Top tips when you're out and about
Campfire cooking tips
Cooking on a campfire is very different to cooking on the stove at home. The easiest way to cook outdoors, is to place a grill above the fire, secured by some rocks and place your food on the grill. If you want to be a little more adventurous, try these 5 tried and tested ways of cooking food on your next camping trip:
Cooking eggs
You will need an egg and an orange. Cut the orange in half, carefully carve out the fruit segments from both sides. Be careful not to pierce or cut through the orange peel skin. Next, crack an egg into each of the two halves of the orange and then carefully place them onto the bed of loose coals at the edge of the fire. Why not add some cheese and whisk to make mini omelettes?
Tin foil supper
This is a tried and tested way of cooking by many thousands of Scouts, Guides and Brownies all over the world. It is simple to cook, and makes a nice change from sausages. It is a meal, all in one!
Ingredients: Green vegetables, potatoes, cubed meat, herbs/ spices, oil and some water.
Method: Lay out a large double layer of aluminium foil and then combine evenly cubed vegetables and potatoes with your meat. Season with a small amount of herbs or spices and add a little oil and water (to help seam cook the food inside). Carefully roll the edges up tight, so that nothing can get out and then place the whole thing on the coals. The smaller that you cut the food up the quicker that it will cook through.
Twists
These are simple and quick to make and can be enjoyed either as a sweet or savoury snack.
Method: Mix flour, water and a pinch of salt together to form a thick dough. If you would like them sweet simply add raisins, sultanas and some cinnamon. If you prefer savoury then why not try adding some grated hard cheese?
Cooking: Make a snake like roll of the dough and twist this snake around a long thick green stick (with bark removed). Support it over the glowing embers of your camp fire and remember to turn them occasionally to evenly cook them until they turn a lovely golden brown. A favourite of scouts the world over!
Instant Hot Dogs
If you do not have a grill and still love hotdogs then this is for you. Lay sliced onion on a cabbage leaves, add a sausage and then place more onions on top. Wrap up the cabbage leaf tightly around and secure the edges with a number of small green sticks to keep it closed. Place the parcel in the fire embers for about 7-10 minutes, turning occasionally.
Cooking with wild leaves
For an authentic natural taste, why not try wrapping your meat, cheese or freshly caught fish in wild leaves? For example, using Cattails (Typha, found readily all over Europe and North America, which grow in marshes, swamps and ditches) wrapped around raw food, will produce a fresh earthy taste.
The best method is to wrap your food in the leaves, overlap the leaves around the raw food and tie some wet twine around the leaves to hold it together. Carefully place the parcels of food into the warm embers of your fire and wait for the food to cook.
Now you’ve read our top tips for cooking over an open fire, we would love to hear yours! Share them on our Facebook page, tweet us or send us an email of your much loved recipes and we will upload our favourites on to this page!
