# Campfire Cooking!



## goaties4me (Feb 23, 2009)

How about a thread of campfire cooking and recipes?

What is your favorite campfire meal?

I love the foil dinners! 

I use double thickness heavy duty foil, dab of oil, hamburger or sausage patty (I season the burger patty), onions, carrots, potatoes and an additional bit of seasoning. Seal foil closed with folds and pressing tightly and cook over a relatively "smooth" bed of coals. (Flame will burn it!) If you are a big eater, make 2 so they cook all at the same rate! You can also make a couple extra potato, onion and carrot pouches to make sure everyone is full up.

Enjoy!


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## Rex (Nov 30, 2008)

Dang...... you're making me hungry!


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## goaties4me (Feb 23, 2009)

Hungry? Rex, that was part of my intent!!!! Now, why didn't you tell us your fav campfire dish?

Another neat thing to do is to brown some ground meat with onions and then freeze to take along. This serves as helping keep things in your ice chest cold and another meal. Have everyone else bring either a can of vegetables or canned soup and have a group mystery soup pot. If you want you can bring along some fresh potatoes or dehydrated to add to it. Potatoes do NOT have to be peeled! Wash them off and cut them up and toss them in at the beginning of the cooking.

Tip: Coat the outside of the cooking pot with liquid dish soap well and the black from the fire will wash off easily.


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## Rex (Nov 30, 2008)

I'd have to say fresh trout caught out of a creek with the goats tagging along is one of my favorites. Clean the fish and cut the head off(or not). Seal it in a tinfoil pouch with a big slab of butter. Lay it on a good bed of coals and flip it over when you hear the butter really sizzling. Once its done peal the skin off and add a sprinkling of salt and pepper. Of course a foil baked potato goes along nicely but you'll need to start those earlier to get them done at the same time.


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## sweetgoatmama (Dec 10, 2008)

Now you're making me hungry. TIm Converse's boys went fishing for trout at the lasat club campout and we had fresh fish for dinner. It was great. I have to eat vegetarian so seldom get anything like that when camping. (I can eat fish)

Our dinners are heavy in boil-in-bag rice mixed with dehydrated veggies and cheeses. A dehydrator can seriously change your eating habits for the better. You can even dehydrate things like cheese sauce and spaghetti sauces with it.


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## Hasligrove (Dec 10, 2008)

How about a foil desert! First you take an orange, cut it in half, and hallow out the orange (and eat) but keeping the orange peel intact in two halves. Then you take your bag of pre-made muffin mix, the just add water kind, and throw in some fresh picked mountain blueberries. Fill one half of the orange peel with muffin mix. Place other half on top to make a whole orange again. Wrap in foil and cook over coals. Makes a great orange blueberry muffin. Plus the other campers are envious and will hang out with you.


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## goaties4me (Feb 23, 2009)

I don't know what I'd do without my dehydrators (have 2)!

I love the orange peel muffins! We've also done them with gingerbread!


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## sweetgoatmama (Dec 10, 2008)

Rachel,
I vote you make muffins for us at the next campout.

For anyone looking for serious vegetarian food Camp Trails has a line of things like Chicken Teriaki with Rice and Beef Stroganoff, which I just tried today. Clay has them for his long hikes and snet me some for Christmas. First "fast" trail food I've found since I can't eat meat. It has some kind of vegetable protein stuff that sounds awful but really is good.


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## Terri S (Nov 30, 2008)

I'm becoming a big fan of dutch oven cooking. It's not real practical for goat packing unless you use Aluminum DOs. But for basic camping, DOs are great. They've even converted me to cast iron at home. Hardly ever use the so called no stick pans any more. My new favorite DO recipe is hot fudge pudding cake. My family still likes the Mountain Man Breakfast.


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## nrspence (Dec 10, 2008)

Im with you Terri, cast iron and dutch ovens are the way to go. Dutch oven ribs are my favorite.


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## swbuckmaster (Dec 11, 2008)

geeez all my food dosent sound as good as all of yours. I mainly use mountain house meals when packing.

I would be intereste in how you make your own dried meals. This sounds pretty cool.


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## goaties4me (Feb 23, 2009)

Terri, can you share your recipe or method for the DO fudge pudding cake? YUM!

DO is definitely a good method as some coals on top of the DO and it sitting on some can sure bake a cake nicely and quickly too.


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## sweetgoatmama (Dec 10, 2008)

Terri's cake is a genuine winner. I've had it and can attest to that.

As for dried meals, Lipsmakin' Backpackin" the vegetarian version is available at Amazon and tells in detail how to do dried meals. Alll you have to do is add dry meat.

Here's how to dry hamburger in the microwave or oven:

Break it into as small of pieces as you can with a spoon. Spread it in a pan and add enough water to just barely cover it. Cook it in the water till you see the meat get smaller and the grease start to float. Then change the water and cook some more. The objet is to get rid of the grease which spoils easily.
Every time you handle it try to chop it into smaller bits.

Once the water is pretty clear of grease, drain it in a colander till it's as dry as possible. Then put it in the microwave or oven again and heat it at about 275 degrees till it dries to little hard bits. Let cool and put into sandwich bags in serving sizes. Double bag it then store in freezer till needed. It keeps a year in the freezer and a couple of weeks at least in your pack. As long as it's hard and not moldy it's OK to eat. 

To reconstitute:
Put into water and heat to warm. Let sit an hour. This is a great addition to any of the vegetarian meals or mac and cheese.


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## Terri S (Nov 30, 2008)

*Re: Hot Fudge Pudding Cake Recipe*

Do not overbake this cake or the pudding sauce will burn in the pan and the cake will be dry not fudgy.

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 cup flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup milk
4 Tsp butter, melted
1 large egg yolk (I have used whole egg)
2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1 cup boiling water

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees or start 25 charcoals
Grease 8x8 pan or 12" DO
Whisk 1/2 cup sugar with 1/4 cup cocoa in small bowl
2. Whisk flour, remaining 1/2 cup sugar, remaining 1/4 cup cocoa, baking powder and salt in large bowl. Whisk milk, butter, egg yolk and vanilla in medium bowl until smooth. Stir milk mixture into flour mixture until just combined. Fold in chocolate chips (batter will be stiff)
3. Scrape batter into prepared pan or DO and spread to edges. Sprinkle reserved cocoa mixture evenly over top. Gently pour boiling water over cocoa. Do NOT stir. 
4. DO: Place 17 coals on top, 8 on the bottom.
Bake until top of cake looks cracked, sauce is bubbling and toothpick inserted into cakey area comes out with moist crumbs attaced, about 25 minutes. Cool on rack for at least 10 mintues. Scoop into bowls and top with Vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.

Note: Recipe can be doubled in the DO but it does take longer to bake the cake. Approx hour and you will need to add coals. 
I mix the groups together at home and put in tubs so its ready to go. 
ENJOY!


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## goaties4me (Feb 23, 2009)

Thank you Terri! It does look like a good one!

Do you put your dry ingredients in a large baggie for it before going to save time and prep?


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## goaties4me (Feb 23, 2009)

Another real easy item is omelet in a bag! These could be done in advance and taken along for cooking. Have everyone put their prefered omelet ingredients in their bag and squish gently. Then when needed, the baggies get dropped into a pot of HOT water to cook. They can eat out of the baggie and have less dishes, trash, etc. You can use a sharpie to mark names at the top by the zipper for ID. For big eaters, have them make 2 so they all cook in the same amount of time.


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## Terri S (Nov 30, 2008)

*Re:*



goaties4me said:


> Thank you Terri! It does look like a good one!
> 
> Do you put your dry ingredients in a large baggie for it before going to save time and prep?


I put the dry ingredients in either a bag or rubbermaid container.


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## jross (Dec 20, 2008)

My favorite is "caveman fondue". Have the goats pack in a couple of frozen steaks, or if you are hunting and are sucsessful a piece of backstrap, or a couple of rabbits are good too. Cut the meat up into bite size chunks and roast them over the campfire on sticks, like a weenie roast. When your chunk of meat is done, dip it into a jar of salsa, or barbeque sauce, or whatever you like. Put the whole thing in your mouth and pull it off the stick. Repeat until all the meat is gone or your are full, whichever comes first.

I love chips and salsa. The problem is hauling a bag of chips in on goat-back without crushing them. I found a pair of big plastic salad bowls that, when arranged open end to open end, will hold a bag of chips. I then duct tape the edges of the bowls so they stay together. When we get to camp, I take the tape off and the chips are fine. The bowls are then useful for washing dishes, yourself, or to catch rain water off the tent/hammock fly.


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## ohiogoatgirl (Jan 31, 2010)

I like using pizzia doughmix and all the toppings in a pie iron. I'm a big soup fan and I like to spice up tomatoe soup with hot peppers. Baked potatoes cooked in foil with lots of butter and meat roasted on the fire... I'm gonna have to have a bomfire tonight


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## jross (Dec 20, 2008)

I have been perfecting a dish called "quesadillas". This is a stack of tortillas with cheese, meat, salsa, and anything else that would be good on pizza, in between the tortillas. You lay a tortilla in the skillet, chop up some goodies on it, lay another tortilla on that, and repeat. I like to stack them about 4 high, with the top one not having anything on it. Put the skillet over the fire and cook it that way for a minute or so. Then flip the tortilla stack over and repeat. Keep doing this until the cheeze starts to melt and ooze out the sides. Then cut it up like a pizza and pass the peices around. It's a lot like pizza, but much easier to make over a campfire. Flour tortillas are very good for goat packing because they are already smashed flat and further smashing doesn't hurt them, unlike bread.


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## ashkelon (Jul 25, 2009)

This topic rocks!

I've done years of backpacking, but I've got a bad knee and have to pack light. Like "cut the handle off the toothbrush" light. 

This is one of the things I love about the idea of having Cabra help me with my load. 

I'm a big fan of the dehydrator. I do everything, sweet corn, snow peas, tomatoe sauce, jerky. We also wind-dry meat. I can't remember what you call it, but you cut it in long strips, pound in the seasoning and then hang the raw meat on lines in the winter when it's blizzardy. Cut it in pieces with snips when it's dry.

I just like the quick meals where you throw a bit of dried this and that with some onion soup mix in the stove and heat up some tortillas. But I am getting a lot of ideas.


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## goaties4me (Feb 23, 2009)

Those quesidillas sound great too! We've done something a bit similiar only use a cast dutch oven and do the layering in it. We use taco meat, refried beans and cheese and then pour a can of enchilla sauce over it, top with a good amount of cheese and cook gently over coals til hot and bubbly all the way through. Then if you want you can top with lettuce, tomatoes, and more cheese if you like. YUMMY!


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## AACmama (Jul 29, 2010)

My helpful little trick is probably coming a little late in the hiking season. I bring a little ziploc bag for everyone in the party and instruct them to pick ripe huckleberries as we're hiking (I'm sure the goats would be happy to "help" with that!). At the campfire, we dump everyone's harvest into a pot with a little ziploc of dry ingredients I've stirred up at home to make warm huckleberry sauce. Pour this over slices of Gretchen McHugh's Lemon Pound Cake from The Hungry Hiker's Book of Good Cooking. It keeps everyone busy (great for hiking with kids) and fresh fruit with your dessert is always a welcome treat!

Huckleberry Sauce
1/3 c sugar
1 Tbl corn starch
1 tsp dried lemon peel
1/3 c water
2 c berries (blue or huckle, either works)

Cook over medium heat, sitrring until thick. Serve warm over pound cake slices, pancakes, etc.


--Rose-Marie


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## ohiogoatgirl (Jan 31, 2010)

in dutch oven boil sweet potatoes/yams. when done drain and mash (like you would taters). spread top with chopped pecans/walnuts/crushed corn flakes mixed with melted butter. cover and cook until topping crunchy. enjoy! momma makes this for thankgiving and there are never leftovers!


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