It’s no secret that we like to eat well in camp. There’s a time and place for eating cold pork and beans out of a can, but when you have the ability to prepare a good meal in the outdoors, well, there’s nothing like it.

So we got the crew together for a spring weekend in the back country, amidst the emerging wild flowers and under a full moon for a little friendly competition.  The rules were simple. Prepare a savory or sweet dutch oven dish to be shared among the group of 14 or so of us. The dish had to be prepared on site with no pre-prep at home. Winner take all.

If you’ve never cooked in a dutch oven, you’re missing out and it’s really not difficult at all. It’s cast iron cooking at it’s finest and pretty much anything you can cook in your oven at home, you can cook in a dutch oven better. Baking, roasting, you name it.

While a few of us had been cooking in dutch ovens for years, most of the group had never tried it. A few of the less confident competitors brought extra bottles of whiskey to skew the judging. Needless to say, everyone killed it. We all went home inspired to cook more outdoors and shared some winning recipes. The BBQ Pulled Pork on Corn Cakes took home the trophy this year, but they were all close seconds. Check out the winning recipe below. 

Corn Cakes With Pulled Pork

YIELD - 6 SERVINGS
PREP TIME - 30 MINUTES
COOKING TIME - 6 HOURS

INGREDIENTS

• ONE 6-9 POUND WHOLE BONE-IN PORK BUTT

FOR THE CORN CAKES:

• 1 1⁄2 CUPS ALL-PURPOSE FLOUR
• 3⁄4 CUPS YELLOW CORNMEAL
• 1 TABLESPOONS CANE SUGAR
• 2 TEASPOONS BAKING POWDER
• 1 TEASPOON BAKING SODA
• 1⁄2 TEASPOON KOSHER SALT
• 1 1⁄2 CUPS BUTTERMILK
• 2 LARGE EGGS
• 2 TABLESPOONS UNSALTED BUTTER, MELTED

FOR THE RUB:

• 2 TABLESPOONS APPLE CIDER VINEGAR
• 4 TEASPOONS WORCESTERSHIRE SAUCE
• 1 TEASPOON CAYENNE PEPPER
• 1 TEASPOON KOSHER SALT
• 2 TEASPOONS CHILI POWDER
• 2 TEASPOONS CUMIN POWDER
• 2 TEASPOONS KOSHER SALT
• 1 TEASPOON PAPRIKA
• 1 TEASPOON BLACK PEPPER
• 1⁄2 TEASPOON GARLIC POWDER
• 1⁄2 TEASPOON ONION POWDER
• 1⁄2 TEASPOON CAYENNE PEPPER

FOR THE BARBECUE SAUCE:

• 1 LARGE ONION, CHOPPED
• 3 GARLIC CLOVES, MINCED
• 1 1⁄2 CUPS KETCHUP
• 1⁄2 CUP BROWN SUGAR
• 1⁄4 CUP HONEY 
• 1 TABLESPOON BOURBON

Directions

This is about the best pulled pork recipe I’ve come across. It’s super easy if you prep the dry rub and corn cake ingredients at home. Then food prep in camp is super quick and easy and you’re dutch oven is loaded in 20-30 minutes.

Heat your coals and place 10 hot coals in a circle under your dutch oven. Prepare the BBQ sauce by sautéing the chopped onion in your dutch oven with 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Stir in the garlic and cook for 30 seconds. Stir in the ketchup, brown sugar, honey, apple cider vinegar, worcestershire sauce, cayenne pepper, salt and bourbon. Bring to a simmer, reduce the temperature and cook for 5 minutes. Pour your sauce into another bowl and set aside.

In a small bowl combine the spices for the rub for the pulled pork and set aside. Generously rub the spice mix over the pork and place inside the same dutch oven you made the sauce in. Pour the sauce over the pork. Place the lid over your dutch oven and place 18 coals on the lid, and place the dutch oven back on top of the circle of 10 hot coals. Every ½ hour give the lid a ½ turn clockwise and the entire dutch oven a ½ turn counter clockwise to keep the heat even. About once an hour and while your pork is cooking you may need to periodically replace burned out coals with fresh hot ones.

Depending on the size of the roast, it should take between 4-6 hours. Remember, slow cooking is the key. Once the meat pulls apart easily with a fork, it’s done. Pull the roast out of the dutch oven and onto something you can use to shred to pork into. Pull the pork off the bone with a fork. Once shredded, place the meat back into your dutch oven with the sauce the meat cooked in and stir.

To make the corn cakes in a medium bowl combine the flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Whisk in the buttermilk, eggs and melted butter until no dry spots remain. Heat a griddle or cast iron pan over heat. Then brush with melted butter or spray with baking spray. Pour batter into pan just as you would a normal pan cake.

To serve: Top each corn cake with pulled pork and extra sauce on top. Store any remaining pulled pork in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. Enjoy!

Photos by Drew Martin