Campfire Recipes: Smoked Pork Belly Mac & Cheese on the Snow Peak Smoke Meister & Takibi Firepit.

This video shows how to prepare one of our favorite campsite meals, Campfire Mac & Cheese, as well as how to use Snow Peak's Smoke Meister to prepare smoked pork belly and the Takibi Fire & Grill to prepare the rue and pasta. Snow Peak's Smoke Meister portable smoker & Takibi Fire & Grill fire pit are available for rent at www.cirq-rentals.com/rentals/rent-snow-peak/

This recipe is great for camping with kids and adults. You can leave out some of the spice and seasoning for the kids and then season individual servings. There are endless possibilities for toppings (pork belly, bacon, jalapeño, brisket, crab, lobster, etc.)!

Recipe & Preparation:

Serves 4 and fits in a 12 Cast Iron Skillet.
(Double the recipe for 8 and prepare in a 12 inch Dutch Oven)

Ingredients:
Pork belly: 1-3lb. (.5-1.3Kg)
1 Jalapeno
1-2 Chunks of Smoking wood (Oak, Hickory, Apple or Cherry)
8 oz Pasta of your choice (half bag) (1/2 L)
4 TBSP Butter (1/4 cup/56g/59ml)
1/4 Cup Flour (32g/59ml)
1/8 Tsp Mustard Powder (.33g/2/3ml)
1/4 Tsp Salt (or season individual servings) (1.5g/1.23ml)
1/4 Tsp Fine White Pepper (or season individual servings) (.32g)
1/8 Tsp Cayenne Pepper (or season individual servings) (.32g)
1/8 Tsp Freshly minced garlic (or season individual servings)(.70g)
1 Cups Milk (237mL)
1 Cup of Half & Half (I usually just use 2 cups of Milk) (237ml)
12 oz (1.5 blocks/343ml) Freshly Shredded Cheese (Suggest Extra Sharp Cheddar & Gruyere)

Preparation:

Soak smoking wood.

Light 3-4 natural lump charcoal and allow to burn white & hot (15-20m)

Place charcoal in Smoke Meister & allow to preheat smoker. Monitor the temp here and determine if you want to remove/add charcoal for the actual cook. For this cook we chose 250F/121C for the Pork Belly and plan to smoke for 2-3 hours. Our internal temp target is 160F/71C.

Prepare Pork Belly: Remove skin and score cross hair in belly fat. Prepare rub by grinding pepper, and mixing with course salt & a small amount of paprika. You can use a binder like olive oil or mustard, but I often just apply the rub directly. Apply rub and work into crosshair creases to maximize bark and flavor coverage.

Adjust charcoal quantity based on target temp (we removed 2 down to 2 lumps total) and then addsoaked smoking wood. We used one chunk of Oak for this smoke. I did add a couple of very small wood coals to the smoker about 1.5 hours into the cook as I noticed the temp dropping. I did this when adding the jalapeno and the meat probe and this is the only time I opened the Smoke Meister during the cook. No peeking, you'll loose your temp & consistency!

Add your pork belly to a tray near the middle of the Smoke Meister and reinsert the trays. I usually use the smoker with it open at the top by only 1/8-1/4 inch. I only change it during the cook if I need to adjust the temperature. During the preheat I do leave it more open for added oxygen & heat.

Smoke for 2-4 hours depending on how may trays/lbs. of porkbelly you are preparing. I usually wait until 1.5 hours and then insert a meat probe to monitor the internal temp. Our target is above 160F internal.

As you near the last hour of your smoke, its time to prepare the Mac & Cheese.

Shred your Cheese: If you want creamy mac & cheese, its really important to use block cheese and shred it at camp/home. Store bought shredded cheese includes additives (I think corn starch) to keep the cheese from sticking together and this will change the way it melts and the consistency of your mixture. In a pinch store shreds still work and will taste just fine.

Stoke your fire and boil water & pasta as directed. Set pasta aside & stir with a little butter to prevent sticking.

Prepare your rue: Over low coals, melt the butter and then slowly whisk or stir in the flour. If I'm using fresh garlic, I usually add that to the butter and cook for a minute before adding the flour.

If you are using seasoning in the full batch, I sprinkle it in at this point (mustard powder, white pepper, salt, cayenne, etc. ).

Slowly add and stir in the milk/half & half.

Slowly add in, melt, and mix the grated/shredded cheese.

Add your pasta and mix everything together. This recipie fits in a 12 inch cast iron skillet and I usually just serve it at this point at camp.

Now, your pork belly & jalapeno should also be done as well. Finely chop your jalapeno and coarse chop your pork belly. I usually stir in some of the rendered drippings and then put both in bowls for individual topping.

If you want to really go pro and impress your peeps, mix it all in a 10-12 inch dutch oven, sprinkle with fresh cheese and put back over your coals (add some coals to the top of the dutch oven) and bake for 20-30 minutes. This will thicken everything and give you that 'baked mac & cheese' crust and goodness.

Let us know how your cook turns out and if you have any camp mac & cheese tips or adaptations to share! Happy camping!