Outdoors
Unusual but effective cooking methods
Who says camp food has to taste blah? With minimal effort, a troop of North Carolina Scouts has gotten creative with campfire cuisine to cook up mouth-watering entrees.
“We get a lot of stares when we’re at a camporee and start cooking fish over the campfire,” says 17-year-old Scout Jordan Mitchell, Troop 33, Charlotte, N.C. “I tell them fish over a fire tastes great and it’s really not hard to do after you’ve done it a few times.”
In Troop 33, the Scouts will starve before the leaders will cook for them.
“[Cooking]’s actually kind of fun,” insists 13-year-old Scout Hayden Hoffler, as he flips up the lid on a mailbox-turned-camping stove.
The Scouts in Troop 33 are practicing recipes used by Scouts for generations. But some of Troop 33’s recipes have a twist. For example, their mailbox stove lets them bake, simmer and even stay warm on windy days when campfires aren’t practical.
Here are some of the troop’s favorite recipes.
FISH ON A SKEWER
Ingredients:
Fresh fish, cleaned inside and out (trout, crappie, bluegill, perch, brim, catfish or bass)
About 1/4 cup olive oil
Juice from 1 lemon
Salt and pepper
Dried parsley
Wooden skewers 12 inches long
Mix olive oil, lemon juice, salt, pepper and parsley together then brush on cleaned fish. Starting at the tail end, spear skewer through fish, with pointed end coming out through mouth.
Place fish in coals (no flames) head first with tail sticking up straight. Cook for about 10 minutes until flaky (165 degrees).
BANNOCK BREAD BAKED IN A MAILBOX
Ingredients:
3 cups flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
4 tablespoons sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
Water
Mix dry ingredients in a gallon-size plastic bag. Stir in water gradually to form heavy dough that isn’t sticky.
With floured hands, roll into balls and pat flat into biscuit-size cakes or “bannocks.” (You can also cook it as one large flat cake.) Coat with flour to prevent sticking. Bake in oven or pan until done.
MAILBOX STEW
Ingredients:
1/2 pound stew beef
1 tablespoon oil
3 carrots (not peeled)
2 potatoes (not peeled)
1 onion (diced)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
2 teaspoons sugar
Parsley or dried parsley flakes
Cut beef into bite-size cubes. Brown beef in oil in bottom of two-quart pot. Add water to cover meat and simmer for 30 minutes. Chop vegetables (leaving potato and carrot unpeeled for extra vitamins and fiber) and add to pot. Add spices and additional water to cover vegetables. Simmer covered 1 to 2 hours until vegetables are cooked.
DINGLE STICK CHICKEN
Ingredients:
Whole chicken
Salt and pepper
Fresh sage (diced)
Heavy string (100 percent cotton)
Hardwood sticks (green) about 12 inches long with bark removed (Do not use soft wood or wood with sap.)
Season chicken inside with salt, pepper and diced sage. Tie chicken securely with string. Spear the chicken with sticks to help maneuver it while cooking. Using another long piece of string soaked in water, make a loop that wraps around the sticks and hang chicken from thick branch pounded into ground securely. Cook over coals, letting drippings fall into pan, which keeps drippings from creating flames. Occasionally, turn chicken end over end. Chicken is done when thermometer reads 165 to 170 degrees.
STONE CHICKEN
Ingredients
Whole chicken
Salt and pepper
Fresh sage (diced)
Heavy aluminum foil
1 large smooth river rock for (2 medium-size smooth rocks)
Clean stone(s) and place in fire. Make sure each stone is dry; residual moisture could result in popping rocks. Season chicken inside and out with salt, pepper and diced sage. Using tongs, place stone inside chicken. Wrap chicken tightly with foil. Place inside gallon-sized zippered bag (to catch juices). Place bagged chicken inside of a burlap bag filled with straw or dried grass or leaves (this acts as insulation). Tie burlap bag and let cook 5 to 6 hours. Chicken is done when thermometer reads 165 to 170 degrees. The burlap bag can be left to cook at your campsite or carried in a backpack. The stone cooks the chicken as you walk.
Read 28 comments about “Unusual but effective cooking methods”
April 9th, 2008 at 1:45 pm
Good news. We will be posting instructions on how to make the mailbox stove in a few days. It has just taken some time to gather the information and photographs. Thanks, everybody, for your patience.
March 10th, 2008 at 3:52 pm
all hose look really good but this comes from a guy who puts chips on his sandwhiches at lunch.and hay i think cooking is fun to it isn’t just for ladys.
March 5th, 2008 at 9:23 pm
Please post how to make the mail-box over and give tips on how to keep it clean, maintain it over the years and what should be but over it or in it to keep clean and not sick of the viruses we can get from it.
February 22nd, 2008 at 8:16 pm
PLEASE how do you make the mailbox stove? There must be 15 request posted here all asking the same question. Is the charcoal in the bottom? are there vent holes in strategic locations to keep the fire alive? is there a way to adjust the heat, by controlling the venting,,,, I have been unable to get mine version above about 300 degrees and cannot get bisquits to brown….
PLEASE ANSWER: How to make the oven.
February 18th, 2008 at 3:46 pm
Please post how to make the stove
January 22nd, 2008 at 11:01 pm
I like the stone chiken idea
January 21st, 2008 at 10:13 pm
FYI - A BBQ thermometer works well to monitor the temperature and adjust the fuel/fire.
January 9th, 2008 at 1:29 am
Thanks for the info, now P L E A S E ! ! POST the instructions on how make the oven. Would an temp gage from a BBQ grill be of any use for this oven. Thanks for the recipes,yum-yum !!
January 7th, 2008 at 8:49 am
Thanks for the Mailbox Oven idea. I made one this weekend using your picture as a model. The first batch of biscuits turned out great. I might look for a method to insulate the oven when using it in cold weather to prevent heat loss.
January 5th, 2008 at 8:00 pm
Man that is cool post some instructions my troop wants to make one!!