Tagged: Recipe
This topic has 6 voices, contains 5 replies, and was last updated by 
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| Author | Posts |
| July 23, 2009 at 10:11 pm #32953 | |
 Dennis |
I have had some pretty interesting experiences cooking in the wild. To be more precise I used to go camping with twelve year old Boy Scouts and their equally cooking-inept fathers. We did manage to copyright some new culinary masterpieces during that time which includes the now famous (in small circles) “Camp Five Stir Fry.” CFSF is powerful spicy. So spicy in fact that it once sent unsuspecting young campers into arm waving, bug eyed screaming frenzies that nearly destroyed the entire contents of our campsite. Those were the days. We used to be fond of making seemingly complex things like Cornish game hens on a spit or French omelets (not on a spit) just to show off a little and to see the pained expressions on the faces of the other campers who would be eating some sort of glue stuck to aluminum foil. I think it was good for their character or something like that. Don’t hate me for teaching a valuable life lesson though, once I had thoroughly convinced them of their lack of skills and the (delicious) benefits of actually having skills, I was able to teach the majority to fend for themselves quite well. They were no longer Mama’s boys (soon to be Mama’s men) but moderately competent little cooks who could produce three meals a day and cake for desert over a small camp stove with no input from me or anyone else. Someday I will have to tell you the tale about the boy who only ate meat. |
| July 24, 2009 at 7:41 am #32954 | |
 NEMO |
We had an experience at BSA summer camp this year with a boy who thought the directions that read “3/4 cup water” on the box of pancake mix meant “Fill the bowl 3/4 full”. Adding another box of mix helped. A little. |
| May 19, 2011 at 9:42 am #32955 | |
 paddleplacid |
I used a Coleman backpacker naptha fuel stove with small fuel tank for a shot time, until I overfilled it causing it to flame where it ought not, and in attempting to turn off the valve put my hand into a spray of fuel and set fire to myself. No serious hasrm done, but pretty much right away I bought another type of stove with an easy to fill, one litre fuel bottle option, and I enjoy it tremendously, as well as not setting fire to myself. To other thoughts about stove fire: if a stove doesn’t simmer it’s just not worth buying; and while this might not apply to all stoves ‘field serviceable’ does not seem to provide the capability of changing jets for different types of fuel once the stove has burned the first jet into itself. |
| May 19, 2011 at 1:39 pm #32956 | |
 Aggroman |
A big Amen there. The only times I have ever burned food outdoors, that was always the culprit. Well, that and too many beers maybe. lol |
| May 24, 2011 at 10:26 am #32957 | |
 rich5665 |
We went light weight with our gear for our BSA Troop. When my son joined four years ago, the goal of my fellow Assistant Scout Mastersand I at that time. was to do away with taking the trailer and larger grills to very campout. So we bought 15 MSR Pocket Rockets. Now I can cook up a whole lot of things on that little stove. But little did I know how far there cooking skills would regress. Every camp menu from that fateful day has been the same. Oatmeal for breakfast, a cold sandwich for lunch and Ramin Noodles for dinner. The keep it simple mentallity that had been taken up by the newly elected Scout Master turned great meals into drab Cardboard lunches. Of course we do have a few boys who break the mold. Some will make Pizzas or Tacos just to be different, but again a simple meal. I personally can’t stand oatmeal so out comes the powdered eggs for breakfast, a freeze dried meal for lunch and the same for dinner. |
| June 7, 2011 at 12:14 am #32958 | |
 canoeranger |
Well, it’s been a while since I’ve chimed in on anything, but since outdoor cooking is one of my passions, this looked like a worthwhile topic. I have for some time been teaching to kids outdoor cooking. This year I will not. I handed in my resignation with Stylus County and said good bye to my fellow Park Rangers. (I had to much on my plate, between working at the ARCH and trying to spend time with my wife and kids.) I will miss teaching kids canoeing and outdoor cooking. Know I will be teaching my own children how to cook outdoor on an open fire. Just like my own children I have always told my students that if you have a desire to cook and healthy appetite, there’s nothing you can’t fix over an open fire that you can fix at home with a stovetop and oven. Outdoor cooking class was for me a way of introducing these city kids what I learned growing up in the country. Thanks to an undying love for the outdoors, and my moms cooking skills, I have always been able to create works of art over the campfire. First comes the wood its always important to get a good fire going. Like most who have been through my class the first thought is ok, lets throw on some wood and get the hotdog sticks. This is where I put on the brakes and tell them they are going to have to work to earn there meal. I take pieces of large split hardwood and have them split it down into smaller pieces with a sharp hatchet. This serves two purposes. First you keep the kids busy and therefore they aren’t complaining about being bored, secondly by breaking it down into smaller pieces it allows you to have control of your heat by adding a little bit at a time. After this is done and you check to make sure that all the kids still have their fingers. Next is get the fire going and establishing two halves of the fire. One side will be hot open flame and the other will be hot coals. Now, depending on your menu for that day you will use the heat source that will serve you best. I always use a metal grate to cook on that is half grate style, half griddle style. This allows me to cook on one side meats and certain vegetables that will be grilled by the open flame. The other side will have the coals under it and allow for consistent heat to cook on much like a griddle. This will allow me to put on the corner, a percolator with some tea, and a place to put my cooking pots and frying pan for various dishes. This can also be used to set up one of those aluminum fold out Coleman style ovens. These work great once you start to feed the fire underneath it and get the heat regulated. So to put it all in perspective a normal meal would look something like this. Hamburgers on the grate, corn on the cob wrapped in tinfoil and placed in the coals, underneath the griddle, and a pot of baked beans on the griddle. A more in depth menu wood be steak that has marinated all day placed on the grate over open fire, eggs on the griddle with very hot coals underneath, coffee pot on the edge of the griddle to slowly heat up and allow it to peculate. (This is usually started about an hour before cooking so it will be ready with the meal. By the way this would be a camp breakfast on a canoe trip.) Last but not least, a larger meal menu wood be pork steaks on the grate, green beans or corn in a cooking pot on the griddle, cabbage cut into quarter wedges with butter on top, wrapped in tinfoil, (these would be placed in the coals under the griddle side), and for desert there would be a pineapple upside down cake in the Dutch oven that would have coals on top and bottom from the fire. Anyway there it is. I have seen some incredible menus created by the kidsoverthe years from basic to complex some good, some not so good, and some that still make my mouth water just thinking about them. I tell all the kids that if you can think it up, you can cook it, as long as you control your heat, and don’t undercook you’ll be fine. Well there it is, I’ve said my piece. Can’t wait to start teaching my own kids, there’s nothing more fun than watching kids cook there own food for the first time and then enjoy eating it. It seems like no matter how it tastes to you, it was a five star dining experience to them. David Burton |
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