BajaNomad - Do you know how to cook over a campfire?

Do you know how to cook over a campfire?

Fatboy - 5-14-2008 at 07:58 PM

Even though I spend a fair amount of time camping, and not in campgrounds, it dawned on me that the most I 'cook' in a campfire is hot dogs and marshmallows. Neither of which would be considered cooking, either!

So, how does one cook over/in/with a campfire?

Sharksbaja - 5-14-2008 at 08:00 PM

Whenever I get the chance. :lol:

Always try something fun and different.

Fatboy - 5-14-2008 at 08:10 PM

Yeah, but how? Build a roaring fire and some how get the food into the flames?

Paulina - 5-14-2008 at 08:20 PM

Sometimes I cook the bottoms of my shoes.

I used to use my campfire to cook a long time ago, (pre-Dern). I had a round bbq rack that I would put over the rocks around the edge of the fire. When the flames were just right I would put the fish wrapped in foil on the grill. The potatoes or onions wrapped in foil were set to the sides in the hot coals. Sometimes I would put open cans of soup or beans on the grill too. You have to remember to stur them often as they will burn quickly. The paper would eventually burn off.

After dinner the grill was removed and the fire stoked. At bedtime I'd take one of the rocks from the edge, wrap it in a towel and put it in the bottom of my sleeping bag to keep my feet warm.

I've always wanted to try dutch oven cooking with the campfire.

P<*)))><

Alan - 5-14-2008 at 08:22 PM

Google Dutch ovens. You can cook darn near anything with them

danaeb - 5-14-2008 at 08:26 PM

No roaring fire. Good steady coals, and a sturdy grate - one that's going to sit securely on the rock fire ring, and a heavy cast iron skillet if you're cooking rather than barbecuing. You can moderate the heat under the skillet by moving the coals under the pan, or conversely, moving the pan around the coals. Indirect heat is best. It's not much different than cooking on your stove top. If it's too hot move the pan off the coals, if you need more heat, gradually add more fuel.

oldlady - 5-14-2008 at 08:46 PM

Alan is on the right track...Google Campfire cooking...more than you probably want to know. How to and recipes....buy lots of aluminum foil!

standingwave - 5-14-2008 at 09:01 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by danaeb
No roaring fire. Good steady coals, and a sturdy grate - one that's going to sit securely on the rock fire ring, and a heavy cast iron skillet if you're cooking rather than barbecuing. You can moderate the heat under the skillet by moving the coals under the pan, or conversely, moving the pan around the coals. Indirect heat is best. It's not much different than cooking on your stove top. If it's too hot move the pan off the coals, if you need more heat, gradually add more fuel.

I second this advice. Start with some good hard wood as this will give you long lasting coals, wait till it burns down to coals (no flames), have the rocks set up to hold the frypan (cast iron!), or grill, securely and cook away. If needed have a fire going on the other side of the pit, away from the pan, as a source of more coals.

Diver - 5-14-2008 at 09:03 PM

Use only the coals from the fire to cook with.
A grate works great - foldable ones are easy to store.
A cast dutch oven can be set in the fire or suspended over it.
A cast iron pan can be set on the coals.
Things wrapped in foil can be placed right on the coals.
To bake, dig a hole and line with coals then put in a dutch oven and cover with coals .

Fatboy - 5-14-2008 at 09:45 PM

Quote:

Sometimes I cook the bottoms of my shoes.

Thats funny, and yeah, I have been around for too many of those cook offs!!!!

So it sound like you are BBQ'ing.

Coals, coals and more hot coals. Sound simple, and to think I just learned that tonight!!!!

Taco de Baja - 5-15-2008 at 08:04 AM

Coals are the way to go.

We will generally have 2 fires, one for cooking one for enjoying. Use hard wood like Mesquite or Manzanita. Begin cooking when there are no more flames.

You can even bake potatoes. Rub then down with butter, herbs and spices, wrap them in several layers of heavy duty tin foil, and bury them in the coals for an hour. Just before they are done you can grill the meat on the same coals. If you want to heat some beans, set the opened can next to the coals to warm up...No pots to wash :light:

Cooking over an open fire is a bad idea. You will never get all the black soot off the pot, and the soot that does come off will get on everything you don't want it to....

Martyman - 5-15-2008 at 08:50 AM

I did some boat camping and we cooked our fish fillets on a rock set up next to the coals/fire. Coals are nice but if your quick, a small fire will work. Improvise my good man. I've rarely had fish wrapped in foil that turned out great... edible yes.

thebajarunner - 5-15-2008 at 08:57 AM

We used to always carry a little grate under the spare when we were pre-running.
Then, if we had to overnite along the road we could always cook right there on the spot- and yeah, flames are bad, coals are good.

I have a friend who was a long-time Girl Scout leader.
She had some lightweight aluminum pans she took on backpacks, cooked right in the fire,
when she got home she would load them in her self-cleaning oven, fire it up and burn off all the black stuff.
Sounded a bit dicey to me, but she swore by it.
(does not work too well with wooden or plastic handles on the pots)

Smoker pit

Sharksbaja - 5-15-2008 at 11:38 AM

I made this diagram of a smoker pit anyone can make at camp. With a little practice one can produce a very good product. This is a little more work than just cooking over a fire but the fish can be stored for a period of time depending on the amount of cooking time. Substitute eel grass or seaweed for moss and green twigs for willow.

To cook fish on a campfire I do one of two things. Cook smaller fillets or pieces to save from overcooking OR wrap fish in foil and carefully cook in the coals.

Try this:
Take a nice sized fish say 10-15lb. Tuna types work best. Gut and rinse fish. Split fish along backbone and open like a book.
Thinly slice one large onion and one large tomato. Lay slices of onion on one half of fish then layer with the tomato.
Next, fold fish back together and wrap in 4-5 layers of aluminum foil.
Build a nice big fire and try to use a hardwood. Create a large amount of coals and shove off to the side. Lay the fish on the coals and keep fire burning to generate more coals.
Do not cover fish withcoals, rather flip the fish after an hour of cooking. Resume cooking another 45 minutes.
Tend to fire and make sure not to go crazy making the fire too hot. If necessary adjust temp with a can of water.

Remove from coals and discard veggies. Lift meat away from skin and yum yum, some of the tastiest tuna I've ever had!

DrooooooooooooooooooooL................................

Cypress - 5-15-2008 at 02:10 PM

danaeb, :bounce:

The coals do the trick! :bounce:

Nothing like a "pig in the ground", with all the trimmings. :tumble:

Capt. George - 5-15-2008 at 03:31 PM

lucky me, I don't "hafta"...Deborah does it all!

Oso - 5-15-2008 at 06:44 PM

I have a modern version of the old west tripod. Instead of iron legs, they are aluminum conduit-sized tubes in segments that come apart for convenient storage. A round grate is suspended on 3 light chains and the height can be adjusted so it can be used over an open fire without waiting for coals. I also have a dutch oven which can be suspended from the tripod. Since I'm usually too damn lazy to use either, I also have a coffee pot I can hang on it, boil some water and pour it into a cup of Maruchan noodles.

campfires

stimbo - 5-16-2008 at 09:14 PM

Coals and a metal grate are the only way to go. Get the fire started with wood, then add some mesquite charcoal. When the flames have died and the coals are glowing, you are ready.

encanto - 5-16-2008 at 11:53 PM

To add to good points from Alan, danaeb, Diver and Taco de Baja and others--

I was taught by an old Baja campfire cook to maintain a "nurse fire" in a conventional rock ring, conjoined to a smaller rock-enclosed cooking area (a grate over it is a good improvement) where you shuffle the coals over as needed under your pot/kettle.

Cooking/baking with a Dutch oven is also a fun skill to experiment with (adding coals to the lid). The downside with campfire cooking can be the blackened pots...

And don't forget to extinguish your campfires...

woody with a view - 5-17-2008 at 06:36 AM

my first trip, way back when we forgot a can opener (a hammer and screwdriver works well!) we just put the cans of soup on the fire and ate out of them with a spoon while holding the hot can with vise grips :light:

.

now we don't want for anything.....ah, sweet progress!

world record spotfin soup :wow:

Skipjack Joe - 5-28-2008 at 03:40 PM

Wrap corn in tinfoil and bury it under the hot coals for about 20 minutes. Everyone likes theirs differently. I like them when they're a bit dehydrated and have turned from light yellow to deep orange. A bit burnt is fine but not too much.

Corn is great but baked potato is better. Salted with melted butter. Sour cream too, if it hasn't gone bad yet.

Pompano - 5-28-2008 at 09:40 PM

A little burnt is good! This old favorite is so easy even a caveman can do it.

Depending on how many Boy Scouts there are for dinner, slice up washed small red spuds with or without the skins, a few onions to match, some chunked red smoked peppers, salt, pepper, cut some blobs of sweet cream butter and add, then double-wrap it all into heavy foil that you sprayed with Pam or some other non-stick.

A hot bed of coals will get these done in no time..but I like to let those babies crisp a little...umm. Pass me the barbequed beans and another burger.

Packoderm - 5-28-2008 at 10:59 PM

I always thought it was pretty easy: Get a fire hot enough, open up a can of Dinty Moore chunky beef stew, and place it somewhere above the fire where ashes don't get in it. If you're feeling fancy, you can cut up some fresh vegetables and put it in the stew. I've been doing it that way for ages.

reposting an old campfire recipe/technique

Pompano - 5-29-2008 at 08:27 AM

here is another Indian (American aboriginal) way of campfire-cooking fish...

Called "poneassing"...cute name, huh? Sounds kind of down-south Deliverance, but it is really a northern Canadian tribal way of cooking and/or smoking fish or meat. It is similar to 'al asador' in Baja and in Argentina. For fish, it is best to use an oily fish, like lake trout or salmon. Lots of suitable fish in Baja waters.

Ponassing

Basically we used this method to cook salmon or lake trout over a fire by splitting and opening the fish and holding it open on a wooden stake/s over the fire. Being a little woodsy..and wanting to 'go native'...we used cut green branch and the peeled bark to tie the fish slab - with skin on- to the Y-branch. Pretty simple cooking followed...prop the Y-fork over the hot coals, fish flesh side down, open some LaBatt's, and eat the lake trout or salmon when it stopped dripping fat.

See the photo below.

We were taught this as kids on fishing/camping trips with our parents into the bush and wilds of Up North Canada. My hero was a Cree named Kitchener Byrd. Most of the guides up there took European names from famous explorers.

Kitchener was quite the woodsman and a real character, my good amigo until he finally got nailed by lightning. If he were here, he would tell you...Never stand up in a moving boat dancing around with an upthrust knife in a thunderstorm while drinking...or sober either. Remember Old Kitch, aquaholic?

- 0 a a ponassing (Custom) (2).jpg - 43kB

Paulina - 5-29-2008 at 08:36 AM

Thanks Pompano, I'm going to try that this summer. The fish, not the knife boat thunder dancing.

P<*)))><

wilderone - 5-29-2008 at 09:44 AM

You can use flames for cooking. I take an old aluminum baking pan (round, square - doesn't matter - but NOT cast iron - takes too long to heat), and then wrap my burgers, chicken, vegetables, or whatever in heavy aluminum foil. Put the foil packet in the aluminum baking pan and put the pan in the fire (a low fire, but enough heat to cook, and not so high that you can't get the pan out of the fire when you want - I just shove it out of the flames with a stick). If you don't need to cook something very long - like warming tortillas, or hot dogs, then you can use a grill top which can be placed on rocks in any part of the fire or coals. I even make coffee in a perkolator (sp?) setting it on a grill and over flame - feeding the flame with small sticks to keep even heat. For fish, though, you need to make a bed of coals. Then wrap the fish and seasonings - salsa is good), in aluminum foil and place in the coals - turning once after about 7 minutes. I supplement cooking with a small propane backpacking stove so that the heat and serve stuff (beans, pre-cooked rice, simmered vegetables) can be done quickly whenever the campfire stuff gets done.

ILikeMex - 5-29-2008 at 03:28 PM

I second the Dutch Oven. You can cook about anyting in it and don;t have to worry about blackening your pots.

My favorite is getting a can of buttermilk biskets and putting a layer on the bottom, then cover with a layer of canned fruit (apples) then another layer of biskets = apple pie. This works really well if the coals are still going from the night before and you can eat with your morning coffee.

I've also had pretty good success in cooking potatoes in Tecate cans. Cut the Tecate can at the top, but not all the way off - so it acts like a lid. Plop a red potato in there, fill with water, lower the lid and put in the coals. You will have to top off the water a couple times, but you will get a well cooked tater.
This works well (cookinghte potatoes seperatley) when making stew in your Dutchie as I always seem to need more room for all the meat and veggies.

BajaNuts - 5-29-2008 at 08:30 PM

Our family has been avoiding aluminum cookware for quite a while. Alzheimer's patients often have a very high aluminum presence in their brains. My grandmother died of advanced Alzheimers. This will probably start a whole other thread, but if you can find a stainless steel pan with the aluminum plate on the bottom, you get the best of both worlds...stainless in contact with your food and aluminum for heat distribution with less weight than cast iron. Cast iron does have it's benefits for campfire cooking in that it will distribute the heat from hotspots in the fire better than aluminum which conducts heat very quickly and will burn in spots unless you have a very thick aluminum pan.

Another great option to try is to get a thick aluminum plate or disk from a metal shop or junk yard and place your choice of stainless steel sauce pot, fry pan, or stock pot on the aluminum disk. These work great on gas and fires. I've used them before. I went to my local welding shop and they cut one out of a 1/4" thick piece of aluminum for me. Cost about $5. One 12"-14" disk works for many pans and no more aluminum in the brain.

Makes you wonder.......cervesa in the bottle or can???????????...............

blackened pots

bajapablo - 5-30-2008 at 10:31 PM

When I was a kid in scouts on campouts we would rub liquid dish soap on the bottom and sides of our pans before cooking over a fire. This put on a nice protective coat and if the pans became blackened it washed right off with light scrubbing. Before changing the oil or other work on my car I work a small amount of dish detergent into my DRY hands. THis absorbs well and when it is time to wash-up your hands clean up nice and easy without a degreaser special hand cleaner.

BajaNuts - 5-30-2008 at 11:13 PM

Nice Degreaser tip...thanks

EnseNADAslim - 1-19-2009 at 10:54 AM

Dutch oven cooking is a great way to go, it's fun, and man, you can cook your dinner, and top it off with a cobbler! To warm up your mornings go for a nice hot fire, sip your coffee, then use the hot coals to heat up that cast iron skillet and cook up your Eggs, Chorizo, and thick sliced bacon. Youtube has lots of good info on Dutch oven cooking, and as a matter of fact I have one as well...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DnyX-8-O5g

No matter what you cook doesn't really matter, or how you cook it as long as you like it, and yea, there is just something about cooking out doors. Keep it fun, keep it good (at least try), and leave the dishes for tomorrow!

BajaGringo - 1-19-2009 at 12:15 PM

Hard wood to make coals that will last awhile surrounded by some good sized rocks that will hep hold the heat. Use something like a tripod that will allow you to easily adjust the height over the coals to control the heat.

Making me think about some camping right about now...

flyfishinPam - 1-19-2009 at 03:12 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Fatboy

So, how does one cook over/in/with a campfire?

wrap it if foil
stick it in the fire
drink beer while it cooks
remove from fire unwrap and eat

BajaGringo - 1-19-2009 at 03:15 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by flyfishinPam
wrap it if foil
stick it in the fire
drink beer while it cooks
remove from fire unwrap and eat

Too many steps for me to remember...

:lol:

Sharksbaja - 1-19-2009 at 06:54 PM

Dutch ovens work awesome in the field though they are better suited for slow cooking foods like whole birds or roasts and veggies. I use one regularly but not for fish. Hmmmmm, I'll have to give it a try sometime.

vacaenbaja - 2-18-2009 at 09:27 PM

Foil cooking as mentioned before is a great way to quickly cook while camping with out having to clean up, or even have a pan. Marinated flank steak with added slices of tomato and onion cooks up quite juicey. add avocado salsa and tortillas sub in chicken or fish. Foil wrapped baked potatos work well.
If you can buy a few of those hollowed out bread bowls that are sold state side you
can fill them with chili or any other one pot wonder stew.
Buy a "comal" to warm tortillas and make quesadillas that
can be cut up bite sized and garnished with slices of jalapeno for a quick snack. Try to find a copy of Mike Mcmahans Baja book for some more ideas.

Woooosh - 2-20-2009 at 10:28 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by BajaGringo
Hard wood to make coals that will last awhile surrounded by some good sized rocks that will hep hold the heat. Use something like a tripod that will allow you to easily adjust the height over the coals to control the heat.

Making me think about some camping right about now...

Took my mind back to my young scouting days too. Cooking poached eggs for breakfast in paper cups filled with water set right in the fire, the dutch ovens and cobblers and the freeze-dried foods you reconstitutued with water that were so popular at the time (70's) because of the space program.

2-tie-dye-4 - 2-20-2009 at 10:35 AM

I think you want to keep it simple....but get a grate of somekind. I agree with the above comments, coals...roaring fires are for warmth, ambiance, ghost stories and smores. And, the wonderful smell. One pan, one grate, stir fry! Bacon and eggs. If you didn't get any dirt or sand in it, you didn't do it right.

Sunman - 2-20-2009 at 10:51 AM

Venison,dorado and ostiones over oak...