Chilli con carne basically means "Stew with meat". Of course you can make this without meat, too, if you're vegetarian. It's is a simple, one-pot meal that is nutritious and everybody loves.
For shorter camps, bivvying and hikes you can make this at home the day before, and freeze one portion per person in individual plastic bags. Bring it along frozen, then re-heat it in your Trangia. It will keep for up to 2 days!
Prep Work
- Chop the onions and garlic.
- Remove the seeds and chop the chillies.
- Dice the bell peppers.
Make the Chili
- Place a pot with a thumb high of oil over your fire.
- Add the onions and garlic. Fry them for a minute.
- Add the mince, and season it with a tea spoon of pepper, a table spoon of salt and two table spoons of paprika powder.
- Stir until the meat becomes brown and crumbly.
- Add the tomato puree, bell peppers, kidney beans and sweet corn, as well as the stock cube and 1 cup of water.
- Let the chili simmer (that means cook lightly over very low heat) for 30 minutes to an hour.
Shopping List for 8 Scouts
- 2 onions
- 1 clove of garlic
- 2 fresh red chillies OR a tea spoon of chilli powder
- 500g of minced meat
- 1 tube of tomato puree OR 1 tin of chopped tomatoes
- 2 bell peppers
- 1 tin of red kidney beans
- 1 tin of sweet corn
- 1 stock cube
- 1 cup of water
- Paprika powder
- You will also need: oil, salt and pepper
We call tin foil pouches that are filled with potatoes, meat and veggies a "cowboy dinner". Cowboy dinners are perfect for a bivvy camp or moving camp, because you don’t have to bring a lot of gear. No pots, no pans, no clean up, and hardly any rubbish to take away with you. You don’t even have to peel the veg if you’re lazy and don't mind. The best thing is: everyone can make their own tin foil pouches and include only the ingredients they like.
Read all the steps and tips before you start. Trust us! You’ll be more familiar with the steps and cooking the dish will be a stroll in the park. Before you begin, make sure you have a good fire going with a lot of hot embers, wash your hands and give all vegetables a rinse!
Prep work
- Build a big, roaring, fire, then let it die down. Hard wood like beech make hotter and longer lasting coals than soft pine wood.
- You want to have a large bed of good embers, but no flames whatsoever. This can take up to an hour!
- Give all vegetables a rinse.
- Let everyone cut and peel their own veggies to their liking and make their own foil packs.
- Have an experienced scout show you how to make a good tin foil pack
Foil Packet Cooking Tips
- Double up the sheets of foil. You don’t want the foil to rip, or your food to burn, or your dinner leaking out
- Generously season with salt and pepper.
- Don’t make the packs bigger than your hand, and fill them with as much as fits in your hand.
- Adding some high moisture veggies (like tomatoes, bell peppers or onions), or a bit of oil, will prevent your food from burning and drying out.
- Fold the creases multiple times to seal tight.
- Mark your packs with a special fold so you can tell who's is who's.
- Cook the you foil packet on the embers, not the fire itself.
- Flip the packs over from time to time, but make sure to not puncture them.
- Cooking times will depend on the kind of food and how hot your fire is. Hard, raw vegetables like carrots or potatoes take longer.
- Open one sample pack after 15 minutes to check and poke a potato or carrot with a fork to see if they're soft yet.
- Open your pack carefully as it’s full of hot steam!
- Remember to leave no trace.
Shopping List for 8 Scouts
You decide what to include, but here is a classic combination:
- 1 bag of baby potatoes
- 4 carrots
- 2 bell peppers or tomatoes
- 16 rashers
- 2 onions
- You’ll also need: Salt, pepper, 2 rolls of tin foil
You can also include any other vegetables you feel like: mushrooms, tomatoes, courgette, broccoli, green beans, ...
Also awesome in cowboy dinners: bacon pieces, sausages, feta cheese, ...
Stew is super-easy to prep and is the perfect hearty dinner for a rainy day on camp. Stew actually tastes best when it's made the night before, but at a minimum you need to let it cook on low heat for 4 hours for the meat to become tender - so plan your day accordingly.
For shorter camps, bivvying and hikes you can make this at home the day before, freeze a portion in a plastic bag. Bring it along frozen, then re-heat it in your Trangia. It will keep for up to 2 days!
Some Irish families put the potatoes right into the stew (if you do, add a bit more stock), but it feels fancier with mashed potatoes on the side (also, it's fun to make mashed potatoes).
Good to know: Beef comes at about 16€ per kg, which makes this recipe pretty pricey.
Read the entire recipe from start to finish. Trust us! You’ll be more familiar with the steps and cooking the dish will be a stroll in the park.
Before you begin, make sure you have a good fire going, wash your hands and give all vegetables a rinse!
Prep Work
- Boil 2 liters of water in a pot, then take from the heat and dissolve the stock cubes in it.
- Peel the onions and cut them into chunky pieces.
- Peel the carrots and parsnip and cut it into marshmallow-sized pieces.
- Cut the bottom part of the stem off all mushrooms and cut them into halves.
- Wash the celery, cut off the ends and cut the rest into thumb-long pieces.
- Dice the meat (marshmallow-sized cubes are good) if you bought a whole piece.
Cooking the Stew
- Heat a large pot with 2 cups of oil and add the onions. Cook them for a minute or two.
- Add the beef and fry it until it's brown on all sides (make sure there's a good fire going for this part).
- Add 2-3 tablespoons of salt and pepper the beef well.
- Add the Guinness all at once and stir. Let it cook for a minute or so.
Add the thyme, and all the cut vegetables. Add enough stock to just about cover everything.
- Bring everything to a boil, but then you can reduce the heat (by letting the fire die down)
- Let the stew cook for at least four hours with a lid on. It should be simmering, which means not boiling, but maybe a few tiny bubbles are showing. Stir it once in awhile so nothing burns at the bottom.
Make the Mashed Potatoes
- Peel the potatoes and cut them into quarters
- Put the potatoes in a large pot and cover them with water
- Add 2-3 tablespoons of salt
- Cook the potatoes for about 15 minutes. You can check if they're done by sticking a fork in them. If it comes out easy, they're done.
- Strain the water from the potatoes.
- Add half of the milk, and then mash the potatoes well. Keep adding milk until the mash has the consistency you like (so don't add all the milk at once).
- Finally, add the chunk of butter and a dash of ground nutmeg and mix in well.
Shopping List for 8 Scouts
- 1 pint beer (Guinness or other stout)
- 1kg Diced beef
- 2 Large onions
- 8 Carrots
- 1 Stalk of celery
- 2 Parsnips
- 1 Box of mushrooms
- Stock cubes to make 2 liters of stock
- Fresh thyme (only if you can find it)
- 2kg potatoes
- 500ml milk
- A good chunk of butter, maybe 200g
- Nutmeg (if you’re feeling fancy)
- You’ll also need: Oil, salt, pepper
