I'm camping out at at a National Park near Krabi, and for dinner, I'm planning a sweet sour pork stew. With a barbecue as your heat source, you can't really arrange to have a slow simmer. You can't regulate the temperature of charcoal, and you'd need to raise the pot high above the flame and adjust it every few minutes. That would be a lot of work, which the underwater method fixes.

I had my new camping tool with me, the fan made lighting the barbecue very very easy! The night light was great to cook by, but being bright white attracted some bugs.

Thanbok Khoranee National Park has sea caves to visit, and waterfalls, I'm doing those tomorrow. So I'll need a good meal tonight for energy.

This is where the underwater cooking method comes in! I used it last week to cook a chicken on a barbecue, today I'm using it to simmer a pork stew.

The cold water pan on the top, regulates the temperature below, as long as the top water is cold, then the pan inside will stay at simmer. Juices in the meat and pineapple condense on the cold pan and fall back into the stew keeping it juicy, with all the flavor in.

The underwater tower of pans is: charcoal burner at the bottom, a pan with the stew ingredients in it in the middle, and a cold water pan on the top. I chose my wok because it fits my steamer pan with a good seal. The seal is important, it keeps the juices and steam inside.

Since I was camping, I used the local market and couldn't find ketchup, but the stew was fine without it, if a little anemic in color! I also added my garnish into the stew and blanched it just before serving. I couldn't be sure it had been washed in drinking water, and so it was safer to give it a quick blanch.

With the last batch of cold water in the top pan, you can add a little rice and make this into a full meal.

Continue reading "Camping Pork Stew (Underwater Method)" »