How To Cook With A Campfire
Created | Updated May 18, 2012
How To Cook With A Campfire
Ok before we get started there is one thing I need to say, this involves fire and very hot objects, so don't stick your hands in for to long.
What You Need
Ok when you get started you're going to need a number of things:
- Fire
- More Wood
- The Food
- The Utensils You're Going To Cook With e.g. pots, pans ,spoons
- Some Water (yes this is needed)
- Patience (in truck loads)
- A Good Area To Set Up
How To Make Your Fire
Without a good fire you cannot cook well and make delicious Scintillating Jeweled Scuttling Crabs and make it in the world of cooking.
Your fire needs to be well built, preferably circular shaped, and get it burning well, the tepee method of lighting works well here (while you might be tempted to use any number of inflamables to light your fire or stoke it up, do not do it, not only is it dangerous to do so, it will ruin the flavour of your food) then build it up you don't want it to big you do need to reach the center or you can't get your food going, once it's buring well leave it. Just sit by it and gaze into it thinking about the wonders of the universe, after you've done that for a while prepare your food and make it into whatever campfire cooking method you would like to use. A good successful fire structure is the tepee fire, this involves having an easy lighting substance inside the tepee bit e.g.newspaper, and then stacking some reasonably smallish bits of wood around it in a tepee manner. Then light the inside all around let the wood catch and slowly add bigger bits to increase fire size (not all at once as it either goes out or blows a hot raspberry at you). Also make sure the newspaper isn't tightly scrunched up or the wood really close together this stops oxygen getting around and can kill your fire!
It's Time To Cook
Let the fire burn down to the glowing red hot embers, once the embers are there you're in business as the are the hot parts, now choose the section of the fire with the most ember activity and depending on your cooking method either place your items in the embers or suspend them over using some ridiculous looking contraption that will fall over if you sneeze to hard. Then just leave it to cook for however long it needs I can't tell you I'm not there.
Cooking Methods
1. The tinfoil method:
This is dead simple assemble your meal wrap it in tin foil and place it on the embers and leave till cooked. Best for meals like jacket potatoe or banana and chocolate.
2. The billy can method:
This is best used for meals like stew as its perfect for boiling meals. merely bung all the ingredients into the billy and place on the fire and stir.
3.The roasting method:
The simplest really, used for meats and bread twists commonly. To start with you need a knife and stick (this needs adult help for kids, or that of a bureacratic vogon) remove the bark of the tip of one end of the stick, once done steralise in the fire, skewer your food or wrap it round the unbarked section, then all you need to do is place over the embers, slowly rotate and feel like a cowboy.
Foods You Could Cook
Here I shall list foods you could cook for each method:
1:
- Jacket Potatoe
- Banana And Choclate (slice the banana and place choclate inside)
2:
- Stew
- Rice And Curry
- Spagheti
- Chilli
- Baked Beans
3:
- Sausages
- Chunks Of Meat
- Bread Twists (mix bread and water together and wrap round stick
- Marshmellows, the popular campfire treat (merely coat in any optional extras e.g. chocolate and heat and slightly brown over the fire)
The After Party
After you've cooked you can do one of three things:
- Let the fire go out
- Add water to make it go out
- Or:Build it back up and have a campfire
Things To Bear In Mind
Now while this is all very fun and that it is also is very dangerous I myself have burn't myself on a campfire enough times to know, so there are things you need to know.
- Always have water near by (if your fire grows to big you'll need this trust me)
- Put it somewhere sensible, don't put it near tents they go up so fast anyone inside will have a tough time getting out, also keep it away from dry plant areas as they catch easily. The best place is a area of mud prefrably dry
- Control it's size (to small can't cook, to large can't control be mindful)
- Don't put anything on the fire you don't intend/need to burn (the story of someone being burned with the hot end of a stick comes to mind, this also includes live creatures!)
- Clean up after yourself, you don't want foxes badgers or what else coming for your leftovers so burn them or bin them, also make sure the fire is properly out before leaving it, cover it in water to make sure.
- Never set up on peat moors these may look safe but they are far from it avoid completely!
