Campfire Cooking

[Guest]

I'm just getting into this, does anybody here have decent recepies to for the open fire?  I've got a couple of dutch ovens and a few other cast iron pans and such.

[cosine]

Aw, man, you've come to the right place here! I excel at making hot dogs on a stick over a campfire!

[Gewehr98]

I keep envisioning that scene in Blazing Saddles where they're all sitting around the campfire...

[Guest]

LMAO the both of you

[mtnbkr]

Rock Steak...

First, go on a camping trip, but screw up and leave the campfire grill at home.

Next, burn campfire down to coals, find a suitable flat rock, preferably one not covered in mud.

Next, clean well.  Then, clean the rock.

Next, drop rock into center of coals, pile up more coals around it.

Next, let rock set a spell and get nice and hot.  Have a beer.

Next, use part of a beer to wash ashes from rock's surface.

Next, prep steak and place it on hot rock

Next, watch it sizzle.  Flip when the steak's melting fat releases it from the rock.

Next, repeat process on other side of steak.

Finally, remove steak and enjoy!

Seriously.  I cook a steak this way every time I go camping.

Chris

[K Frame]

Screw the rock.

Season it well and then cook the steak directly on the coals.

Use ONLY hardwood to do that, though, and make sure that you riddle the coals thoroughly to get rid of as much ash as possible.

[cosine]

What would happen if you used softwood to cook your steak directly on coals?

[mtnbkr]

Screw the rock.

The rock imparts flavors in addition to the smoke flavor from the coals.  Hard to describe, but there is a difference.

Chris

[K Frame]

"The rock imparts flavors in addition to the smoke flavor from the coals."

It's called browning. You get that from a pan, too.

Anything else is from the deer that's used the rock as a urination station for years...

"What would happen if you used softwood to cook your steak directly on coals?"

Ever taste turpentine?

[Jamisjockey]

Bratwursts.  Cooked slowly over a real fire they are even better than normal.
Trout.  This is the only way I will eat trout, as I despise the fishy flavor of trout:  gut whole, fresh wild trout.  place onion, bacon, butter, and s&p in body cavity.  Cook.

[mtnbkr]

It's called browning. You get that from a pan, too

no, it's something else, more of a mineral flavor.  

The beer used on the rock prior to cooking removes most of the deer urine.

Chris

[mtnbkr]

Trout.  This is the only way I will eat trout, as I despise the fishy flavor of trout:  gut whole, fresh wild trout.  place onion, bacon, butter, and s&p in body cavity.  Cook

There's a nice little troute stream where we go hunting.  When you finally get moved up here, you'll have to go camping with us and hit that stream.  It's stocked annually.  One of the ladies that go with us has caught trout there with a flyfishing rig.  

Chris

[K Frame]

"no, it's something else, more of a mineral flavor. "

Uhm... OK, then.

If you want a mineral flavor, why not just skip the steak and eat the rock?

[charby]

What would happen if you used softwood to cook your steak directly on coals?

As a long time BBQ and campfire cooker, softwoods will leave a bitter flavor in the meat if smoked with them. As Mike put it, do you like turpentine?

Best choices for cooking coals are hickory and mesquite. I have used oak and hard maple with good luck, but oak will leave a slight acid taste due to the tanic acid in the wood, if you like to cook with wine shouldn't be a problem for your taste buds. Make sure the wood is seasoned (fully dried out) before you cook with it.


When I cook over a campfire I usually cook deer chops or steaks or pork loin for my meat.

I burn my fire down to coals or drag out a bunch of coals to cook over.

I season the meat with Cavender's Greek Seasoning, its in a yellow can in the spice isle. (only seasoning you will ever need to buy IMHO)

I season to taste, in my case a whole lot and I rub it in.

I use one of the those clamshell burger cookers and place the meat into them

I cook slowly over the coals until done how I like it. Rare for deer, well done for pork.


I also make what we call camping potatoes. Its a recipe that has been perfected by a few of use in college.

5 lbs red potatoes
1 giant onion (we prefer red)
1 green pepper
1 red pepper
1 stick of butter
Cavender's Greek Seasoning.

I like skins on potatoes

so chop up all the veggies into bite size pieces and slice up butter into pats.

Put all of this stuff into a foil pack, season to taste with Cavenders, close the pack and cook over the coals until potatoes are soft, usually 45 minutes at the most. I flip it one or twice while cooking, butter will leak out when it flip causing a small fat flash fire.

Drunken apples.

Apples
Cininmon
Butter
Sugar
Rasins

Core each apple out

Place apple on foil, wrap up half way so the botton of the core is closed. Fill core with pat of butter, few dashes of cininmon, tablespoon of sugar and raisens. Close the foil up and cook on coals until you can poke through the apple with ease. Then eat it. Bananas work pretty good too.

Hobo Dinner

Hamburger
potatoes
carrots
peas
green beans
seasoning

cut all the veggies into bite sized pieces or cheat and used frozen mixed veggies.

mix with hamburger, wrap in foil packs and cook in coals until done, usually 45 minutes.

C


Also investing in a coleman campstove is a great thing. To be honest I cook very few things on the fire except foil packs and meat. Most of my stuff is cooked on the coleman stove.

[K Frame]

Maple is by far the best for good, hot, flavorless coals, and it's always been common in Pennsylvania, as is oak.

Apple wood is good, too, as it gives a nice flavor.

[charby]

... and black cherry, pecan, edlerberry wood also for great flavors.

I cooked a bunch of meat over hedge (osage orange) last summer and it came out without any weird tastes. Just happened to be the wood at hand while we camping.

[mfree]

"If you want a mineral flavor, why not just skip the steak and eat the rock?"

That's reserved for carp. :-D

[charby]

check out
http://camping.about.com/cs/campingrecipelinks/a/recipes001.htm

[Gewehr98]

I've got a bunch of osage orange, but I'm saving it for 1911 grips and knife handles.  Gorgeous stuff when finished.

[Guest]

Cast Iron : Go here for use, care, recipes:
http://www.lodgemfg.com/

Mike Irwin gives great advice ( as usual) in using hardwoods and cooking directly on coals.

Minimalist Approach:

Grapefruit or Orange
Bisquick
Water
Eggs borrowed from henhouse
Fire

Cut the Grapefruit /Orange in half, eat fruit, save rind.

Break Eggs , put into a rind , set onto coals. Yep the eggs cook, and you eat it out of the rind.

Biscuits, mix with water, shape, stick on a flat rock facing fire [perpendicular] , and yes the bicuit will "bake", just cut off the rock and eat.

Foil: You can do anything with foil.

Clean trout ( any fish) wrap in foil with a pat of butter, onion, lemon slice / juice, toss on coals. Usually about 6 min per 1" thickness of fish and done. [your coals may vary].

Baked Onions : Core, pat of butter, black pepper, wrap in foil, toss on coils, about 30 min , depending on coals, how big ...when 'soft' - done.

Baked Apples, Pears : Again Core, pat of butter, if you have brown sugar, cinnamon fine - if not that packet of sugar stolen from fast food place that has been in vehicle console for 6 months works. About 30 min...when soft- done.

Easy "Renter's Roast" :  Before heading out, in tin foil ready to toss onto coals...
Hamburger pattie, slices of potatos, carrots, onion.  Take out ice box one coals are ready, toss, about 30 min, done.

Pizzas! : Yep one can cook pizzas made from Bisquick and whatever meat/ game and whatever veggies.
Cast Iron Dutch ovens, Cast Iron Skillet with Foil to make a Reflector Oven - or just Aluminum Foil alone.

Cakes the Same way above.

Pies and Cobblers are best in Cast Iron Dutch Ovens.

Venison chili in a Cast Iron Dutch Oven is out of this world!



Steve

[charby]

I've got a bunch of osage orange, but I'm saving it for 1911 grips and knife handles.  Gorgeous stuff when finished.

Osage orange is every where here Iowa, old fence post material. Most common is the old cattle areas of Southern Iowa, lots of farmers still cut their own fence posts in Southern Iowa and Northern Missouri.  Makes a great material for re-curve bows. What is really cool is if you can find a old fence post that has been in the ground for 50 or more years becuase the wood takes on a green tint to it. I know that guys that make duck calls will pay pretty good money for that wood.

-C

[mtnbkr]

I've got a bunch of osage orange, but I'm saving it for 1911 grips and knife handles.  Gorgeous stuff when finished.

I have a set of OO grips, made by Ahrends, on my minty S&W M10-7 (pencil barrel, sq butt).  I ordered them unfinished, made some minor fitment changes, and gave them a couple coats of tung oil.  They're slowly darkening from bright yellow to a honey brown.  

If you go to www.smith-wessonforum.com and search for Dhart and Osage Orange, you'll see a pic of similar grips on his 596.  

I'd like a set for my blued Redhawk, but Ahrends doesn't make them.

Chris

[Guest]

Anybody have good breakfast ideas?  I've seen caseroles done with all the fixings in one Dutch but didn't see the process or get the recipe.

[K Frame]

Here's a BUNCH of different recipe pages, some using eggs, some not.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=dutch+oven+breakfast+casserole

[...has left the building.]

Screw the rock.

Season it well and then cook the steak directly on the coals.

Use ONLY hardwood to do that, though, and make sure that you riddle the coals thoroughly to get rid of as much ash as possible.

Hell yes! Cancer be damned! I wouldn't eat it all the time but this is an excellent way to prepare some flavorful steaks.