After reading one of your comments, it occurred to me that not all my readers are familiar with the Leben family culinary masterpiece, the Garbage Can Dinner. For those of you who have not yet had the pleasure, this is how it works: Take a clean, galvanized steel garbage can. Open many, many cans of cheap beer and set them upright in the bottom of the can. Top the cans with a round, metal grate. Begin filling can with food. Traditionally, the first layer is cabbage, then onions and potatoes. Then meat. I've cooked many kinds of meat this way including chicken pieces, sausages and various beef cuts, but my favorites are brats and beef brisket. Place whole carrots on top of the meat. Crack open a few more cheap beers and pour them over the food. Place the top on the garbage can and put the entire thing over a hot campfire. The beer begins to boil and steam, cooking the food and infusing everything with a meaty, beery flavor. The can cooks for several hours depending on the amount of food in it. Every thirty minutes or so, a few more beers are poured into the can (and down the throat of the cook). About an hour before the can is done, throw ears of corn on top of the carrots. When the carrots are tender, the can is done. The food is surprisingly delicious. It's a pretty fool-proof recipe and the only time I've ever seen it fail is once when the cooks got too drunk and let the fire go out. Lately, I've been experimenting with many methods of outdoor cooking, but this remains the most entertaining and delicious way I've ever found to feed a crowd outdoors!
I have to say I was pondering just what a garbage can dinner was- I was thinking it was like "dump-cake" or "mud-pie"- you know, symbolic. I had no idea it actually involved a garbage can! Do you have a specially dedicated garbage can for cuisine only? Between this and the zipline, I am so coming to visit! Can we have a girl's weekend at Camp Freedom? I'll make you your very own Ms.Oni headwrap...
ReplyDeleteOf course! Yes, I have a can designated for cooking only. Don't you?
ReplyDeleteI believe galvanized metal releases toxins.
ReplyDeleteYes it does you need to roll the can in a bed of hot coals to burn off the zinc coating
DeleteThat's probably true, and I'm grateful for the comment below that says you can burn off the zinc by heating up the can. I think I'll give our can a once over in the coals before using it again.
Deletewhat size of garbage can and how long do you cook it?
ReplyDeleteThe cooking time varies, but we know it's done when the carrots that sit on top of everything are tender. I think it's about 4 hours, but it depends on the size of the can and how much stuff you have in there.
Deleteoh and do you have to use beer can you use coke or something like that? how many lbs of meat.
ReplyDeleteLooks like we're late replying to this comment...
DeleteI think that can is maybe... 30 gallons? I suppose you don't have to use beer, but that does make the cooking a lot of fun. If I was in some kind of survival situation where there was NO BEER (gasp), then I might just use broth. Coke would be a little weird. It would probably make it really sweet. As for the meat, we like a lot of meat and typically use about 10-15 pounds between the chicken, brisket, and sausages.
Or cider. If you cooked it with cider it would give everything kind of a "fall harvest" flavor. My advice would be to start with a small batch and try it out. You don't want to end up with 40 pounds of food that tastes gross!
DeleteI know some people that do this ever year for the past 25 years.. it's awesome.. sweet corn & potatoes 1st. Bring to boil. Then onions and on top of that carrots and then lastly put sausage in it and cook feeds about 60 people for 2 days
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