In my menu plans recently I listed an item that apparently not everybody is familiar with – Hobo Dinners.
A “hobo” is what they called a homeless man back around the time of the Great Depression. They travelled on the trains, ate whatever they could find (which wasn’t much), and often congregated around campfires. Many hobos cooked their meals in coffe/tin cans or wrapped in newspapers soaked with water. I guess that’s where this meal gets its name – gather whatever you’ve got, throw it all together, and cook it in a fire, like the hobos did.
A REAL Hobo Dinner is actually one of our favorite camp meals, cooked in the hot coals of a campfire. They made my menu several times recently because I found myself in possession of a large number of pre-cooked hamburger patties (having been cleaned out of the church freezer) and figured that I could make good use of said patties in Hobo Dinners…. Why? Well, how about I share the recipe, then it should make sense. Maybe. There isn’t a real exact recipe, but this is how we make Hobo Dinners (with some pics thrown in for good measure)!
Hobo Dinner (at home style)
What you need:
- Aluminum foil
- ground meat (in this case, a pre-cooked hamburger patty)
- chopped/diced onions, carrots, celery, garlic, yams, potatoes, whatever….
- butter
- salt and pepper and any other seasonings you might like
Take a handful of hamburger meat (or patty) and put it in the middle of a largish strip of aluminum foil, large enough to wrap around your meat and veggies with at least a double layer of foil.
Place on top of the meat a handful each of whatever veggies you want in your dinner.
Place a few pats of butter on top of the veggies and season with salt and pepper, etc.
Wrap the whole thing up in the aluminium foil, wrapping carefully to overlap the edges and to not poke any holes in the foil.
Place in a 400 degree oven, directly on the oven racks or on a baking tray/cookie sheet, until the meat is cooked and the veggies are tender (30 for pre-cooked meat – 45 minutes for uncooked meat?).
Serve on a plate, in or out of the aluminum foil (being careful of the hot steam when you open the foil).
The boys like to add ketchup, but I like it just cooked like it is.
Hobo Dinner (camp style)
no photos yet
- Aluminum foil
- newspaper
- shovel
- HOT campfire coals
- gloves or oven mitts
- ground meat of your choice
- chopped/diced onions, carrots, celery, garlic, yams, potatoes, whatever….
- salt and pepper and any other seasonings you might like
