Thinking Beyond the Grill

Kate

Kate

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Whether you use a gas grill or charcoal for most of your outdoor cooking, is there any other way you like to cook outdoors? I'm thinking like open fire when camping?

We're not a camping family and the opportunity to cook over an open fire never presents itself to me, but I think I'd enjoy it and I think it would be fun to experiment with different kinds of food that I could cook over an open fire. I know there are dozens of things beyond the customary beans, baked potatoes, and corn on the cob that turn out great over a fire. :D

I'm collecting ideas... what do you like cooking in the great outdoors?
 
Slice a banana open.
Stuff with nuts, chocolate chips, etc.
Wrap in tinfoil and put in fire/coals.
Come back in 20 mins and unwrap a hot, gooey, delicious mess.

Bacon cooked over an open fire is challenging but shockingly good.

People overlook the opportunity to bake outdoors. The Dutch oven is good for this. There are tons of recipes online but essentially anything that would go in a crock-pot can be done in a dutch oven and with a little creativity, you can bake anything you would normally cook in a pan/casserole dish in the D.O.
 
I'm not a great one for BBQ cooking. The first time I came across one, and was asked to light it while at a vintage vehicle rally. I read the instructions on the charcoal bag that said 'Place bag on grille and light the blue tape at the corner of the bag'. I did this without realising that the bag was about ten time bigger then needed for the little BBQ grille. I managed to set light to the whole BBQ and one of the vintage fire trucks had to come and put out the flames. :oops:

My second time I was asked by my then wife to make a BBQ suitable for her to have a party with both meat eating and vegetarian friends. I made the BBQ and it had a grille on the left for meat, a grille on the right for vegetables, and a ring in the middle for a wok to cook fried rice and chow mein.
The tray of charcoal was moveable to sit under either of the grilles or under the wok. BBQ success! :thumbsup:

My third time I had moved house and got rid of the wife, losing my home made grille, and so used disposable BBQ kits. I didn't realise they just burned the outside of the food while doing no cooking what so ever.

I now just attend other people's BBQs and enjoy their cooking instead.:wink:
 
bfiles said:
Slice a banana open.
Stuff with nuts, chocolate chips, etc.
Wrap in tinfoil and put in fire/coals.
Come back in 20 mins and unwrap a hot, gooey, delicious mess.

Bacon cooked over an open fire is challenging but shockingly good.
Click to expand...

The banana sounds amazing! I want to go camping just to try it.

I would assume the best way to cook bacon over an open fire would be to wrap it around a sausage?
 
Not sure it's the best way to cook bacon but it triples the awesome level of the sausage. :) I think I've always just cooked bacon on a wire rack. It lets the grease drip through but exposes the bacon to smoky-goodness. It's tricky, don't use your last slice of bacon. You'll end up roaming the back-roads hoping to find a convenience store that has a random package of bacon in the cooler.

Has anyone ever thrown a can of brown bread in the coals? I seem to remember this, vividly enough to think it's a valid memory, from my many camping adventures as a kid.

Furthermore, I remember eating a lot of buckwheat pancakes that were cooked over a fire. Somehow it seems appropriate to recover from a night of sleeping on the ground by eating a pancake the color of ashes that has been cooked over the, well, ashes.
 
When out camping with the opportunity to use an open fire instead of our stove, we cook normally. What is wrong with cooking something like a stew & dumplings? We cook pasta with homemade sauces and breakfast is still porridge etc. It works the same way as a camping stove or even a gas cooker. Why change?
 
bfiles said:
Not sure it's the best way to cook bacon but it triples the awesome level of the sausage. :) I think I've always just cooked bacon on a wire rack. It lets the grease drip through but exposes the bacon to smoky-goodness. It's tricky, don't use your last slice of bacon. You'll end up roaming the back-roads hoping to find a convenience store that has a random package of bacon in the cooler.
Click to expand...

That actually makes a lot of sense. Don't they have little grilling cage things? I'm sure I've seen them for fish and stuff... but I guess they'd be too wide.

Hmmm, this might be a marketing opportunity right here ;D
 
many years ago i attended a field cookery course at St omer barracks Aldershot,and you get the scenario of you have no equipment what do you do,we did a hangi,baking the food under ground ,first heating stones then put a lamb in and covered with hay then loose soil and turf,worked great,
I was at the boat show 2 weeks ago and they are now using a Hay box system,basically you start a stew on the stove and it caries on cooking for 3-4 hours off the stove, saves gas its sealed up,they had cooked a carrot cake in one and a loaf of bread ,nearly bought one i do like stuff like that,spoke to a lady who raced fastnet and used it every day
 
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