Cooking Over An Open Fire

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Cooking Over An Open Fire

Pay Attention – the meal could be ruined if the person cooking over an open flame doesn’t take into account the temperature of the fire, and adjust the positioning of the various items being cooked.

Ideas for breakfasts, lunches and dinners, that use meats ranging from beef, to pork, chicken, venison and alligator. Bread is very important as a staple, so this collection has a number of open-flame bread recipes from around the world. Arguably the most pleasing part of the meal – the dessert. Perhaps it’s all that extra energy you are using, added to the fact there won’t be much candy around, so indulge them with some of the easy open-flame desserts.

Breakfasts
Campfire Scrambled Eggs. Scrambled eggs with a little milk and some salt come out fluffy, and are great for the kids, but maybe adults want a little more zing with red capsicums, onion and even a jalapeno or two if you like heat. To complete the meal, add baby tomatoes and southern potato hash.

Breakfast Oats with Cinnamon Baked Apple and Maple Syrup
Get the fire going, and enjoy the warmth as you enjoy mugs of hot tea or coffee. Bake the apples in foil while you do the oats in a skillet.

Campfire French Toast
This recipe uses a whole sliced loaf of white bread, which should feed a whole lot of happy campers. Soaked in a sweet egg mix and wrapped in foil, and placed over the campfire until the egg is cooked and the bread lightly toasted.

Campfire Skillet Breakfast
When you’re camping it’s a bit of a schlepp trying to get the eggs over easy, the bacon to the rights crispness and the hash browns all coordinated over a campfire, especially when there are a lot of people to serve. This one-skillet meal has it all – bacon, potatoes, onions, eggs and topped off with melted cheese.

Bacon Vegetable Kebabs
Instead of making a hot side dish (which may not be possible if you are camping), and relying on one fire, cook your vegetables on skewers. Now, we all know they can get a little bland, so jazz up the taste with bacon inserted between to keep them moist and tasty. Mushroom, capsicum, onion, chunks of pumpkin with the skin on, squash… there are heaps of vegetables to choose from.

Steak Kebabs with Vegetables
Juicy pieces of tender marinaded sirloin steak are combined with red and green capsicums.

Fish and Bacon Kebabs
After a successful fishing trip take some of the bounty, wrap the filleted pieces in bacon, and thread the chunks onto skewers– the bacon keeps the delicate flesh of the fish from falling off the skewer so you can enjoy the best of surf and turf.

Satay Beef Skewers
In this recipe the rump steak is cut into long strips and threaded onto the skewers rather than cut into small blocks making this a much easier way to do the skewers. Serve with a spicy sauce.

Vegetables
Fire Roasted Vegetables
When roasted over an open flame the char imparts a delightful smoky flavor to certain vegetables. If you are making relishes and salsas then you may need to sweat the vegetables in a Ziploc bag for a while so it’s easy to remove the skins.

Foil wrapped grilled Butternut Squash
Opening the parcels after cooking butternut in foil on the grill is like opening presents – you have an idea but are not quite sure what you’re getting. I love it slightly caramelized! Wrap securely and keep turning the parcels on the grid to ensure even cooking. This recipe calls for sage but I like to sprinkle on cumin and add a little rosemary fresh from the garden.

Campfire Beans
Camping and beans go together like peas in a pod. Use a skillet to make this recipe that calls for pinto beans, onion and mustard. Serve with one of the campfire bread recipes, and perhaps some eggs for breakfast, or alongside barbecued meat for a supper.

Campfire Potatoes
Putting potatoes in aluminum foil and cooking them in the coals is something most seasoned campers have done many times. However, this recipe shows how to up the stakes in the preparation stage so you have garlicky oniony potatoes in the campfire that are redolent with flavor.

Grilled Corn on the Cob
Corn does not need to be shucked then placed on the grill. Try this method which involves soaking the corn in cold water for 10 minutes, leaving it with its protective coating of leaves and cooking on the grill for moist smoky corn on the cob. Serve the traditional way with butter, salt and pepper or get a bit more adventurous and use mayonnaise or grated Parmesan cheese, and a pinch of paprika.

Caramelized Onions
Instead of whole onions cooked on the grill these are cut into wedges, placed on foil, then sprinkled with beef bouillon granules, other seasonings, dotted with butter, and caramelized over a medium fire.

Beef
Beer Brined Ribs
Beef (or pork) ribs on the barbecue marinaded in a generous 3 bottles of beer, and a sweet and sticky BBQ marinade – the Woolworths brand is called for in this recipe but feel free to use any brand that you are familiar with.

Grilled Steak
Grilling steak is an art form, to get it succulent and tender rather than a seared piece of something that resembles leather. This recipe makes is sound so easy, but the secret is to have a good quality steak and follow the instructions given here. This is not strictly open-flame grilling as the coals should be white hot, rather than tossing the meat onto a grid above leaping flames.

Steaks Marinated in Red Wine Served with Flatbreads
For best results prepare the marinade and allow the steak to reach peak tenderness by marinading for up to 48 hours. Grill them medium rare over the coals, then set aside while you prepare the flatbread. The dough should be ready made or store bought, then stretched thin over the grill and done for a couple of minutes on each side.

Grilled Beef
Beef is highly desirable because of its fat-marbled meat making it more tender and tastier. The Wagyu cattle originate from Japan, but are becoming popular in countries like the US where Wagyu cattle must conform to the standards set by the American Wagyu Association.

Grilling T-Bone Steak
Steak on an open fire has to be perfected – from the heat of the flame to the correct choice of meat, marinade and maturing as well as the ‘resting period’ after removing the steak from the flames, and there are some good tips here.

Meatballs
Ground beef combined with various spices can be cooked in a skillet over an open fire. But there is a little secret to creating melt in the mouth meatballs, and this recipe shows you how. Serve with campfire pita bread (see the bread section of this article) and a selection of campfire roasted vegetables.

Grilled Chicken
The lemon herb marinade is the secret to getting this boneless, skinless chicken breasts succulent. It’s a marinade with lots of herbs, but easy to put together. All you need is time to allow the chicken to soak in the marinade for between one hour to overnight. Marinade the day before or in the morning will give you time to socialize while simply turning the chicken on the grill.

Whiskey Barbecue Chicken
The sauce for this chicken recipe can be prepared up to a week ahead, and then taken along on the camping trip in the cooler. When you are ready to make the campfire haul it out, paint on the chicken, and tantalize neighboring campers with the aromas coming from your fire. One of the tips for this moist chicken is soaking it in olive oil for two days prior to putting it on the grill.

Chicken Tenders
Even the fussiest won’t argue about these chicken tenders. They are lightly seasoned, dipped in milk and egg, then rolled in breadcrumbs and fried in a combination of olive oil and butter for the best taste.

Peri Peri Chicken
Peri peri chilli powder, paprika, garlic and lemon combine with white wine and a broth to create a succulent marinade for this Portuguese style whole chicken, butterflied and grilled over the coals.

Spicy Cranberry Chicken Wings
The combination of cranberries with Hoisin sauce, Sriracha, rice wine vinegar, honey, ginger, and garlic, give these chicken wings an Asian twist that is spicy and sweet.

Tequila Barbequed Chicken
Orange juice and tequila add to the sweet chicken meat. After grilling, a sauce is made that adds another layer to the taste – honey, brown sugar, garlic, more tequila and orange juice, among other ingredients are added to create a tangy sauce.

Spicy Barbecued Chicken Wings
These are one of those open flame treats that will simply disappear – do far more than you think everyone will eat! Follow the steps carefully to prepare the chicken wings before seasoning – it just makes them that much easier to eat. Paint them with some spicy bourbon barbecue sauce to keep them moist during grilling, then it’s ready, set, eat!

Campfire Breads
Campfire Pita Bread
Cooked on a baking stone or dry slate directly over the coals, they pita breads puff up in just a few seconds then are turned to complete cooking.

Corn and Beer Bread
With just three ingredients, this is an easy bread to put in the Dutch oven and bake in the coals. All you need is self-rising flour, a can of sweetcorn, and one bottle of beer (actually a little less – the cook is allowed a swig or two). I like to line the Dutch oven with parchment paper to make it easy to remove the bread, and if I want to go a little fancier with it I will put in some paprika, grated cheddar cheese, and some finely sliced spring onions.

Damper on a Stick
Damper is an Australian version of bread cooked over an open flame that was used by the stockmen when out tending to the herds of cattle or flocks of sheep on massive stations – the Australian equivalent of large ranches. Some recipes use self-rising flour, like this one, but in the early days flour salt and water was all that was needed to make damper. Sugar is not necessary, but because children love grilling their damper over an open flame – it’s as much fun as ‘smores – they often prefer a sweeter version that they can eat with jam or syrup. Traditionally the children make their own damper on a stick when camping. Bread on a stick is nothing new however and you get versions from all over the world.

Flatbread cooked on the coals
Yes, these are cooked straight on the coals – no need for a grid or a skillet even – although you can use these if you prefer, however the wood gives a great taste and char to the bread. Create these quickly to mop up the delicious juices from a venison stew cooked in a Dutch oven over a small fire.

Scottish Bannock
Oats form the basis of this quick bread made into small ‘cakes’ that were carried by the Scots on their travels in the Highlands. However, once the recipe crossed the Atlantic to the USA and Canada, somehow the oats as an ingredient got lost.

Canadian Bannock
Adopted by native peoples after its introduction in the 18th Century, the bannock became a fried bread made from flour, baking powder, oil and water. This version is best eaten hot off the skillet.

Game Meat
Venison or Beef Stew
You can use either venison or beef in this recipe that calls for the usual easy to obtain vegetables like onion, carrots and potatoes. Either cook over an open flame, or seat the Dutch oven on a bed of coals for more even cooking. Serve with one of the campfire bread recipes listed in this article to make sure you don’t miss out on any of the delicious gravy.

Fish on the Fire
Whole fish with lemongrass and turmeric. The recipe calls for red snapper but you can substitute any firm mid flavoured white fleshed fish that the fisherfolk in the family have managed to catch. The fish is rubbed with the marinade and later placed on the grill or into a chargrill frypan. It is served on a bed of warrigal greens, the Australian native version of spinach – feel free to substitute baby spinach as the bed on which to serve the fish. The ginger is finely shredded, and the garlic thinly sliced, and both are fried until golden, then used to garnish the whole fish.

Cured Bacon, Peach Kebabs
You haven’t lived until you have tried this – the saltiness of the bacon and softness of the peach combined with this sweetness will blow your mind. Ginger, coriander, cumin, rosemary and a little chill add to the tap dance of tastes.

Pork
Campfire Baby Back Ribs
The simplest recipes are often the best. Start with quality baby back ribs, add seasoning and barbecue sauce, then grill to a perfectly moist succulent finish. You might have to prepare more than you guesstimate people will eat as these are very moreish!

Grilled Pork Chops
The marinade for the pork includes Dijon mustard and various herbs and spices to ensure they will remain moist when placed on the grill. Grilled to perfection they can be served with some chopped parsley or cilantro straight from the garden.

Grilled Pork Belly
This is rich, so a little goes a long way, but it tastes so good! The marinade is Filipino inspired. In the Philippines pork is a very popular choice and the spices and herbs that go with pork are carefully chosen to enhance the flavor. Try the atcharang chutney consisting of shredded green papaya and carrots, raisins, and thinly sliced garlic to complement the pork.

Desserts
Blueberry (Apple) Crisp
This blueberry Crisp recipe can be adjusted to use apples, apricots or peaches instead, but the fragrance of the cinnamon and nutmeg will remain, as will the healthy oats this recipe calls for.

Blueberry Pancakes in a Skillet over the Campfire
These are thick, fluffy and bursting with blueberries. Not a fan of blueberries? Well how about substituting raspberries, strawberries, or go decadent with chocolate chips. There is something special about pancakes made over a campfire. Years later, people will reminisce saying, “Remember when we had those blueberry pancakes at Lake Tahoe?

Cornmeal Pancakes
Forget any thoughts of heavy gritty pancakes – these are thick, and fluffy as they use a combination of fine ground white corn meal and flour. If you want to, you can add chopped walnuts or pecans, or even some cranberries to the mix.

Grilled Peaches
No particular type of peach is called for in the recipe, but it works well with Yellow Cling peaches and firm white fleshed peaches as well as nectarines. The cinnamon sugar and butter makes them quite irresistible. Just remember when you have finished cooking the meat to clean the grill before putting the peaches directly onto it otherwise you may have something of a spicy, meaty flavor. Serve with some quality vanilla or coconut ice cream.

Blueberry Muffins Baked in Half Orange Peels
I’d love to know how this recipe came about. Perhaps someone was preparing oranges for breakfast, and someone else was craving blueberry muffins. They have the muffin mix but no muffin tray and only an open flame… Necessity is the mother of invention as the saying goes – so someone came up with the idea of using the half orange peels as cups and putting the muffin mix inside, wrapping in foil and letting the fire do the work. We have given two recipes here. This first one requires the muffin mix to be placed in half an orange and kept upright on the grill during baking, but the one below uses a different method.



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