Crazily simple 5-star campfire cuisine you can actually make: Peach Chicken

Whether you're deep-woods or car camping, let's face it: the food sucks. You can only consume so many cans of Dinty Moore before you start hallucinating about better things (and your idiot camping buddy forgot the effin' s'mores!). That's why we've enlisted chef Ben Bettinger of Portland's Imperial -- who also serves as chuckwagon master on a gourmet white-water culinary trip -- to come up with a super-easy, super-badass recipe that'll make everyone else look like charred weenies. All you'll need:

  • 1 whole chicken, split in two
  • 1 lg onion, sliced
  • 1 lg Peach
  • 1/2 bunch basil
  • 1 bunch thyme
  • 1 cup white wine
  • salt and pepper
  • olive oil
Peach Chicken.

Since wild chickens are hard to find, pack in a store-bought bird and split it in half using a knife or, if you're totally badass, a hatchet. Season it with a generous amount of salt & pepper, and let it sit while you try to start a fire. Consult your nearest Weblo if you can't figure it out.

halved chicken in cast-iron pan

Coat the bottom of a cast-iron pan (seriously, don't use anything else) with olive oil and put it on the fire until it starts to smoke. Toss the halved-bird in skin-side down and let it simmer until the skin's golden brown, then take it out. Wash your hands... Salmonella and camping is a terrible combination.

onions and thyme cooking in cast-iron pan

Remove the chicken and add another glug of olive oil (a glug is a scientific term for a couple tablespoons). Toss in the chopped onions and thyme (to paraphrase Van Damme in Timecop, there's never enough thyme). Sweat the onions until they're slightly translucent.

chicken, onions and thyme cooking in cast-iron pan

Toss the chicken on top of the onions, take a big glug of wine (glug is a scientific term for a huge gulp), then pour the same amount of wine on the chicken and cover it with foil. Depending on the fire and the size of the bird, you're looking at approximately 45mins of ladder golf until it's done.

Peach Chicken cooking with PBR

Check the liquid levels periodically... a lot of the juice and vino will burn off. If it's looking low, crack your favorite campfire beer and dump half of it in the pan, half of it in your mouth.

Peach Chicken cooking

When that sucker's looking good and ready (you can tell because the thigh will be firm and the juices will be clear when you stab it), remove the foil lid and add the peach (which should be quartered) and basil. Let it simmer for about 5-10mins longer.

Peach Chicken.

Pull out the bird, cover it in onions, basil, and peaches, then sit back and eat the entire thing while glaring pridefully at your buddy who forgot the effin' s'mores.