I've threatened to make a dish my mom used to make, she called it chili mac. My wife said NO! we had to eat the same thing because it was cheap... Now this woman still eats fried spam because it was cheap when she was a kid.

Chili mac... long before hamburger helper, when hh came out with it's first recipe I thought, same as mom's, I never did try the boxed stuff though.

So yesterday, over 40 years since I last ate chili mac, wife was out Christmas shopping and had left some hamburger thawing, so I did it.

A box of cheap kraft mac and cheese, hamburger and stewed tomatoes.
Start the macaroni
start the hamburger, salt, pepper, garlic salt and a pinch of oregano
Add the stewed tomatoes when the burger is cooked and let simmer
Finish the mac and cheese
Add all on a plate and let it melt together
A couple slices of plain white bread with butter

Wife came home, saw it and went... uggg... I know it brought back some tough memories... while eating it she said 'Ok, this is really good, we'll do it again'

Kent

Cheeseburger hamburger helper.



For real, not joking.


😀

My wife made up about 2 gallons of her chili. It's all I eat when it's around.

Brunswick Stew

6 (5 to 6 pound) hens or heavy friers
10 to 12 pounds of lean beef, cubed
2 pounds center cut ham, cubed
1 pound bacon, chopped
1 pound cubed salt meat with skin removed
5 to 6 pounds of potatoes, peeled and chopped
18 large white onions, peeled and quartered
5 whole bunches celery, chopped
2 bunches of parsley, chopped
10 pounds frozen whole okra
4 to 5 (17 ounce) cans lima beans, drained
4 to 5 (16 ounce) cans cut green beans, drained
18 (16 ounce) cans stewed tomatoes
6 (17 ounce) cans white cream-style corn
1 pound butter
3 (15 ounce) bottles of Worcestershire sauce
1 (8 ounce) can black pepper
1 (1 ⅛ounce) can red pepper
1 (2 ounce) bottle Tabasco
4 to 5 (14 ounce) bottles of ketchup
Juice of 4 lemons
4 (4 ounce) cans mushrooms, stems and pieces, drained

Boil chicken in water to cover until meat separates from the bone. Take out, discard all skin and bones from chicken and chop meat. Strain stock through colander and reserve. Cut beef, ham, bacon and salt meat into small pieces and place in large pot with potatoes, onions, celery and parsley. Boil in water to cover 1 hour, stirring infrequently. If there is a large quantity of stock, start the meat mixture with stock instead of water. Add chicken, remaining stock, okra and other vegetables except tomatoes, corn and mushrooms. Boil for 1 hour; add tomatoes. (To keep tomatoes from curdling when added to the hot mixture, place in pan with 1 tablespoon soda and let stand for 5 minutes.) Boil for another hour; add corn. Add butter and next six ingredients to stew about 1 hour before cooking is completed, adding drained mushrooms thirty minutes before serving. Simmer well. Recipe can be reduced for individual use. Serves 40-50.

From the recipes of W.H. Montjoy
This recipe has been cut down from the original recipe calling for 350 pounds of chicken to feed hundreds of people at the annual Billups Dove Hunt at the Billups Plantation in Indianola, Mississippi, cooked each year by Billy Montjoy. The stew would be started at 6:00 A.M., cooked in an old black iron cauldron and stirred with a boat paddle off and on until serving after the hunt. It has been enjoyed for years by many Mississippians, as well as people from all over the country, and has been written about in newspapers in several Southern cities.

To enhance flavor of homemade vegetable soup, add chicken or beef bouillon cubes to the stock.

Note: I cut down this recipe even further – using the bare minimum of the ingredients. Instead of 6 lbs. of chicken, I use one chicken. Instead of 12 lbs. of lean beef, I use one good-sized steak. Instead of 18 onions, I use 3 or 4. Instead of 10 lbs. of okra, I use one or two small frozen packages, etc… Even cutting down the recipe to this extent, I am still left with nearly 5 gallons of stew when the cooking is complete, so a giant pot is needed. Also, be sure not to rush the cooking process. Cook over a very low heat and stir frequently to avoid burning the stew. Burning the stew is an expensive mistake.

Whiskey and coke

Side dish for dinner/lunch/breakfast: yam hash: https://www.asweetpeachef.com/sweet-potato-hash/

Best venison meatloaf ever.... wife made a double batch today.... we have a friend who was never a hunter but when we served it to her a few years ago she placed a standing request to "fix her a plate" whenever it is on our menu....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3uGAq1lHe2U&t=31s&ab_channel=GeorgiaPellegrini

What lockdown? My activities have continued unabated.

Cooked to what temp?

I pull mine at 129 resting brings it up to 132-133.

Works great with whole Venison back straps as well.

Pulled Ham
...brine whole pork butt in water, salt , dextrose, and cure.
...place in 225* smoker
...smoke till internal temp reaches 170ish,
...place in foil roaster and cover.
...continue smoking(cooking) until internal temp reaches 203*
...pour off liquid in bottom of roaster, let cool, remove fat that comes to the surface.
...pull the roast and add the liquid back into the meat.

Enjoy

Dirty rice.

About a pound each- ground pork, chk livers, chk hearts. Chop up the heart and liver pretty well and brown in a hot skillet with the pork. Add in a finely diced onion, a bell pepper, bit of garlic and a couple stalks of celery. Sometimes I’ll dice up a jalapeño as well. Cook down until veg is soft. Add a bunch of chopped parsley and season with your favorite creole/New Orleans/Cajun or whatever seasoning. Don’t be shy with it. It’s gonna get mixed in a bunch of rice.

My favorite seasoning was from the Dolla store but it’s been discontinued and I’m out. Last batch I used some Tony’s and some Old Bay rub. The Old Bay grew on me. I like it just fine. Next time I’m going to try some emerils and just a bit of the old bay.

I put a few big spoonfuls(maybe a cup) of the dirty in a hot skillet and them add cooked rice to it(maybe 3 cups). Add however much suits your taste.

I’ll portion out the rest of the dirty mix and freeze it.

Three step Lemon bars.

Step up one plant lemontree.

Step two marry well.

Step three pour glass milk.

CHEESY POTATOES

This is a family standard for us and there's never any leftovers.
2 cans cream of cheese soup
2 cans cream of mushroom soup
2 cans of milk
5 lbs of potatoes, skin on, sliced thin
1/2 pound of the sharpest cheddar you can get, diced or shreadded
1/2 pound of the sharpest swiss you can get, diced or shreaded
grated parmesan/romano cheese
salt and pepper to taste
Italian seasoning to taste
garlic powder to taste
dried minced onions to taste.

In a sauce pan combine the cream of cheese soup, cream of mushroom soup, two cans of milk, all spices, the onion flakes, cheese, grated parm/romano and minced onions. Heat over low to medium heat being careful not to scorch the mixture. Heat just long enoought to melt the shreadded cheese. Put potatoe slices in a baking dish or large casserole bowl, and cover with the cheese sauce mixture. Add more parmesian on top of the casserole. Bake in a 350 degree oven for about an hour. Best to cover the dish with tim foil for the first half hour, and then remove to foil to brown the top. Check potatoes with a fork for tenderness before calling it done-ovens differ and you may have ot cook it longer.

You can add kielbassa or ham if you want to make this a one pan meal. It's really good, and like I said, we never have any leftovers.

fifty lbs sweet feed and fifty lbs sugar.

Straight up #1 meal requested and #1 family get together meal... Tacos... mom always made them until one time in the 80s she wasn't feeling well and I took over, I just did it from then on... my record was frying 97 at one gathering.



According to my daughter the next in line is biscuits and gravy.



If we don't do tacos it's because we do fish.



And there's always room for elk.

My wife cooking while wearing a mask

I make killer no bakes if that's your thing.

1 stick of butter or margarine
2 cups sugar
.5 cup milk
4 tbsp cocoa

Bring these ingredients to a boil (slowly, if you heat too fast your cookies will be gritty). Once it starts to boil allow it to stay boiling for one minute then remove from heat and add:

.5 cup peanut butter
3 cups of quaker quick oats
1 tsp vanilla.

Stir it up and form your cookies.

These are really really good.

Another top 5 in our house is french toast... not that soggy stuff from the restaurant. I'm always asked what I put on it to get that taste... nothing, it's bread, eggs and oil... no milk no anything else. Oil is the key and it can be just the cheap 6 bucks a gallon store brand vegetable oil, a good half inch in the pan and get it hot, if it's not hot the bread will soak up the oil. The hot oil caramelizes the egg and has a sweet taste. I like mine almost black caramelized, my wife a little less and sprinkle cinnamon on.

The granddaughter 'has' to have Ugly 'Ol Pappy's french toast when she stays over, her favorite breakfast.

Kent