Breakfast at camp has a narrow window. The billy goes on, the first person is awake, and somewhere between the second coffee and the third there is a chance to cook something that actually holds four people until lunch.
This is that something. One pan, one round of chopping, and nine minutes over heat you already have going. It also leaves you with a skillet to wipe out rather than four plates and a saucepan, which matters more at 7 am than any recipe writer likes to admit.
Ingredients
Serves four, with toast on the side.
- 300 g bacon rashers, chopped (about 6 rashers)
- 2 corn cobs, kernels cut off (or 300 g frozen corn)
- 4 spring onions, sliced, white and green parts kept separate (sold as shallots in NSW)
- 6 eggs
- 1 tbsp butter or olive oil
- Half a teaspoon of smoked paprika
- 100 g feta, crumbled
- Salt and black pepper
- Toast or damper, to serve
Gear
- A 25–30 cm cast-iron skillet
- A lid that fits it, or a sheet of foil
- Camp stove or a fire ring with a trivet
- Long tongs
- A small bowl for the corn kernels
- A board and knife for the spring onions
How to make it
- Get the heat right first. Coals that have greyed over, or a stove on medium. A drop of water should sizzle and disappear rather than spit and dance.
- Melt the butter, then add the bacon. Cook for 4–5 minutes until it is golden and the fat has rendered, but not so far that it goes hard and crispy. Lift about half out with the tongs and set it aside for the top.
- Add the corn and the white parts of the spring onions. Stir for 3–4 minutes. The corn should smell sweet and take a little colour on the edges. Stir through the paprika and season with pepper.
- Spread the mixture out into an even layer and make six hollows with the back of a spoon.
- Crack an egg into each hollow. Go gently so the yolk stays whole.
- Cover with the lid or foil. Cook for 5–7 minutes. Check at the four-minute mark, because cast iron keeps cooking after the heat is off and the difference between a soft yolk and a chalky one is about ninety seconds.
- Take it off the heat when the whites are just opaque. Scatter over the feta, the reserved bacon and the green spring onion tops, then let it sit for a minute.
- Serve straight from the pan with toast, salt and a grind of pepper.
Camp tips
- Cut the corn off the cob at home. It travels flat in a container, takes up half the space, and saves you doing it on a tailgate with a blunt knife.
- No cast iron? A heavy-based frying pan works, but drop the heat a notch and give it an extra two minutes under the lid. Thin pans scorch the bacon before the eggs set.
- Feeding more people. Stir a drained tin of chickpeas or a couple of handfuls of cooked potato through at step three, then add two more eggs. It stretches to six without changing the timing much.
- Leftovers make lunch. Chop whatever is left, fold it into a wrap with a bit of mayonnaise, and you have something better than a roadhouse sandwich.
- Cook it before the sun is properly up. The skillet holds heat for a long time, and a van or tent with a hot pan in it at 28 degrees is not where anyone wants to be.
Keeping the eggs cold until then
The one part of this recipe that genuinely depends on your setup is the cold chain. Eggs and bacon both want to be properly cold right up until the pan, and a warm esky in the back of a ute is where breakfast goes wrong. A fridge that is actually holding temperature, plus a bit of air around the eggs rather than jammed against the freezer side, is the difference between a good feed and a lesson.
If you are running yours off the vehicle, the 12V accessories range covers the bits that keep a fridge honest on a long, hot drive.
Cook it once and it becomes the default. It is quick, it forgives a rough morning, and it uses one pan. Tell us what you put in yours, because everybody's camp breakfast is slightly different and usually better than the recipe.
