Campfire Cooking

My entire family went camping for a week this past month. Until that experience, I always have camped with competent people who wanted to share (or assume) cooking responsibilities. But this time, considering the size of the group we were camping with, it made sense for each family to cook independently. This means for the first time in my life, I had to create a campfire menu.

Scared that my children would be the ones with boring campfire meals, I begged menus off of everyone else and sourced more ideas online. I was satisfied with the variety I came up with on paper, but cooking it was going to be another story. In the end, everything was edible but only because quality control teams don't bother scrutinizing campfire food. Some of it was burned and some was undercooked, but John says campfire food can be like that and nobody minds. (Well, somebody minds, but she will be silent about that for the time being. Keep an eye out for "The Diary of a Wimpy Camper," coming soon.)

In the meantime, here is a list of campfire food ideas, minus the traditional hamburgers and hotdogs that everyone already knows about. Nothing is original with me, so don't give me undue credit. And the final disclaimer is that half of this was cooked over someone else's fire. (Well, all of it was cooked on someone else's fire because our campsite didn't even have a campfire ring of its own. I know. Read the diary.)

1. Waffle Danishes
Make a sandwich out of two purchased waffles, cream cheese, and pie filling. Butter the waffles well and toast them in mountain pie irons until they are nicely browned. Serve with coffee.
Tip: Either make extras or be prepared to beat off the neighbors who have None. 

2. Cinnamon Rolls
The website showed golden cinnamon rolls being baked over the fire on roasting forks. I should have known better. Photoshop trickery going on there, maybe, because it certainly is not real life. I started off by poking refrigerated cinnamon rolls onto a roasting fork, but they soon softened and slumped dangerously. When he saw their demise was imminent, John suggested we put them on open mountain pie irons and finish baking them like that. They baked completely through. Even the one that landed in the ash tasted surprisingly delicious. But I feel my blood pressure rising as I type this. That breakfast isn't the greatest memory on record.

3. Steak, Eggs, & Potatoes

We were only cooking two meals a day, so I supposed a hearty breakfast was in order. We grilled small steak medallions over the fire, then fried cubed potatoes, onions, and peppers in our cast iron skillet. I cut the potatoes into really small cubes so they'd cook quickly. Once they were ready, I cracked a few eggs into the potatoes and scrambled them, making a delicious breakfast we all loved.  

4. Biscuits and Gravy

My brother baked refrigerated biscuits on a grate over the fire. They lost points for their campfire-cooking appearance, but supposedly the smoky flavor made up for it. The gravy was made in a Dutch oven, and the end result is worth repeating.

5. Hobo Packets

Wrap veggies, meat, and seasoning in layers of tinfoil and roast them over coals. The fun part about this meal is that each packet can be customized to suit personal preferences. Use cabbage, thinly sliced (or partially cooked) carrots, onions, shredded potatoes, green peppers, hamburgers, sausages, or anything else you might like to include. You can make them meatless and add a pat of butter to the vegetables. Wrap them tightly in tinfoil and roast over hot coals until they are done, flipping every 10 minutes. Plan on 30-40 minutes of cooking time. Delish!

6. Mountain Pies in multiple varieties
Quesadillas: My sister likes to use tortillas instead of bread in her mountain pie irons, giving plenty of space for the fillings like ham and cheese, mushrooms and onions and cheese. Think 'Ham and Cheese Quesadillas' cooked over the fire and served with salsa.

Breakfast Disasters: I tried tearing a hole in a piece of bread, cracking in an egg, and topping it with cheese and fried sausage. A couple of them were fully edible, which we gave to the children. John ate his egg partially raw. I dug my sandwich out of our new mountain pie maker with a chisel and digging iron. Call it a success if you like raw eggs or scrambled mountain pies. In the future, I'll use cooked eggs in our breakfast mountain pies.

Pizza themed mountain pies worked better for us because all of the ingredients were fully cooked and only needed to be charred heated. 

7. Through-the-Garden Wraps

Grill marinated chicken thighs over the fire. Cut into strips. Load a tortilla with chicken strips, diced cucumbers, onions, tomatoes, lettuce, Ranch dressing, and Honey mustard dressing. 

8. Apple Crisp

Wrap your favorite apple crisp recipe in layers of tinfoil and bake it over coals. Serve with ice cream. 

9. Evening Snacks

Not all snacks are created equal. I thought campfire snacks and marshmallows were synonymous. But I was completely and totally wrong. S'mores are like, so yesterday.
Cheese sticks. Poke a cheese stick onto a roasting fork and toast until it turns slightly brown and gets soft. But watch out! Once they get soft, they easily slip into the fire. 
Small smoky links
Shrimp, cooked in butter in a cast iron skillet and seasoned with Old Bay seasoning. I love brothers who bring shrimp to share. Never mind that I had One Shrimp. Next time I'll bring my own if I want any.
Steak. "There's nothing like going to bed on a belly full of warm meat," he said. I didn't try it so I can't verify that. I can say, though, that his steak was restaurant-quality, judging from the pack of wolves that hovered near his chair begging for a single bite. One lick. The bone. An I'll pay-you-for-it bite. An edge. An anything. Then moans of happiness over the pieces he shared.
Bacon. Wadded up on a roasting fork, or spread out on a Graber grill. Cooked over the morning fire when coffee is brewing. Or eaten around the fire in the evening. You can't go wrong with bacon. It is one food where campfire cooking rules. No mess to deal with, and no smoke alarm to scream in your ear just when you are vulnerably bending over a hot oven to remove a pan of sizzling bacon. Everyone should do bacon over the fire.
Pigs in a Blanket. Crescent roll dough wrapped around miniature smokies and poked onto a roasting fork. It worked well if you found the perfect angle above perfect coals in a perfect cross-breeze. But most of our campfires were roaring blazes which meant these piggies were a success if you prefer your food ebony on one side, doughy on the other, and chilly in between. But, hey. People eat anything around a fire. 

Except carefully guarded steak.