Food: Easy Cooking

A section in Chapter 3 of the book:
Prep Lists for Camping, Hiking, and Backpacking

Remember that coals are hotter and more even in temperature compared to flames, which also add more smoke and soot to your food or cookware.

Basic Concepts

Cooking Temperature

Hold the back of your hand over the hot coals where you will be placing your food to cook. Measure the time you are able to withstand the heat before pulling your hand back.

• 1 to 2 seconds: High Heat – over 500 ºF
• 4 to 5 seconds: Medium Heat – about 400 ºF
• 7 to 9 seconds: Low Heat – about 300 ºF
• 10 to 15 seconds: Very Low Heat – about 200 ºF
• 20 to 30 seconds: Likely insufficient heat; add more fuel.

Cooking Methods

Plan ahead to be sure that you have the needed equipment to cook your food. For example, to boil water you must have some sort of pot, and frying will require a frying pan. With creativity, you can limit needed utensils to lightweight aluminum foil, well-placed rocks, or hand-crafted sticks.

• Baking in a Dutch Oven
• Baking in a reflective oven
• Baking in aluminum foil
• Boiling in a pot, sauce pan, tin can, etc.
• Cooking over campfire in pressure cooker – safe time & fuel
• Cooking over coals (or directly on coals)
• Frying on a pan or stone
• Roasting on a spit or sticks
• Roasting over flames

Roasting

In the context of campfire cooking, roasting is generally a method of holding food in close proximity to the dry heat of flames or coals (preferred) to warm or cook the food. The following are common examples of quick and easy items for roasting.

• Hot dogs
• Chicken nuggets
• Marshmallows
• Biscuits (bannock)
• Shish-ka-bobs

Roasted chicken nuggets on dinner rolls with mustard and cheese is my favorite.

Grilling

Grilling food over a bed of hot coals requires a grate of some sort, but little else. Here are some frequently used items for grilling.

• Hamburgers
• Chicken
• Steaks
• Fish
• Hot dogs
• Shish-ka-bobs
• Vegetables

Grilling is my favorite method for preparing vegetables.

Frying

Add a hot pan to the grill or hot coals and you can fry most anything in hot oil or butter. These are a few examples.

• Sausage
• Eggs
• Fish
• Potatoes
• Apple slices

My favorite is a thick steak placed directly on hot coals.

Pie Irons

These hinged plates on long sticks go by many names, including mountain pie makers, hobo pie irons, pudgy pie plates, and more. You can get them in sturdy cast iron, more lightweight cast aluminum, or even pressed aluminum. To use a pie iron, simply put most anything you like between two slices of buttered bread and heat in a campfire. You can also use them open like a frying pan. The options are limitless.

Sample Breakfast Recipe

• Pre-heat pie iron
• Two slices of hearty (whole grain) bread per sandwich
• Butter each slice (and/or spray cooking oil on the hot pie iron)
• Fill sandwich with cooked sausage, cheese, and an egg
• Cook for a couple of minutes on each side

NOTE: The length of time depends on campfire temperature

Popular Pie Iron Sandwiches

• Grilled Cheese
• Ham & Cheese
• Turkey & Vegetables
• Tuna & Cheese
• Roast Beef: with Swiss cheese, and mustard
• Chipped Beef: with BBQ sauce
• Reuben: with coleslaw
• Philly Cheese Steak: with grilled peppers, onions, mushrooms
• Tampa Cuban: pork, pickles, salami, cheese, and mustard
• Rib Eye Steak Panini: steak, arugula, peppers, and cheese
• Pizza: tomato sauce, cheese, pepperoni, and spices
• Tacos: cooked ground beef, cheese, tomato, spices
• Sloppy Joes: cooked ground beef in a BBQ sauce
• Eggs & Sausage: use pre-cooked sausage
• Cherry Fruit Filling: look for cans or jars
• Apple Fruit Filling: look for cans or jars
• S’mores: chocolate, marshmallow, and graham

Wrapped Baking

The following “wrapped cooking” concepts can be applied to use of a Dutch Oven, aluminum foil, large pots, or food wrapped in leaves—slowly baking in moderately hot coals (or on a grill) in a fire pit. Here are some basic ideas for recipes.

• One-pot meals: chili, beef stew, meatloaf, pizza, whole chicken, pork roast, meat & vegetable combo
• Easy desserts: baked apples, berry cobbler, coffee cake
• Meat & potatoes: combine ground meat, potato, carrot, catsup or BBQ sauce, onion, salt, and pepper. Bake for 10 minutes on each side.
• Pizza pocket: combine the following in a pita pocket—tomato sauce, cooked meat, cheese, onion, mushrooms, and spices. Bake for a 2 to 4 minutes on each side.
• Leftovers burritos: add any sort of leftovers from other meals to a tortilla (meats, cheeses, sauces, vegetables, seasonings, dessert toppings, or sandwich fillers), roll up, wrap in foil, bake until hot.
• TIPS for cooking with aluminum foil:
• Don’t wrap too tightly. Leave room for steam inside of foil to help the food cook faster and more gently.
• When hot, cutting open with a knife or scissors may be easier than trying to unwrap it.
• To keep liquids from leaking out of wrapped foil—like for a family-sized beef & vegetable stew, secure a plastic oven bag inside the aluminum foil.
• Consider using a double layer of foil to minimize scorching and avoid leaking liquids.
• Much like a frying pan, try using butter or oil to keep things from sticking to the sides.
• Wrap in ice cubes to add water for moist steam.
• Assemble foil-wrapped meals before you go. Just take out of plastic bags and drop into the fire. No pots, no pans, no dishes, and virtually no cleanup.
• Using pre-cooked vegetables takes less time to heat up and may better balance other things in your foil pocket.
• To get crispier food (or less soggy), try poking small holes with a knife or fork to let the steam out during cooking.