Cooking Outdoors
Author: Hannah Hall, Challenge America Program Coordinator
I absolutely love camping and being outdoors, so I am very excited about our theme celebrating the Great Outdoors this month! One of my favorite things to attempt is cooking outside!
There’s just something so special about breathing in fresh air and tasting that fresh, fire cooked food. Before you get started with your cooking, it’s important to build the right fire, have the right equipment and be prepared with the right recipe! No one wants to spend all evening on a meal and not have a great meal at the end of it!
Below are some tips for cooking over a fire, some recommended products to get started and some tasty recipes to test your skills. Whether you are camping or just want to try something new - we hope you will try!
First, I want to share some tips for cooking over the fire if you’ve never cooked this way before.
Pick the right kind of wood & location - Oak & Hickory are popular choices and give an even & slow cook. It is also important to make sure your fire is located in a safe and clear location. Having a pre dug pit is best, that is also free of debris.
Do your food prep at home! By cutting your vegetables, seasoning your meat or doing other prepwork, you will be able to focus more on your delicious meal ahead and not need as much space for prep (don’t forget you will be outside).
Do not cook over naked flames - cooking directly over flames will burn your food! It is also dangerous depending on what may be burning. The best thing to do is to burn a hot fire and wait until it goes down and is just hot coals.
Have sand & water ready! - SAFETY FIRST! Campfires can easily get out of hand so it is very important to have a fire extinguisher, water and/or sand on hand in case something happens.
Below are a few recipes that consist of some I have tried and some I have not!! Let me know what you think if you try any!
Lastly, I want to give some suggestions on gear to buy if you want to start campfire cooking. These suggestions are for the cooking side, so you will want to make sure you have all the fire building tools already on hand!
Grill Grate - This will help to keep your other equipment off the naked flames! The one linked HERE is a great choice, but they also make ones that are height adjustable!
Cast Iron Pan - A cast iron pan is a great tool that you very well may use every time you cook over an open fire. The one linked HERE is an affordable choice.
Metal Tongs & Spatula - You can use what you have at home. The longer the better! Remember everything is going to be much hotter than cooking on a stove.
There are so many things you can cook over the fire and hopefully these tips will get you started! We would LOVE to hear your camping stories, cooking stories or any combinations of both!
And for those of you who may not have access to a fire, or simply don’t want to go outside - here is a spotify playlist of campfires you can listen to while you cook!
