business-boy.com blog

Ahhhhh. Breakfast in the woods. Few things can rival it. For many years I have been doing the old cast-iron skillet bacon & eggs, or scrambler. While this was always a treat I was always a little disappointed in the eggs, as they would always turn out a bit burned, especially after the bacon had been in there. Or worse if you premake a scrambler you have to haul around a ziplock bag full of uncooked eggs, which is liable to tear/spill and turn everything in your cooler into a mess. But late last year I caught on to an idea that was so ingenious it made me sick with joy.

The Bush Pie Maker can be used for much more than sweet treats. It can be used for Breakfast.

Bush Pie Makers are available from most camping stores, and Canadian Tire. I did not purchase the Coghlan’s brand one from the link, but you get the idea. I’m sure Coghlan’s makes an ill pie maker. Anyways it is basically 2 cast iron plates, that clamp together, fastened to sticks, in which magic can happen when placed over a camp fire. The basic Idea is you make a grilled cheese sandwich but instead of grilled cheese you toss in pie filling, and if you are decadent, cream cheese. The breakfast version will require a bit more preparation but the basic steps are the same. Last weekend I had the opportunity to do some testing, so without further ado…

Breakfast Bush Pies:

Equipment:
1 - Bush Pie Maker
1 - Cast Iron Skillet
1 - Hot Low burning fire

Ingredients:

Whole Grain Bread
Butter
Bacon
Eggs
Bear Spray.

Step 1 ) Cook the bacon in the skillet, there is no way it will cook in the pie maker.
Step 2 ) Save the hot bacon fat
Step 3 ) Make a hot butter/bacon fat slurry
Step 4 ) Take 2 slices of the bread and paint both sides of them with the slurry
Step 5 ) Place the slices of bread in the bush pie maker, make sure to press one side down a bit, so as to make a little nest for your egg as it were
Step 6 ) Tear apart some of your cooked bacon & put it in the nest
Step 7 ) Crack an egg into the nest.
Step 8 ) Seal the deal and cook until nicely toasted.
Step 9 ) Eat and spray any approaching bears

Outtards:

Innards:

Tips:

-If you like your eggs cooked hard, be sure to start off with a cold pie maker.
-If you like your eggs a little runny, warm up the pie maker first.
-Do not ( no matter how tempting ) introduce cheese into the formula. It will end badly.
-Medium/Small size eggs may give you greater success/less overflow on the seal.
-To avoid the Bacon cooking step, you could try a Back Bacon, or Ham
-Do NOT buy artisan/fancy breads for this. You pretty much want you most over processed, manufactured, industrial bread you can get. One with a consistent slice area and teeny tiny little air pockets. Big fluffy sourdoughs are out.