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What can I cook over a campfire?

post #1 of 17
12/19/07 at 6:51pm
Thread Starter 
First off I'm totally clueless about cooking. I'd like to learn someday but I have too much on my plate right now. Suffice to say I know how to fix eggs, ramen noodles, and krafts mac and cheese and that's about it ;)

Anyways, I'm taking a girl out and I thought I could take her to the beach and build a little mini-bonfire and cook ourselves supper. Good chance to get intimate methinks :smoking:

Thing is, I'd like to avoid the hotdog route. For two reasons. First, I always try to be unusual in my dates, keeps things interesting for me and the girl, and this girl is a muslim, so no pork.

I was thinking shishkabobs, but are these easy to cook [well] and do you need a grill?
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post #2 of 17
12/19/07 at 7:00pm
Just as with hotdogs, you don't cook them over the fire but place them over the hot glowing coals. Rake some out of the center of the fire if you have to.

If you make the kabobs pretty with mixed meat and vegies they are somewhat tricky to cook well as all those things cook at different rates so it's easy to burn the vegies but still have underdone meat. The simple workaround is to string up the vegies on their own kabob and the meat on it's own kabob and then mix them on the plate.

Much simpler is a tin-foil dinner/hobo dinner. Google those terms and you'll find some easy fire food. Also borrow Dian Thomas book Roughing it Easy from the library or buy it. Tons of simple good food in primitive settings. And simple cooking projects like buddy burners and more for other cheap cooking out meals.

I hope you clean up your fire ring cause the ocean takes some time to wash that away. Or use an established fire ring.
more than taste fine
me eat it all the time
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post #3 of 17
12/19/07 at 7:12pm
Beef kabobs. :) Parcook some potatoes and wrap them in foil.
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post #4 of 17
12/20/07 at 5:45am
Here's an idea for dessert:

Take along a broom handle or a wooden dowel rod. Make sure it's clean! Take crescent rolls and mold them around the end of the rod, making an even layer. Then cook over the fire until they are browned and puffed. Remove from the rod or handle and put a pat of butter along with cinnamon and sugar in it. You can also use pudding, pie filling, or really anything of your choice, even savory like pizza sauce and cheese!
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post #5 of 17
12/20/07 at 12:01pm
SMORES!!!!

If i was a chic, and you were taking me on a date to a camp fire you better be bringing me smores. that ouiiiiy gooiy center so good. and maybe ill take some more gooie center later.

you could being a cast isron skillet (its heavy) and pit it by the fire and cook almost anythign that way.
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post #6 of 17
12/20/07 at 6:17pm
Whenever my friends and I have a bonfire at night we have to make SMORES!
Its super fun to make and they are so good!
All you need is:
Graham Crackers (the honey kind)
Hersey's Chocolate (use the ones that come in a bar)
Marshmellows!!

You can also cook hot dogs on the bonfire if you'd like

Also when I go to the beach in the afternoon I like to bring a mini bbq grill, you can get them for pretty cheap and you can bring it everywhere! With a mini grill you can basically make anything even oysters! If you like them, good luck on your date! ;]

Check out this site for any recipes you are looking for, just type th recipe in at the search bar: ActiveCooks.com - Online Video Cooking
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post #7 of 17
12/20/07 at 9:33pm
Hobo dinners, I do love those on campouts. When i was younger i was in the boy scouts, and when we were on camping trips(actuall ones, with tents, not those crappy ones where u were in those houses without doors, how is that camping) we always got to make whatever we wanted for dinner. Most of my friends would have a mound of s'mores and some hot-dogs. I guess it was the young chef in me that couldnt eat that for dinner, but i always made "hobo stew"

Basically, you take some tin-foil, load it up with whatever protien you want, throw some potatoes, or alot of potatoes, vegetables, S&P, and whatever else you like. I usuualy did chicken, carrots, celery, potatoes, and whatever we had leftover from breakfast. I also would put some ketchup and BBQ sauce over evetything, then wrap it up, stick it next to the coals and come back in a hour or so. goes really well with biscuits. you could precook those and just warm them over the fire.

Also, if u have like a rack, or something u could jerry-rig to go over the fire, like a grill type setup without the lid, it'll be easier to cook things other then hobo stew

Its not exactly gourmet, but its easy, tastes good, and leaves a lot of time to do other things... ::wink::
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post #8 of 17
12/20/07 at 11:32pm

Out of the ordinary S'mores

I do a lot of fires in my firepit in the summer, so we do S'mores a lot...The best thing about them is they're easy to change up a little to make them out of the ordinary.

A favorite combo with my friends is to use coconut marshmellows and hunks of Skor bars, or white chocolate...Or you could do regular marshmellows with mint-chocolate... There are chocolate marshmellows, but they don't burn the same. We've done other combos, too, but in this dark of Maine winter, I can't come up with them.

The key with S'mores is to get the 'mellow hot enough...Stick it in the fire, set it on fire, and twirl it until the whole skin is burning...you want the outside to be bubbled with black, but not entirely black so that the candy you use will melt.
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post #9 of 17
12/21/07 at 4:17am
or you can sit there and get it a nice golden brown but it takes too long. and too much work
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post #10 of 17
12/21/07 at 4:48am
The usual hotdogs, Marshmallows and smores. But for a change, you can try corn on a cob. Just put em on the stick, then heat em up..Your muslim friend will surely enjoy...;)
Who doesn't love to cook?
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post #11 of 17
12/21/07 at 5:15am
'sides...that little bit of bubbly-black carcinogen-laced coating tastes soooo good, especially as the crispness of it wrinkles over your tongue and the warm gooiness of the melted 'mellow inside follows. :D Toasted golden brown just can't compete.

Sooo can't wait for summer!
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post #12 of 17
12/21/07 at 6:38am
If you want it to be a "dinner", the hobo packs are the way to go. You can wrap up about any old thing in aluminum foil, and carry it around until you are ready to fire it up. I would think maybe some chicken wings or tenders, some baby carrots, and some sliced potatoes doused in some barbecue sauce or bottled Italian dressing-throw the whole shebang on the fire/coals. If you want to get really crazy or inventive, you could throw some mussels or shrimp in there, but I think you will get enough wow factor out of making anything at all.

And the s'mores are also a fabulous and cheap idea-THAT, I think, is what will get you where you-ahem-want to be. I have some good stories from college that actually began with a pan of lasagna...:cool:
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post #13 of 17
12/21/07 at 11:37am
Be advised that you will need a quite a bit of wood so that you can let the fire burn down to a good bed of "coals". Then you can keep the fire going on the side while cooking over the "coals" in the center. Also, you will need to bring some smaller sticks and paper to get it going. If you are inexperienced in this, you'd better bring a lot of matches and some charcoal lighter wouldn't be a bad idea either. Planning is everything for successful campfire cooking. Think this thing through very carefully, dude. You don't want it ruined by not having something you need. She might appreciate things like napkins........Don't plan on doing shishkebab by holding the skewers in your hands; you need a grill to lay them on. Good luck.
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post #14 of 17
12/21/07 at 2:33pm
You are living dangerously. Don'tget both your and your date's heads cut off by an angry father or brother.:eek:

Mike
travelling gourmand
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post #15 of 17
12/23/07 at 3:10pm
Have a go with fish...either in a foil parcel with some lemon slices and bit of butter, or on a rack. Slice some meditterenean veg like zucchini, egg-plant, tomatoes, capsicum - drizzle with oil and do next to fish on the rack. Simple but delicious and doesn't take long.

Try wrapping some bananas in foil with brown sugar &butter and rum (is she allowed alcohol - I'm uneducated in that respect - just leave it out if not) and put them on the rack too. Really really yummy.

Good luck!
 Don't handicap your children by making their lives easy.
Robert A. Heinlein
 
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post #16 of 17
12/25/07 at 11:49am
Here where I live near the Amazon River in Brazil we frequently make BBQs along the rivers banks. To start with you need to cut some Y shaped branches and straight green branches from some trees. You then make a tree branch grill using the 4 Y branches. Then you go collect some dry fire wood and get the fire started. As to what to grill the normal fare is fish. You leave the scales on the fish and place it on the green wood grill over the coals seasoned with some salt and lime. If you happen to take some beef along you season it with rock salt and roast it over the grill. I don't think that this will be too easy for you do with your date. So, I would stay with something less primative. But, I can tell you fish roasted in this fashion is great. The meat is great as well. The setting also helps.


dk
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post #17 of 17
12/25/07 at 4:00pm

Cooking shows

Check out watchacook or youcookforus (dot com)
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