Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Assembling the Perfect Tin Foil Dinner


Tin foil dinners are a favorite of both mine and my husband's. We actually had tin foil dinners on our first date. Our first date was a double date with our 2 friends that lined us up. We went up Farmington Canyon and ate tin foil dinners that were burnt beyond recognition. Well that first date was a little over 13 years ago, and our tin foil dinners have come a long way since then. We love to camp and cook outdoors, so we have practiced these a lot. So, here is my tutorial...


1. Start with a double layer of tin foil, probably about 18-24 inches long. Spray the foil generously with non-stick cooking spray.

2. Your first layer should be thinly sliced potatoes. (Potatoes are probably the least expensive ingredient you are putting into the foil dinners, so the reason you are putting them on the bottom, is so that if anything gets burned, it will be those.) Place a single layer of potatoes down on the sprayed foil, then salt/pepper them.

3. Place your hamburger patty (or chicken or whatever) on top of the potatoes. Salt your meat, then pour and spread 1-2 tablespoons of BBQ sauce over the meat. (don't put more BBQ sauce on then this or it will make the whole dinner really soupy. If you want more BBQ sauce, just serve it with the foil dinner after)

4. Onions should go on next so that they can flavor the meat.

5. Layer the rest of your veggies, such as carrots, zucchini,and mushrooms then salt them.

6. Finish with another layer of potatoes on top, again salting them, and spraying the top of them with a little more cooking spray.

7. Wrap dinners up tightly so that no juice will leak out during cooking.

8. Wrap dinners in two more layers of foil, making a total of 4 layers of foil. (the 4 layers are very important if cooking in coals, but not as important if cooking in the oven.

9. If cooking in the oven, place a cookie sheet or sheet of foil on the rack under where you are cooking the dinners in case some of the liquid leaks.

10. I wish I could tell you exactly how long to cook the foil dinner. It is so subjective to how big it is, the temperature of the coals, etc... Last time I made them in the oven I baked them at 400 degrees for about an hour and 15 minutes. The ones pictures above were made in a fire pit, and I cooked them for about 50 minutes, flipping them over after 30 minutes. This part is kind of just a trial and error thing.

11. I recently heard about a method where you put a layer of wet newspaper in between the two layers of foil to keep the food from burning. I haven't tried this, but it sounds like a good idea?

Happy Camping!


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