Venture Outdoors Festival at Millcreek Township 19 JUN 2010

It was a great Saturday with weather that couldn't be better for some serious Dutch oven cooking. And, that's what was happenin' at Millcreek Park. I was representing IDOS and the Storm Mountain Dutch oven Chapter with Debbie Hair, the IDOS President, and one of our newest members, David Smith, a fellow Veteran. We did demos during the day and I gave a demo later that afternoon in the St. Marks Hospital Demo tent.

The Venture Outdoors Festival is a celebration of outdoor recreation. This unique festival is designed to increase awareness, participation, and appreciation for the many recreational opportunities available in Utah. This annual, free, family-friendly event features live music, recreation clinics, guest speakers, giveaways, creative children's activities, and great food all day long. The U.S. Army band was there playing some great music and they also set up a couple of rock climbing walls. And of course, dutch oven cookin' with ol' splatterdab.

In my demo I did a couple of things. First, I talked about how easy it is to get started with Dutch oven cooking by using gear that's inexpensive and readily available. And second, I demo'd an age old favorite among Dutch oven cooks - the Mountain Man Breakfast. I haven't met many DO cooks that haven't received rave reviews on whatever their version of the recipe is. In fact, from pot-to-pot my recipe will frequently change on the fly.

So, here's this post's recipe:

Mountain Man Breakfast for a 12” Dutch Oven
This variation on the Mountain Breakfast is from my friend Gary House, “The Outdoor Cook”
His web site is at: http://www.cooking-outdoors.com/

1 sausage log (I like Jimmy Deans Sage - RNB)
1 onion (chopped)
2-3 stalks green onion (chopped)
2-3 garlic cloves (chopped}
8-12 eggs (scrambled)
Several mushrooms (sliced)
1 bag shredded hash browns
1 bag “Sharp” chedder cheese (12oz)
Garlic salt
Pepper
Parsley (dried)

Preparation:
Fry up sausage and onion. Add chopped garlic. Cook till sausage is almost done. Drain.
Optional:
At this point you could fry up the potatoes till browned. Or throw in some pre-cooked red potatoes.
Add all of the other ingredients (Except cheese) and mix up real good. Cook for about 40 minutes until egg is done.
Rotate lid and pot in opposite directions every 10 minutes or so to eliminate hot spots (there are differing opinions on whether you need to rotate the lid and pot. Your call - RB).
Last 5 minutes add cheese to top to melt.

I use a 12″ Dutch oven with 8 coals on bottom and about 16 on top. You will use a lot more on bottom to fry up sausage so just dump the total amount on bottom to start then adjust to bake.







Splatterdab
Where the cowboy coffee is always hot