Cooking over an open fire, Part Three(repost)

[Mother]

BOILING:

 

Boiling is best done in lightweight pans directly over an open flame. You can use a grate or put the pan directly into the hot coals. Covering the pot is usually a good idea, as quite often ashes will be flying while you are trying to cook. Though ashes won’t hurt you to eat, their crunchiness can be annoying. Our ancestors used fine ashes to add taste to unsalted foods. Otherwise, boiling on an open fire is very much like on a range, with the exception that you must move the pot to a cooler part of the fire to lower the heat for simmering.

 

 

 

STEAMING:

 

It is also possible to steam cook many foods. Steam cooking can be done with a smaller vessel suspended or propped up in some manner inside a larger pot of boiling water. A colander suspended over the water makes a good steamer or the food can be suspended in a cloth bag above or sometimes even IN the boiling water. Many vegetables, some meats and even plum puddings or fruitcakes can be cooked in this manner. It might be a good idea not to use your cast iron pans for the bottom receptacle as the water may remove the cure from the pan and it could rust easier until recurred.

 

COOKING SOUPS AND STEWS

 

Foods cooked in camp are usually, of necessity, kept simple. Stew and soups are probably the easiest to cook and can be prepared ahead of time if desired. They can be made from almost any kind of meat or vegetables that’s available. Sometimes grains such as oatmeal, tapioca, barley or rice can be added to thicken a soup. Pastas can also be used, a popular one being hand made noodles which are easy to make in a camp situation and look great hanging from ropes or the backs of chairs to dry. Dumplings are another possible addition to a soup or stew and take the place of bread in a meal.

 

Bullion cubes and dried or canned vegetables are easy to carry with you on an outdoor excursion and will make a tolerable soup. Jerky, canned meat, or dried meats can be added to dried peas or beans make a pretty tasty soup but take a considerable time to cook. Many of the old time recipes or receipts as they were called then, call for as many as 6 or 8 onions per pot. I know that sounds like a lot but you might try it, surprisingly enough the taste is not overpowering but very good if cooked for a couple of hours or more.

 

Stews are less likely to scorch and cook more evenly in a cast iron pot; they should be cooked, or more properly, baked, in the hot coals near the fire. Soups are usually more liquid and can easily be made in a tin pan. They can be boiled directly on top of the fire, either on a grate or on the coals themselves.

 

One Pot Meals:

 

You can make a very decent meal with very little work if you have a fire that has been burning for several hours. Start by putting meat, vegetables, broth or water and spices into a Dutch oven. Then follow the first directions found under Baking for making an oven in a hole. If the meat and vegetables were all raw when you started you might consider bringing the contents to a boil first and let boil for about ten minutes before putting it in the “oven”. It should cook at least an hour depending on the size of the pieces, but usually longer. If the food is already cooked then a shorter time is needed, but longer cooking will not harm the food. This should not have to be watched closely if the ground or “oven” was properly heated first. If you are using another baking method, such as baking in a fireplace with coals, you should check on the food from time to time and turn the pot or add coals as necessary.

 

MEATS:

 

Meats can be roasted on a spit over hot coals, grilled, boiled, fried or baked in a Dutch oven. Cooking is much the same as at home with the exception that you cannot turn a burner up or down you must move either the meat, the fire, the hot coals or all three at different times. To bake meat in a Dutch oven place the meat in the pan fat side down. Add water or liquid and other ingredients as your recipe calls for. Then follow one of the directions for baking.

 

VEGETABLES:

 

Most vegetables will probably be fixed as part of a stew or a ragout (a stew like mixture). Thy can however be baked in a Dutch oven, boiled or steamed.

 

Corn in the husk and whole baking potatoes, both sweet and white can be baked in their skins (or in aluminum foil) right in the hot coal. The fire should have died down considerably and the vegetables should be watched closely to guard against scorching. Place them near the edge of the fire, directly in the hot coals and away from a direct flame. They may have to be turned several times during baking. Some vegetables can be placed on a spit and roasted.

 

BREAD:

 

There is nothing better smelling or tasting than fresh hot bread or biscuits as they come from a Dutch oven, after having been baked near an open fire. Baking bread over an open fire is almost a lost art but surprisingly enough is not difficult. Any bread recipe, either a yeast or quick bread can be used.

 

Yeast bread, whether hand made or bought frozen, should be allowed to rise at least once before baking but it can also be punched down and let rise several times without harm as long as they are kept warm and it makes the bread much lighter. Bread rising pans are available but any pan or bowl with a cover can be used. Put the dough into it and set it near, but not too close, to the fire. Make sure it is kept warm all around, but not hot. If necessary, cover the outward side of the pan with a blanket to keep the heat in and turn the pan often. The size or shape of the loaf makes no difference as long as it fits into the Dutch oven you will be using to bake it in. If you are baking the dough directly in the Dutch oven, place the dough on a one-inch layer of cornmeal or bran before rising for the final time. If using a bread pan, place the baking pan on three or four stones or on a layer of cornmeal inside the pot.

 

A regular size loaf of yeast bread will take from 20 minutes to an hour to bake through depending on how hot your coals are. If they are too hot you may have the bread baked golden brown on the outside within a few minutes but raw in the inside. Use the directions for baking.

 

Baking powder biscuits are very easy to bake with an open fire. Premixed ones are especially easy. They take more heat than yeast breads and bake faster, being done in about ten minutes in a hot Dutch oven. Make sure there are plenty of coals in your fire before starting. You can place the biscuits directly on the bottom of the Dutch oven, put them in a pie tin and place that on three or four rocks within the pan or put a layer of cornmeal on the bottom of the pan first and place the biscuits on that. The last two methods are best if the coals are very hot. Follow the directions for baking. They take about 10 minutes depending on the size of the biscuits and the heat of your coals. A few burnt biscuits will soon have you judging the coals correctly. Biscuit can also be baked on top of a stew during the last ten minutes of cooking but then become dumplings (see below) with a soft wet outside but tender delicious inside.

 

Corn bread or other quick breads can be baked the same way as biscuits taking only a little longer to bake. They, however, are easier baked in a pie or cake pan set on stones inside the pot.

 

Biscuit or bread dough may also be wrapped around a stick or long handled fork and roasted directly over the hot coals or the dough may be fried in a small amount of oil or fat over the fire. Yeast bread dough, fried and rolled in cinnamon and sugar while it is still hot, makes an excellent treat. This would be a variation on the Bannock that the Native Americans made.

 

Dumplings are a good bread substitute. Biscuit dough may be used to make dumplings. They are better used in fairly liquid recipes. Make sure the liquid is bubbling nicely and then drop spoonfuls of the dough directly onto the solid pieces floating in the boiling liquid. Cover and cook them for ten to fifteen minutes, uncover and cook an additional ten minutes to allow them to dry somewhat. These make a great desert when cooked in simmering fruit. (See below)

 

Breakfast:

 

An easy breakfast is oatmeal. You don't even have to get up early to get the fire going to cook it, if you had a fire going before you went to bed. At night, before you go to bed, put oatmeal into a Dutch oven. Use regular, not instant, oatmeal. Add water (hot is best but not necessary) according to the directions on the box, and dried fruit, spices and/or sweetener if desired, Bury the pot in the hot ground (as for baking) as close to the edge of your fire pit as you can get it without danger of the food being burnt. Cover it with hot coals and then some hot dirt and leave it to slow cook all night. In the morning it will be ready to eat. The same thing can be done with rice and wheat if the area stays warm enough.

 

Quick cinnamon rolls can be made with biscuit dough. Roll it out thin and spread it with brown sugar and cinnamon. You can sprinkle raisins, dates or other fruit on it too. Roll it into a cylinder, slice it about 1 inch thick and bake as for biscuits.

 

Eggs can be boiled, baked, poached or fried. The first three can be cooked directly over the fire but fried eggs will cook more evenly and without burning if a shovel full of hot coals are raked out of the fire and the skillet placed on them as you would a burner. More coals should be added as needed.

 

Pancakes or johnnycakes can be fried the same way or the skillet or griddle can be placed directly on a grate over the hot coals. They will have to be watched closely if fried over the hot fire. You can even buy cast iron waffle irons that do an excellent job over the fire.

 

Biscuits and gravy are a favorite breakfast. The biscuits could be baked the night before when the fire is at it's best and saved for morning or baked fresh in the morning while the gravy is cooking. Perhaps each person would like to bake his or her biscuits on a green stick or long handled fork over the fire. For the Gravy, fry bacon, ham pieces, or sausage until lightly done. Mix in several tablespoons of flour and fry until slightly browned and then add milk and cook until thickened. Serve over the biscuits.

 

For a quick breakfast, try toasting bread slices over hot coals with a long handled fork.

 

 

Deserts:

 

It’s perfectly possible to make a cake, pie or cobbler just as you do with baking bread. In fact, almost anything you can bake at home in an oven can be baked in a Dutch oven, given the right fire temperature. Follow the directions for baking, being sure to keep the heat even all around the pot. A quick easy way to make a cake is to line a Dutch oven with aluminum foil, fill it no more than one third full of batter and use baking instructions. If the lid of your Dutch oven has small dimples or brads inside, cover the top of the batter or desert lightly with aluminum foil, waxed paper or parchment paper as these lids are meant to direct moisture back onto the contents of the pot and you will have wet spots on the top of your cake or desert if you do not.

Steamed puddings are very popular but take several hours to "bake". The original "pudding” was actually more like a cake or quick bread and often contained carrots, pumpkin or left over bread. Essentially it is just a thick sweet batter, usually with some kind of fruit in it, that was put into a can or floured sack or a baking pan, suspended over boiling water and steamed for three to five hours. (Follow the directions for Steaming above.) The water must be kept boiling throughout the whole cooking time. When cooked through and solid the pudding is sliced and served with a hard sauce such as a mixture of butter, brown sugar and cream cooked together. If you want to bake it in a cloth sack, you would wet the sack first, dust the inside with flour and pour your batter into it. Tie it at the top and suspend it over the steam or even lower it into the boiling water to cook. When firm, peel the cloth back and cool a bit before slicing.

 

Stewed fruit with dumplings is good too and easy to make. Fresh, canned or dried fruit is mixed with sugar and water and cooked in a pan on the grill or in the coals until it boils. There should be enough liquid on the fruit to keep it from scorching as it boils. The dumpling dough is then dropped by spoons full onto the fruit and covered with a lid. Simmer for 10 to 15 minutes with lid on and a few minutes with the lid off to slightly dry the dumplings.

 

Bread puddings and custards can both be baked on an open fire but a shallow pan of water should be set on stones in the Dutch oven and the baking pan set in that to bake. The coals should not be too hot or allowed to get too hot, as these are delicate foods. Follow the directions for baking.

 

 

 

Don’t be afraid to experiment with different foods. Have fun and Happy cooking.

 

 

[Mother]

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