Cooking Over Campfire Coals

4-H Youth Development Cooking Over Campfi re Coals Nothing seems to make food taste better than cooking it outdoors. And the experience can be an excellent learning opportunity for your entire 4-H club whether it is a simple one-pot cookout in the backyard, several cookouts, or a club campout. An outdoor cooking activity can be used to achieve many of the 4-H program goals to help youth. • Learn practical skills (cooking a Where to start meal without electricity or gas) “Different strokes for different folks.” One leader gets her club Getting organized • Acquire positive self-attitude started by giving suggestions on A cookout is likely to be success- (building a fi re without help) when to plan a cookout. Her club’s ful if you are organized and have cookouts have been planned as planned ahead. Here are a few • Develop leadership capabilities part of a farm tour, evening club pointers to get started. (volunteering to be in charge of meeting, kidnap breakfast for new the cookout) members, family night, or program 1. Think about what you can do on nutrition or fi re safety. Another if there’s a heavy rain or storm. • Develop abilities to be a respon- leader starts by inviting his club Will you postpone? Will you sible group member (“we’ll make over for an evening meal at which prepare the food under a tarp, the salad”) he demonstrates all the wrong in a sheltered area, or move in- ways to plan a backyard cookout. Above all, the cookout should doors, or postpone? Do you have food along that would be fun—and that starts with Regardless of the approach, mem- require little or no cooking? organization. bers need experience practicing basic cooking skills and planning tasty, nutritious menus at their 2. Make lists so that nothing is own ability level. As they become forgotten. Here are some things more skilled, the menus can be you might include. more challenging. • Menu • Food ingredients and amounts that are needed 4H 802 Revised March 2007 11 • Recipes and directions for pre- Planning outdoor meals paring the food Nutrition Think color and variety when activities, so people may want • Equipment needed for prepara- planning meals for outdoors. Try more than one serving. tion, storage, and cleanup to include a serving from each of the food groups in MyPyra- Members can help in the planning. • Jobs and assignments that need mid (one from each color band). They will want to include their to be made—consider how much Choosing an assortment of colors favorites. Encourage them to experience is needed and whether among the fruits and vegetables include some foods that are less the task needs a single person or provides a variety of fl avors and familiar also. Look in magazines a team. nutrition to your meals. Appetites or special outdoor cookbooks seem to increase with outdoor for ideas. 3. Be sure that a safe water source is available for drinking, cooking, washing hands, and cleaning up. These menu patterns can be a guide when planning. Check the water’s safety before your cookout or carry in your own water. Breakfast Lunch Dinner Fruit Main Dish Meat or Main Dish 4. Test new recipes or suggestions Protein Food Vegetable Vegetable before springing them on the whole Bread or Cereal Bread Vegetable or Fruit group. You’ll be able to be more Beverage Dessert Salad helpful if you’ve tried the ideas fi rst. Beverage Bread or Grain Dessert 5. Make a realistic plan for the Beverage time you have available. 6. Prepare for the unexpected. Ask club members to help make a list of fi re safety reminders. Here are some ideas to get you started. The Food Guide Pyramid A Guide to Daily Food Choices • Remember “stop, drop, and roll.” • Be careful of loose clothing and open jackets. Campfi re cooking checklist: Matches Spray bottle Hot pads/mitts Cooking utensils Hand washing supplies Dishwashing supplies Eating utensils First aid kit Bug spray 2 Manage time and money Sanitation safety When you plan meals, consider The fi rst rule of food safety is to Activities to make the time you have available. Baked keep hot foods hot and cold foods outdoor cooking fun beans in a Dutch oven may take cold. If your menu calls for per- A variety of other activities hours when you have only one or ishable food ingredients, be sure can be planned as part of the two to spare. to keep them cold until they are outdoor cookery experience. used. Insulated bags and ice chests Here are some possibilities. Pudding mixes, biscuit mixes, are necessary. cake mixes, and cocoa mix can • Make a scrapbook of favorite save time, but some convenience Perishable leftovers like meats, club cookout recipes. foods may be too expensive for cooked egg dishes, and most your budget. For example, freeze- dairy products are hazardous if • Look for convenience foods dried meals may be too costly for they can’t be chilled. Plan meals in the store and compare a whole group, but you might to avoid leftovers, or discard the prices. want to prepare one as a tasting leftovers. sample. Nonfat dry milk powder • Have an outdoor cooking is a handy, low-cost ingredient for Take packaged handwipes or pro- contest. pudding that is also lightweight vide water, paper towels, and soap and easy to carry. for hand washing as the food is • Invite guests for a sunrise, prepared and eaten. Also remem- outdoor breakfast. ber to bring a kettle for heating water and dishwashing liquid for • Experiment with pioneer cleanup. recipes. When you’re through cooking • Visit a historical site or Be sure the fi re is out. Spread the festival where outdoor cooking coals and sprinkle with water. (It is demonstrated. takes less water to put out a fi re by sprinkling than by pouring it on.) • Learn about wild edibles and No fi re is safe to leave until you make a salad or herbal tea. can place your hand directly on Unless you have plenty of time the ashes. Do not bury live coals! • Attend a wild game dinner. and fuel, don’t plan to cook the They may cause underground entire meal. Besides, hungry fi res, which creep out in unex- • Challenge members to pre- people may like to munch on pected places. pare a cookout fi re using only something like crisp vegetables one match. while the food is cooking. Be sure the cooking site is as clean, or cleaner, than it was before you • Plan a winter cookout. used it. Carry away all garbage. • Surf the Web and collect out- Research door cooking information. For more information, check the World Wide Web or your local library. 33 Building the fi re Choose your fi rewood For the beginner, the fi rst step is learning to build a fi re properly. Success- The kind of fi re also depends ful outdoor cookery calls for glowing coals, not active fl ames. The coals on the kind of wood you use. give off even heat. You may be an “old hand” at building campfi res, but Avoid wood with a pithy cen- here are some practical suggestions. ter. It does not burn easily, and gives little heat. Use split logs 1. Select an open spot, away from trees, dead leaves, or anything that may rather than round, smooth easily catch fi re. ones. They burn more readily. 2. Start with a crumpled piece of paper or handful of tinder. Soft woods (pine, spruce, cedar, aspen, basswood, and 3. Arrange very small twigs or sticks in teepee fashion. (Do not use leaves; birch) burn quickly and leave they smother the fi re.) Lay the sticks so that plenty of air can get through ashes but few coals. the spaces between them. For a teepee fi re—After the small Hard woods (oak, ash, hickory, twigs begin to burn, add larger apple, walnut, cherry, maple) sticks the same way you did the burn slowly and provide excel- small ones. A teepee fi re burns lent coals for baking quick and hot, with the fl ame or toasting. directed to one spot. How hot to build the fi re For a log cabin fi re—Build larger Beginners often ask how hot to sticks in log cabin style around the build a fi re. A quick rule of thumb kindling. This is a long-burning is to hold your hand palm-side fi re but takes longer to get started. down at about the position the food will be above the fi re and For a charcoal fi re—This fi re is count (one-thousand-one, one- easy to light. If you have never thousand-two, etc.). used charcoal, follow this plan. If you can hold your hand for 1. Place the charcoal under the 6 seconds or more, it is a slow fi re; rack where the food is to be cooked. 5 seconds is a medium-slow fi re; 4 seconds is a medium fi re; 2. Add crumpled newspaper. 3 seconds is medium-hot; and Light the newspaper. 2 seconds is a hot fi re. 3. When the coals begin to turn Most foods are best white or glow, they are ready. Stir cooked over a the hot coals with a long, thick medium fi re. stick or an iron rod to distribute the heat more evenly. Add food onto the rack. If the coals fl ame from fat dripping into the fi re, sprinkle with water. A spray bottle is handy to use.

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