Mountain Man Breakfast on KRON 4 News Weekend

Bakin' Bill Johnson cooked mountain man breakfast at the Peninsula Home and Garden Show in San Mateo this morning on KRON 4 News Weekend. Host Henry Tenenbaum of Henry's Garden did two teasers, or bumps, as the news went to break, both between 9:20 and 9:30 a.m.

Channel 4 returned from the bottom of the hour commercial break to feature Dutch ovens, the International Dutch Oven Society and the Tri-valley Sportsman's Expo in Pleasanton, California. Bill had the speaking part this time as he's the one with many years of experience doing TV spots in Salt Lake City.

MOUNTAIN MAN BREAKFAST

1 pound sausage
1 pound bacon, diced
1 large yellow onion, diced
1/2 green bell pepper, diced
1/2 red bell pepper, diced
1 (32-ounce) package frozen shredded hash browns, thawed
8 eggs
2 cups grated medium cheddar cheese
Salt and pepper to taste

Use a 12-inch Dutch oven for this recipe. Ignite 24 charcoal briquettes and let them burn until they are barely covered with ash, about 20 minutes. For a 350-degree F oven, you'll need 8 briquettes underneath and 16 on top of the oven. For the first portion of the recipe, dump all the coals in a single layer on the cooking surface. Place Dutch oven over the coals to pre-heat.

Brown sausage in the Dutch oven; drain and spoon into a large bowl. Brown bacon in the Dutch oven. Drain bacon fat and reserve 1/4-cup and spoon bacon into the same bowl. Sauté onions and peppers in reserved bacon fat. Place all but 2 tablespoons of the vegetables in the same bowl. Spread remaining vegetables over the surface of the oven. Add hash browns to the bowl and stir to combine all ingredients. Pour potato mixture into Dutch oven.

Bake 15 minutes with 8 coals under the Dutch oven and 16 coals on the lid. Mix eggs in a bowl and evenly pour over the potatoes. Return the lid and bake until the eggs are cooked through. This can take 15 to 30 minutes, depending on weather conditions. Add cheese to the top of the potato-eggs mixture and cook until melted. Serve with your favorite salsa or hot pepper sauce. Serves 12 full portions or 18 side portions.