concealing a camp fire

Liam Ryan said:
I belive many experienced woodsmen cook directly in the coals, raked to the edge of the fire. I have tried it and my fire did not go out.
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"raked to the edge of the fire"

I am pretty sure the average indian had better wilderness skills then your average US troops, but I am just as sure the troops had better weapons.
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I usually look at the winning side and try to learn from them. I may have to change my approach.
 
Hobo you do indeed lay the meat directly on the coals. Coals are in the smoldering phase of combustion and require very little O2 due to the fact that most of the gases have been driven off during the flaming phase. Heat output is lower than during the flaming phase but longer and more even. The residue of ash left on the meat has no taste and the juices are sealed in. In Boy Scouts we call meat cooked this way "Tarzan style'.

JD and Will thanks for the replies. I hadn't thought about people E&Eing through a foreign country. I thought it was the black helicopter crowd talking. :o My apologies to you both.
 
Return of the JD: Too true. This whole forum, Wilderness & Survival Skills, assumes that everything has gone to shit and we have to take extraordinary measures to survive beyond what would otherwise be a happy household.

So I think it's a given that we are going to become outlaws. I don't intend to get forced out of my home and herded into a shelter "for public safety." There will be a lot of things that come between push and shove.
 
2dogs said:
Hobo you do indeed lay the meat directly on the coals. Coals are in the smoldering phase of combustion and require very little O2 due to the fact that most of the gases have been driven off during the flaming phase. Heat output is lower than during the flaming phase but longer and more even.
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I have no problem with that, and do agree with it. Please note I disagreed with this statement:
much-more-efficient heat transfer, [...] in a much-shorter time.
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Now see your own answer: Heat output is lower than during the flaming phase but longer and more even [...]. It takes longer to cook on coals. If you want higher fire and higher temperature, you cook it above the flame and above coals. If you want slow cooking, you put it on smoldering coals and let it cook that way. I've done it myself.
 
Whenever the conversation turns to books and in particular outdoors/survival books I tell people they only need three. The Bible, The Old Farmer's Almanac, and The Boy Scout Handbook-first addition. On the coast here a Tidelog could be added. Ok this is an oversimplification and said light heartedly but the Handbook is still a great book, especially now that the first addition from 1911 is being reprinted on quality stock. It teaches boys to cook instead of just telling them to boil water and dump it into a pouch.

BTW at the campout this weekend the boys will learn how to pack out their own waste. An ugly but necessary skill.

Here is a link to my favorite cooking site. I can imagine Simon sitting at his computer half sloshed and talking to himself whilst he types.
http://www.indistinct.co.uk/combat-online/cook.htm
 
Ill probably check out that boy scout book on amazon, sounds good.
I'm sure in 1911 boys were expected to be able to rough it much better then the kids of today, and the skills they learned probably reflected that.
When I was in cubs we watched the scout leaders make a fire, then roasted marshmallows and hotdogs. That was the extent of our roughing it.
 
hwyhobo said:
Now see your own answer: Heat output is lower than during the flaming phase but longer and more even [...]. It takes longer to cook on coals. If you want higher fire and higher temperature, you cook it above the flame and above coals. If you want slow cooking, you put it on smoldering coals and let it cook that way. I've done it myself.
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I'll join the "coal crowd".
Flames burns the thing without really cooking the inside of the meat. Coal are a lot better. The only problems is keeping the coal fire going, you have to create a good stack in advance.
On the other hand flame cooking is Ok if you use a billy can/pan, etc, since it is easier to fuel.
 
Liam Ryan said:
Must be nice to never be wrong. No, really, no sarcasm there.
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What are you talking about? If you have a specific comment, quote it. A lot of people post folklore and comment on it without ever examining the value of that advice. Just like tons of people on these forums who recommend knives having never even held them in their hands. I simply question some of that wisdom trying to understand the principle behind the professed superiority of one product over another or one way of doing something over another. Only this way can I learn and depend on what I have learned.

If that bothers you, tough.
 
Ravaillac said:
I'll join the "coal crowd". Flames burns the thing without really cooking the inside of the meat. Coal are a lot better. The only problems is keeping the coal fire going, you have to create a good stack in advance.
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Curious, when you grill meat, do you remove the rack and just throw your meat on the coals, or do you put your meat on the rack? In fact, I recommend this mental test for everyone in the "coal" crowd. When you grilled your last steaks, how did you do it? On the rack, or on the coals? You don't have to answer it.
 
Hobo cooking meat Tarzan style is of course just another tool in the arsenal. I cook over coals or charcol using a grill because I prefer to and I can regulate the heat much better. I have also cooked twice using clay to wrap fish but I don't use this very method often. My wife wouldn't be real happy if I stuck a big loaf of mud in the oven. Anyway mud cooking is just another tool.

BTW when cooking on coals the meat will taste better on hardwood coals. Pine coals, such as they are, still leave a slight resinous taste from what I've been told. I have only used oak coals.

An old girlfriend of mine had a roommate in college who cooked hamburger in a microwave. The patty was grey when it was done. Yeech!
 
Next time I am out camping I will try cooking meat on the coals and see how it goes. Generally, if i didn't have a grill, I would just tick it on a spit/skewer. Fish might be harder to cook that way though it is so flakey. Maybe gutting it leaveing the skin on would help.

I love cooking hotdog weiners on a stick while camping. Beats roasting marshmellows!
 
Will said:
Next time I am out camping I will try cooking meat on the coals and see how it goes. Generally, if i didn't have a grill, I would just tick it on a spit/skewer. Fish might be harder to cook that way though it is so flakey. Maybe gutting it leaveing the skin on would help.

I love cooking hotdog weiners on a stick while camping. Beats roasting marshmellows!
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Yeah man, hotdogs of a stick over an open fire. My second favorite to quail breast on a stick over an open fire.:D

So................did we ever figure out how to hide a campfire?;)
 
My uncle taught me that manzanita was good for campfires when you did not want to produce any smoke. It was called smokeless moonshine wood by....well....Moonshiners who didn't want smoke to give away the locations of their stills to them pesky Revenoors. I don't recall if the green wood burned smokeless or not......:confused:





J
 
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