FOOD: Campfire Cooking !

[pitdog]

Bryan Breedens recent post of his bacon breakfast got me to thinking about upcoming camping trips this year and what would be good to cook.
I found the link below which has some cool recipes on.

With our thoughts turning to camping I thought it might be good to share some recipes and/or camp cooking tips.

I'm especially interested in the simple ones that are quick and fun to do !!!


What ya got ?

http://www.legendsofamerica.com/WE-FrontierRecipes.html


Pictures welcome !!!!

 

[PayetteRucker]

I highly recommend flatbread, specifically lefse, but peta is good too. Peta tuna melts are WIN!! very small to carry (processed cheese, a can of tuna and flatbread). Squirrel and rabbit are good trail food, when I pack for anything longer than 3 days I take at minimum a .22 and a hip flask of red wine for marinade. If you wrap an onion in aluminum foil with some chopped green peppers and lemon juice, all you have to do is throw it in the fire for 10 minutes and the result is a super sweet juicy baked onion that's also really good for you. I do this to bake potatoes and cook rice and game birds on the trail, too. Anything in cans-soup, stew, baked beans, refried beans (Bring tortillas and make burritos) premade frozen burritos from the grocery store wrapped in aluminum foil... it all depends what you like, what you have room to pack, etc.

 

[Mannlicher]

I find that I do less and less 'cooking' on camp outs. Even when car camping, I have stopped bring the Coleman stove.
I wind up boiling water for a freeze dried meal, or have a MRE instead. Pack of crackers, a slice of Spam, and I am satisfied.

For years I cooked pretty much regular meals while camping, but I've just lost interest in that now.

 

[the lone gunman]

I make this bread often . You can mix the dry stuff ahead and then just add water at camp.

1 cup flour
1/2 cup water
fat (for frying)

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt


Mix water, flour, baking powder and salt together. Stir and kneed to form a dough free from lumps. Turn onto a lightly floured board and pat into a rough square about 1/2 inch thick. Cut into 2 inch squares.

Melt fat (shortening, bacon fat, beef tallow, etc.) in a heavy skillet or Dutch oven. Be sure to use enough fat to give the bottom of the skillet a good coating. When a drop of water sizzles in the pan, place the dough squares into the fat. Cook the squares at a medium heat until lightly browned. Then turn over and cook the other side. Serve at once.

 

[Liam Ryan]

Pitdog, those burgers all look suspiciously the same shape, was that a coincidence or
a box of frozen ones?

I am with the lone gunman, we call it bannock on Canada's East coast.
Pita pizzas can be cooked on the grill too, just a bit of sauce (which you can pre mix with onions and peppers and stuff, even the diced pepperoni) then slice some cheese on top. Don't roast over an open flame or it will just burn the pita.
Shish Kebab, corn on the cob, baked potato, all tasty roasted over a fire.

Oh, and s'mores are great, the chicks love them especially.

 

[DOC-CANADA]

I find that I do less and less 'cooking' on camp outs. Even when car camping, I have stopped bring the Coleman stove.
I wind up boiling water for a freeze dried meal, or have a MRE instead. Pack of crackers, a slice of Spam, and I am satisfied.

For years I cooked pretty much regular meals while camping, but I've just lost interest in that now.

+1. At this point in time, I find outdoor cooking to be a major PITA (pun intended ). I basically eat anything I can reconstitute with boiling water. The days of steak, baked potatoes, fried onions, corn, etc. while out camping, canoeing, etc. are definitely over. I'd rather be exploring, doing bushcrafty things, etc., than cooking and washing dishes. Of course, as always, YMMV.

Doc

 

[August West]

I usually like to cook one meal a day, most of the time the evening meal. Two of my standby meals are what my grandfather called "camp stew" which consists of damn near anything, tomatos, onions, potatos and corn are usually required, then it is the meat of the day most of the time deer or squirrel and it is always served with cornbread. The thing about this is a big pot will last for a few days. Another is fried fish, fried potatos, and flat hushpuppies, with lots of onions or ramps in the potatos and hush puppies. You can bake perfectly good biscuits or cornbread with nothing but a campfire and a pan.

 

[beeperboy]

+1. At this point in time, I find outdoor cooking to be a major PITA (pun intended ). I basically eat anything I can reconstitute with boiling water. The days of steak, baked potatoes, fried onions, corn, etc. while out camping, canoeing, etc. are definitely over. I'd rather be exploring, doing bushcrafty things, etc., than cooking and washing dishes. Of course, as always, YMMV.

Doc

I've sort of gone the other direction of late. Camp cooking is my afternoon entertainment.

Blueberry Bannock

Home made bread

Walnut and pecan brownie

BB

 

[Liam Ryan]

+1. At this point in time, I find outdoor cooking to be a major PITA (pun intended ). I basically eat anything I can reconstitute with boiling water. The days of steak, baked potatoes, fried onions, corn, etc. while out camping, canoeing, etc. are definitely over. I'd rather be exploring, doing bushcrafty things, etc., than cooking and washing dishes. Of course, as always, YMMV.

Doc

I can see the point of this, one of my faves is fresh buns, cheese and pepperoni. But since food tastes so good when camping, a nice steak or something can really make the outdoors even more blissful.

 

[sodak]

Two of my standby meals are what my grandfather called "camp stew" which consists of damn near anything, tomatos, onions, potatos and corn are usually required, then it is the meat of the day most of the time deer or squirrel and it is always served with cornbread. The thing about this is a big pot will last for a few days.

If it last for a few days, do you just let it cool off and re-heat, or re-heat what you are going to eat? I have always wondered about this, I've heard you should only re-heat once.

As you can tell, I'm not much of a cook....

 

[j williams]

Cool thread...A fave of mine is the omelet in a bag, and of course Fresh Trout, wrapped in foil, stuffed with dill, morels, and butter, and any other fresh herbs you can find. Toss it in the coals....Yum!!

Might sound stupid, but Ive always wanted to learn to make a cake in the field. Be cool for birthday campouts.

 

[pitdog]

Pitdog, those burgers all look suspiciously the same shape, was that a coincidence or
a box of frozen ones?

I am with the lone gunman, we call it bannock on Canada's East coast.
Pita pizzas can be cooked on the grill too, just a bit of sauce (which you can pre mix with onions and peppers and stuff, even the diced pepperoni) then slice some cheese on top. Don't roast over an open flame or it will just burn the pita.
Shish Kebab, corn on the cob, baked potato, all tasty roasted over a fire.

Oh, and s'mores are great, the chicks love them especially.

Course they were frozen ones buddy, I'm too busy drinking beer in the evening to make burgers from scratch !!!

 

[pitdog]

For those that make Bannock, have any of ya ever put grated cheese into the mix ?

 

[tonym]

+1. At this point in time, I find outdoor cooking to be a major PITA (pun intended ). I'd rather be exploring, doing bushcrafty things, etc., than cooking and washing dishes. Of course, as always, YMMV.

Doc

While I would normally agree with you, I still enjoy catching fish and cooking them over an open fire. Usually I just skew them on a stick and cook them like that, so their is no mess.

However I love big camp meals when I am car camping. I don't worry about cleaning up cause I usually have my Wife or Marcelo to do that

 

[beeperboy]

For those that make Bannock, have any of ya ever put grated cheese into the mix ?

I bake it with cheese sometimes, but I don't add the cheese to the dough. I work the dough, and then form a pocket in which I add the cheese. It melts inside the bannock, and doesn't burn onto the frying pan as bad. Nothing worse than burnt cheese when you don't have proper dish washing facilities.

BB

 

[mete]

Flatbread - you can do the simplest without baking powder or yeast if kept thin.My favorite mixtures are 1/2oat flour/1/2 whole wheat .Another is whole wheat with potato [boiled potato put through a ricer].

 

[August West]

If it last for a few days, do you just let it cool off and re-heat, or re-heat what you are going to eat? I have always wondered about this, I've heard you should only re-heat once.

As you can tell, I'm not much of a cook....

Re heat what you are going to eat. This is not a backpacking meal, most of the time hunting camp. Chris

 

[ROCK6]

Great thread! I really want to try and make some bannock next backpacking trip (love the one with blueberries Doc!!!!).

I'll have to pull this back up after our next trip out. My wife is the campfire cook. Since weight is an issue, we usually cook the good meals for the first night or two. One of our favorites is Tex-Mex burritos; we pack in flower tortillas, foil hamburger, seasoning mix, instant rice, shredded cheese (we usually freeze it and it melts just fine one thawed out), small Ziploc of salsa and I think we did refried beans once. Boy, it's a great meal after the initial hike into your campsite!!!

Another simple breakfast is pre-made omelets. Everybody makes their own in a Ziploc: Eggs, shredded cheese, ham, mushrooms, green/red peppers, salt and pepper. They to are frozen the night before we head out and by the first morning, they've thawed enough to drop into a pot of boiling water...Ziploc and all, and after a few minutes, they are ready to go!

My wife has a dedicated backpacking cookbook...I'll have to see if I can track it down...

ROCK6

 

[SouthernCross]

.....What ya got ?


Pictures welcome !!!!

G'day Pit

Sausages are always nice when either fried over an open fire and served with Capsicum, Onion, Carrot & Garlic stir fry and some crusty bread...

or hot smoked ...

Stir fry with dried salami, capsicum and onion is also very good ....

If you have access to stinging nettles, they also make a great garlic & nettle stir fry...

Tortillas make a great base for traditional pizza with dried salami & cheese..

...and they also make for a very nice folded pizza that can be stuffed with the salami, onion & capsicum stir fry....

Stale bread can be made fresh again by sprinkling some water over it & reheated in an oven on the campfire (note: This particlular oven is really just using two of the nested containers that is part of the French military mess kit)

And finally, whilst it's not a recipe, charcoal from the campfire makes an effective scourer for washing up the cooking gear...

....and since I'm getting lazier as I get older, I stack the washed cooking gear around the fire to dry

I guess you can tell I like my food





Kind regards
Mick

 

[sodak]

You guys are terrible. I think I gained 5 lbs just reading this thread....