Cooking over campfire tips

[live4christp1]

Good morning all! I need some advice, tips, recipes, anything you can offer related to campfire cooking.

My DS has Cub & Family camp coming up next month, now I like to camp, just not really experienced at cooking over a campfire. The camp is very primative, no electricity at campsites. Last year we had sandwiches lots, one evening (camped 2 nights) we did do hotdogs and hamburgers.....not to hard to mess up and we did cold cereal for breakfast. Some of the other campers were very adventerous, pancakes, dutch ovens, etc. Was looking for some ideas for this year. We have to park a good distance and walk to the camp site but they will haul our gear in for us but I don't want to be overloaded. Thought about taking a cast iron skillet and a grate and cooking over the fire, anyone done this?

TIA for your ideas.

Cristy

 

[monkeyboy]

INGREDIENTS:

1 pound ground beef
1 bag frozen mixed vegetables
Toni's Cajun Spices
butter
salt and pepper, to taste
PREPARATION:

Place all ingredients in heavy aluminum foil and fold to a form pouch. The meat cooks with the vegetables. I poke holes at the ends so the juice can run off and the meat can cook through. Can be cooked on a grill or open fire

http://camping.about.com/cs/campingrecipelinks/l/blrcfoil.htm

 

[bananiem]

Get a couple of pie irons. You can make a variety of grilled sandwiches and the kids think it's fun. You butter the outside of the bread (like when making grilled cheese) and place one piece on either side of the pie iron. Put in your fillling, close the pie iron and heat over the coals.
Possible fillings we've tried:
cheese
pizza sauce, shredded cheese, and pepperoni
deli ham or turkey and cheese slices
sloppy joe mix- prepare ahead of time and put in container in cooler
fajitas- again, made ahead and use tortillas instead of bread

Then for dessert you can make pies. YUM!

 

[mountaineer]

We love our Dutch oven. We've cooked pizza, biscuits and yummy desserts in it. We just got it last year so we haven't tried a lot of recipes yet. The chocolate cake we had was so rich you could barely eat a cup of it at a time.

the web site we got our desserts from is papadutch.home.comcast.net/

the chocolate lovers delight is the cake we had

 

[Pop Daddy]

have a pizza delivered

 

[CajunDixie]

Pepsi errrrrrr Coke Chicken
I prefer Coke over Pepsi....either one works in the same way
We usually buy a large amount of legs and thighs (ever see 10 Boy Scouts fight over 6 chicken legs? ) Simply toss the cleaned chicken into the Dutch Oven or other Cast Iron Pot and then mix equal amounts of Coke/Pepsi with ketchup and pour over the chicken. If you want to add to it a bit we usually add chopped onion and fresh garlic. Cook until tender......which will depend on the size and closeness of the fire.

If it won't be your turn to cook the first night simply clean and freeze the chicken a few days before the trip. It will gradually unthaw in the cooler.

Spaghetti is also pretty easy to do over a fire also.

 

[mrsmom]

We always make walking taco's . and use the pie irons.
Kim

 

[FroggyinArk]

would definately do the iron skillet and grate, allows for bacon and eggs and pan toast, helpful hint,, to increase heat quickly,, use small twigs on fire under skillet, they burn really hot, iron skillte also allows for potatos, prk chops, etc, to be fryed over fire,, there are very few things i dont coook over open flames when camping, stews are nice, we use a large iron dutch oven for those, i have a flip pan that i use to bake biscuits / cakes, corn bread, i helped one of our local troops this year with menu for fall camporee, they were voted second best meal, fort originality and prep... they served fire roasted potatoes, southwestern mac and cheese, ranch style beans with fryed corn bread, and pork medalions. they carryed burger baskets, stainless flkip fold baskets sold to cook burgers on grill, ( wal mart grill supply section, very light and cheep) in the baskets they cooked the pork and potatoes, a lagre iron skillet, for frying then re used to heat beans in, and a large dutch oven to make the mac in,,,

recipees:
pork medalions:
at home prior to trip:
slice pork tenderloin 1/2 inch thick season with tonys creole and salt and pepper, place in large plastic zip baggie add worchestercshiore sauce , and freeze.
at camp:
thaw in ice chest or open air just before cook time, place medalions in basket, single layers and roast over fire, better over coals

potatoes:
at home,, slice 4 to 6 un peeled taters(larger sized) 1/4 inch to 1/2 inch thick. salt and pepper add garlic powder to taste, put into baggie, pour in 1/2 cup melted butter, and refridgerate
at camp:
after pork is done, or inb seperate baskets layer potatoes grill over coals till soft turning often

beans:
at home buy cans. depending on if this is a packin/out camp, either pack as is or open cans and place in baggies, (bags are easier to pack out) if you bag them, add a small sliced onion salt and pepper to the b ag, if not take these items to add later,
at camp:
open cans or bnags, empty into learge iron skillet and heat. after hot pour into a large bowl, so you ccan re use the pan

corn bread:
at home: take three cups of corn meal mix( i like martha whites , white buttermilk corn meal mix) add 1/4 cup saugar, 2 lagre eggs and milk till batter is pourable bag and refridgerate
at camp:
heat 1/2 inch oil ( or bacon drippings should you cook that for breakfast) in large iron skillet over hot fire( use twigs over a small section of your coals) dip batter into hot oil in cakes about 2 inches across. fry till brown turning once. ( you can add onion, peppers, corn etc, as you like, personally like the plaIN CORN DODGERS WHEN CAMPING, LEFT OVERS MAKE GOOD SNACKS FOR TRAIL HIKES ETC)

mac and cheeese southwestern, this is a fully prep at site dish no at home step unless you want to cube the velveeta

in large iron pott, or stainless if thats what you have, boil water over hot fire,,(see corn bread,, use twigs) add bag of macaroni shells, ( average 1/4 cup per person served)
cook till tender. carefully drain, we use the lid of the pot and a pair of leather glioves ,
add 1/4 cup cubed velveeta cheese pre 1/2 cup mac stir till melted, add small bottle pace mild salsa and mix into mac and cheese.


most important step,, enjoy your meal. everyhting tastes better cooked out in the out doors over a open fire if ya need coffee and dont have a percolator they sell those at the camping supply section of most stores

 

[sha_lyn]

Our typical first meal when camping is grilled cheese, carrots and tomato soup. I make the sandwiches at home, even butter the bread ahead of time. Pack them together in a tall gladware container. Cook in pie irons or skillet. heat up a large can of cambell's tomato soup. serve with a bag of baby carrots.

we also use a lot of the dried soup mixes, and use canned chicken or roast beef in them.

Hot dogs are easy. we like to make wrapped dogs. It has been a while but I'll try to remember.
measure out the amount of biscuit call for for one recipe of biscuits. Add powdered milk to equal the amount of milk called for. When you are ready to prepare add the correct amount of water, seal the bag and kneed it in the bag. Remove small balls of dough and roll them into small snakes. Wrap the snakes around a hot dog on a stick. Cook over the camp fire until done. We will usually have this with bagged cole slaw.


Another fav is to buy bagged complete salads (has dressing, crutons etc included) and top with canned chicken.
Breakfast on hiking days will usually be instand oatmeal, dry cereal or trail mix.
I usually do one big breakfast on the last day and take the dishes home to wash if we are camping primitive.

We try to keep camping meals simple. After all who wants to spend all their camping itme cooking and cleaning.

 

[live4christp1]

Thanks everyone.....you are giving me such great ideas. What do you think about beef & brocoli? Was thinking could go ahead and cut an marinate the meat, cut up the brocoli and onion and keep in cooler until ready to cook that evening. Love this at home for a one dish meal, just add some bread. Anyone ever tried this? Just wondering if the fire would get the pan hot enough as stir fry you usually cook over high very quickly.

Keep the ideas coming.

Anyone have a desert with no eggs, no chocolate & no nuts that could be done......litte DD who will be with us is allergic to all of these.

TIA

 

[sha_lyn]

Desserts...using a bread that she can eat, make pies in the pie irons.
Butter a piece of bread, place butter side down on the iron. top with canned pie filling the another slcie of buttered bread (buttered side up).

You could do s'mores using carob instead of chocolate, if you can find graham crackers processed in a facility free of nuts.

 

[Celluloidgal]

There is a YUMMY dessert you can make with the dutch oven. Very easy.

Have you ever made "Dump Cake"? Same deal...just with the dutch oven on the campfire....cherry pie filling, pineapples, yellow cake mix in a box, brown sugar & butter...can I say YUM again!

Of course s'mores...but try them with strawberries or bananas in them.

Banana boats: cut banana (with skin on) long ways, but not all the way through. add chocolate chips, marshmallows, and brown sugar. Wrap in heavy duty alum foil and stick in the coals. About 7 minutes is all it takes. Actually, this is good with strawberries too. Can you tell I like strawberries?

For easy clean up the last day, you can cook some hamburger with taco seasonings in a skillet and serve it in individual Dorito bags. (Crush the chips first ) Add cheese, tomatoes, lettuce, sour cream, whatever you like. Kinda a walking taco salad.

At the end of the day I also like to wrap up some potatoes in heavy duty foil and stick in the coals for breakfast the next morning. The next day, just cut them & fry 'em. If you have racoons in the area, you may want to take them out before you go to your tent for the evening.

 

[tkd lisa]

Our scouts made tinfoil dinners. Cut up pork or chicken (or both) at home. Cut up a variety of veggies at home (potatos, carrots, brocolli, peppers, etc.) Make sure the starchy veggies are cut up pretty small). Have some seasonings with you. Make a pocket out of foil, have each scout make their own meal with meat and veggies, and the seasonings they want. Put a spoon of butter on top, fold it over and bake it on a bed of coals. Clean up is a breeze, since you just throw away the foil and the bags the stuff came in.

For a dessert, one of our groups (tigers) made easy smores. They took the flour toritillas, cut them into pieces, and put some peanut butter, chocolate and a marshmallow on each piece, wrap the tortilla around the marshmallow (like a mini burrito), then wrap it all in foil and bake on coals. Good stuff!!! You can use a banana instead of the peanut butter if there are peanut allergies. And the kids get MUCH less sticky than the traditional way!

 

[chobie]

When I lived in the NW we would go camping and stop by any fruit stand we passed along the way and make "fire-side cobbler". I would put the fresh fruit, peaches and berries made a great combo, with some sugar and lemon juice in disposable foil baking pan. I wold sprinkle the top with a crumble mixture of brown sugar, melted butter and oat, which I made before the trip and kept in the cooler. The I would put the cobbler very near the fire and rotate around while we ate dinner. It would come out hot and bubbly and oh so good.

 

[FroggyinArk]

we ussuyally just do a fresh fruit or something prepackaged for desert, if its a thing the scouts have to do,, try a cobbler in a dutch oven.

 

[live4christp1]

Thanks everyone for all the great ideas!!!! I am getting hungry for campfire food just reading them.

Anyone ever done popcorn? Last year we took one of those little jiffy pop things, didn't work to well, ended up with burnt pop corn.

 

[Pooh_Friend#1]

We take the Jiffy Pop and make very good popcorn at the campfire. We have never had a problem with it burning. What we do is we tie it onto a large stick and we do not put it directly over the coals, we keep it off to the side, but it takes a lot of patience for it to pop. for perfect popcorn it takes about 10 minutes of shaking over the indirect heat.

 

[RobinMarie]

Anyone have a desert with no eggs, no chocolate & no nuts that could be done......litte DD who will be with us is allergic to all of these.

TIA

Smores are a must
Jiffy Pop Corn
Baked Apples (in foil)

 

[RobinMarie]

When I lived in the NW we would go camping and stop by any fruit stand we passed along the way and make "fire-side cobbler". I would put the fresh fruit, peaches and berries made a great combo, with some sugar and lemon juice in disposable foil baking pan. I wold sprinkle the top with a crumble mixture of brown sugar, melted butter and oat, which I made before the trip and kept in the cooler. The I would put the cobbler very near the fire and rotate around while we ate dinner. It would come out hot and bubbly and oh so good.

That sounds delicious, I will borrow this recipe this summer!

 

[Geoff_M]

If you have a Boy Scout Council office near you, call them and see if they have a "Scout Shop". If they do, they should stock a number of good campfire cooking and Dutch oven guides.

One of the biggest tips for campfire cooking... you should cook on coals, not flames.

One more tip, to ease the clean-up of pots and pans with campfire cooking, take a paper towel and coat the bottom and sides of the pan with liquid detergent before you place it on the fire. This will make cleaning the "black" off the outside of the pan go a lot smoother. Note: DON'T use this technique with cast iron. Cast Iron is porous and you don't want to use soap on cast iron, even for clean up. Steel wool and hot water is all you need. It's will absorb the soap and can affect the taste of the food. Cast iron has it's own set of care and handling instructions. Even drying. If you don't put it back on the heat to dry it, cast iron will rust.


Recipe for the easist "dump" cobbler you'll ever find:

Take a skillet that'll nest inside a Dutch oven and line the bottom of the skillet with aluminum foil.

Dump in a couple cans of your favorite pie filling in the skillet.

Mix a couple boxes of Jiffy Yellow Cake mix with a melted stick of butter.

Spread the cake mixture over the pie filling.

Place three small rocks in the bottom of the Dutch oven in a triangluar formation.

Place the skillet with the cobbler on top of the rocks so the skillet isn't touching any part of the Dutch oven.

Put the lid on the oven and set it on the coals with additional hot coals placed on top of the lid.

When the cake batter is brown on top... remove and eat.

When done, pull out foil and throw it away for minimal clean up!


(Ironic side note, wood fire cooking is becoming a lost art in the Boy Scouts. In recent years, with the strong emphasis on "low impact camping" the cooking fire has lost favor over white gas and propane stoves that don't leave big black marks on the ground.)