Backwoods Cooking
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Backwoods Cooking
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Your Troop night
programme will run better
if you are be able to finish it off with a hot drink and a small
snack or indeed I have included some ideas for a full Troop night
programme The Fijian Oven:- Dig
a hole about 2 foot deep and 2 foot square, line it with rocks that will
not explode. Then build a very hot fire in the hole for at least one hour
then place cabbage leaves round the sides, place your food to be cooked
(and this can be sweet or savoury) in layers of one of food one of leaves
bearing in mind that things that will take most cooking should be
nearest the rocks; and then a layer of hot coals
and so on. You can have
several layers like this if you wish. Cover the top with at least 4 inches
of earth. This can take quite a time
to cook (about 5 to 6 hours) For
more advice on this see Eddie Greenhaugh's excellent book titled Backwoods
Cooking. Sausage On Stick:-
Peel the bark off a green stick and
slide your sausage along it. if you want you can wrap a slice of streaky
bacon round it and if you wish you can cook the sausage first then wrap
the twist dough round it to create a sausage roll ! Hot Rock Cooking:- Find a flat rock (not slate or sandstone as
these types of rock can exploded when heated) heat in the fire then when
hot clean off the ash coat with a little oil then cook your bacon rashers
in a circle and crack your egg into the Centre of the circle. Paper Bag Cooking:- With the aid of a stout paper bag
lay your bacon in the bottom crack your egg on top of the bacon,
fold over the bag and push a long stick through the folded over portion of
the bag. Now suspend over the
hot embers and it will cook away when you ready to eat simply peal away
the bag eat the meal then you do
the washing up by throwing the paper bag on the fire. Chicken In Clay:- Gut your chicken but don’t bother to
pluck it, now plaster it with clay or thick mud to a depth of about 1”
now bury the chicken in the embers for about 30 minutes (this really
depends on the state of the fire) when the chicken is ready peal away the
clay and the feathers will come away as well thus exposing the chicken
ready to eat. Self Basting
Chicken:-
Gut and pluck a chicken then suspend it over a bed of hot embers by a
fairly stout rope. The trick to get it to self baste is a “Dingle” a
dingle is basically a wind driven flat surface that you tie into the rope
so that the wind will move the dingle and of course the chicken around,
this action allows the heat to cook the bird more evenly after about 30
minutes turn the chicken so both ends get cooked (note it is very
important that children do not eat the chicken half cooked as they could
get quite ill from this) A chicken is cooked when no blood ouse’s from
its flesh when pressed ... if in doubt give it another 15 minutes worth of
cooking. The fact that the juices will run down the outside of the bird
provides the self basting action require. Boiling Water In A
Paper Cup:-
This is quite easy really just ensure the cup is completely full. Boiling Water In A
Plastic Bag:-
Put water into your plastic bag then drop hot rocks into the water. You
can also use leather or birch bark for this trick. A Hay Box:- You can cook a meal in a hay box overnight using
the principle of a slow cooker to do this put the billy (pot) with say a boiling
stew placed in it into a box firmly pack straw around about the billy to
the depth of about 2 inches, close down the lid of the box and weight it.
Let the straw’s ability to generate heat cook the meal for you. It
normally takes about 8 hours to cook through. This is particularly good
for cooking porridge for breakfast. You can substitute newspaper or indeed
flow pack for the straw if you wish. Cooking A Chicken
In A Rucksack:-
Place your gutted and plucked chicken in newspapers, fill the chicken with
hot pebbles from your fire. Place the chicken in your rucksack and pace
round the chicken dry leaves or straw or newspapers. Now go for a three
hour hike when you are finished, the chicken will be cooked. Eggs In An Orange:- Cut the top of an orange, eat the centre
out of the orange, the crack the egg into the available space, pop the lid
back on and secure with small sticks, place on the hot embers for about 10
- 15 minutes till cooked Eggs In An Potato:- Cut the top of an potato, scoop out the
centre out of the potato, the crack the egg into the available space, pop
the lid back on and secure with small sharp sticks, place on the hot
embers for about 15 - 20 minutes till cooked Eggs In An Onion:- Cut the top of an onion, scoop out
the centre out of the onion, the crack the egg into the available
space, pop the lid back on and secure with small sharp sticks, place on
the hot embers for about 10 - 15 minutes till cooked. Planking A Fish:- For this you need a fair sized fish gut it and remove the head and tail then split along the back bone of the fish so it lays flat then nail it to a plank of wood and place it near a bed of hot embers. The fish will cook slowly and you will get the flavour of the wood smoke. When ready peal off the strips of fish be careful the odd fish bone may come with the meat you are pealing away. Fish In Newspaper:- Place your gutted fish in newspapers (about
5 layers) really wet the paper through at this point then place on the hot
embers. Turn the package every 2 - 3 minutes and continue to wet down the
newspaper through out. The fish will take about 15 minutes to do using
this method. For an even more natural method you can use cabbage leaves
instead of the newspaper. Fish In A “Y”
Stick:-
Get a long flexible “Y” green stick then either tie or weave the two
ends together to form a circle, lay it on a flat surface then place your
gutted fish inside the circle and with further green peeled sticks weave a
lattice work around the fish and the “Y” slick. When you have finished
your fish will look like a fish trapped in a tennis racquet ! .... simply
cook over the hot embers. Fish On A Stick (A
Fishy Lollipop !!!!):- Peal the bark off a green stick and push it through a gutted
fish. Place your sick into two “Y” shaped stick which you should place
either side of the hot embers. (This way you can do several fish at once
and you don’t burn your hand) cook for about 15 minutes then eat of the
stick ... magic ! Cooking Biscuit
Tin:-
Find a biscuit tin place three pebbles in the bottom of the tin place a
metal plate on the pebbles then place the item you want to cook on the
plate. Place in the fire so that you have twice as many embers on the top
of the metal box as on the bottom. Cooking like this is very quick so be
warned check you food regularly, (it has been known to cremate a chicken
to its carbon base in 15
minutes !) Dutch Oven Cooking:- A Dutch oven is a heavy cast iron or these
days they do use aluminium pots, on the bottom of the pot are usually
three short legs. You can even use the lid for a frying pan. You can cook
nearly anything in a Dutch oven from stews to cakes and biscuits. Numerous
books exist on Dutch oven cooking which cover the subject in far greater
detail that I can here, suffice to say every Scout Troop should have one
of these super pots to prepare wonderful camp food in.
.... A Peach Cobbler Where Are You !!!!! (A
book to read on this subject is Dutch Oven Cooking by John G Ragsdale) Cooking In A
Cardboard Oven:- Find a stout cardboard box remove the top and bottom of the
box. Then line the inside of the box with tinfoil fold it up the outside
of the box to the depth of
about 3”. Place a
series of cross wires about one third from each end of the box. On the
bottom set of cross wires place a heat deflector made again of foil this
should cover the bottom of the box leaving a gap of about one inch to
allow the heat past. Top set of
wires are to support your tray or pot. Place your
cardboard oven on four bricks over a bed of hot ash or charcoal (Note one
charcoal nugget give out about 25 degrees centigrade as a rough guide) Place what you
want to cook in a dish and place it on the top set of wires, now cover the
top of the box with a clear over roasta bag so you can see how your food
is coming along. A refinement of this is to place a thermometer inside the
oven for an accurate temperature reading. When
ready simply peal away the rosta bag and fish out your food. Corn on the Cob:- Do
not remove the sheaves, simple dip in a bucket of water then fling onto
the ash, turn occasionally... eat with butter, a meal fit for a King ! Bonfire Toffee:- Melt
2 oz of butter, add 2 tablespoons of syrup a pound of brown sugar, boil
quickly for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally,. See if it's ready by
dropping a few drops in cold water. When crisp pour out into a heavily
buttered tin break when firm. Garlic Bread:- Get
your loaf slice thickly, butter with garlic butter thickly, wrap in foil,
place on the ash to heat through. (Best to do an extra loaf as its bound
to be popular !) Camp Fire Sandwich:- Butter the bread place the buttered side of
the bread to the outside add a filling of your choice, wrap in foil place
on ash turn once after about a minute. Some ' ores:- Melt
a marshmallow, place between two digestive biscuits add a square of
chocolate .... truly decadent. Choc - o - Mint Oranges:- Cook an orange in its skin on the ash, remove it from the
heat slice it half way through place 3 wafer mints insides place back on
the heat for 5 min then eat. Shish Kebab:- Cut
any type of meat into cubes, place onto a
long peeled green stick add onion, mushrooms, pepper, pineapple
etc. to taste, cook till ready turning frequently Fruit Shish Kebab:- The
same method as above using fruits add a syrup sauce before eating Cheese Fondue:- Make
a rich sauce out of any kind of cheese ( processed cheese
works well !) add a white wine or cider to thin the sauce, cut
small squares of bread dip into the sauce and eat.
{Interesting this, if you loose your bread in the sauce you must
pay a forfeit !!!} Drop
Scones:-
Prepare a batter of 1 pint of milk 1 egg, 2 oz of castor sugar and
4 oz of self raising flour mix well and allow to stand for an hour, grease
lightly a heavy frying pan drop
enough batter to make a 3 inch scone turn when the underside is brown,
butter add jam to taste. (This is enough for about 20 scones but be
advised they go like "Hot Cakes") Hunters Steak:- Clear
an area on the fire so you can cook on hot ash, place steak direct onto
the fire, when ready remove dust off ash which may have stuck to the meat
and eat. (The fire will sterilise any germs so don't worry about it) Baked Apples:- Core
the apple, fillings can be added, marshmallow, sugar, fruit, cherries,
smarties (M & M’s) , syrup to name a few. Seal in foil place on the
ash for about 10 -15 minutes. Twists:- Make
a dough of self raising flour and water until it is putty like
cut into strips. Wrap round a green stick and bake eat with jam or
honey. Variations to this is wrap around a half cooked sausage then bake
to give a sausage roll. Stuffed Sausages:- Mix
up a
packet of sage and onion stuffing add some Worcester sauce and a
dash of tomato sauce, slice the sausage lengthways stuff the sausage wrap
in foil place on the fire for
about 10 minutes. Stuffed Fruit Loaf:- Take
a plain loaf cut off the top lengthways scoop out soft inner’s
crumble and add to this two apples finely diced and one cup of
sultanas. Fix the top back on using cocktail sticks. Spread margarine
thickly on the outside of the loaf wrap tightly in a double layer of foil
place on the ash for about 15 minutes turning regularly Tattie (Potato)
Soup:-
(For Eight) Peal and
grate 1 Lb. of potatoes, peal and chop
one large onion fry this in 2 oz of butter then add this to 2 pints
of stock (which is made from two chicken or ham stock cubes)
boil then allow to
simmer for 15 minutes serve with a grated
cheese topping. Drinks
Various:- Fruit Punch:- Orange
juice, cider, 1 large can of tangerine oranges, fruit to taste. Pine Tea:- Boil water then place in your cup a fresh young
pine leaf wait about 5
minutes, remove the leave and strain add sugar to taste Nettle Tea:- Boil water then place in your cup a fresh young
nettle leaves wait about 5
minutes, remove the leaves and strain add sugar to taste. Russian Tea :- Lots of sugar, black tea, 2 large tins of mixed fruit, 1 bottle of cheap red wine add to taste. Simmer for 30 minutes until fruit is soft.
Kye:- Cocoa,
sugar, milk, spirits of some description to just flavour the drink. Snacks:- Cracker Surprise:-
Ritz crackers, with cheese spread and a square of pineapple on top. Brandy Bananas:- Cook
the banana in its skin until soft then slip add a teaspoonful of brandy or
a square of chocolate or
marshmallow and re-heat until ready. Ash Toast:- Simply
place a piece of bread directly onto the hot ashes, (Don't worry the heat
will sterilise any germs) then using tongs turn over as soon as it's done
.... It has a unique flavour. You may want to add cinnamon to taste. Toffee Apples:- Place
the apple onto a green stick hold over glowing ash until the apple is soft
this takes about 15 minutes, peal off the skin then roll in a mixture of
syrup and sugar, re-heat
until the sugar forms a candy coating. Angels on
Horseback:- Cook a slice of bacon then wrap it round a square of
cheese return to the heat until cheese is soft. Bac - o - Cheese Dog:- Cut a sausage long ways, but not all the way through
add cheese to the split then wrap in a slice of bacon hold together using
tooth picks then cook for about 10 minutes.
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