Interesting examples of examples

[SSScout]

Here's what I once saw at a IOLS camp cooking demo:

 

On the camp driveway, two feet wide heavy duty aluminum foil, doubled, laid out 25 feet long, held down with some rocks along the edge.

Foot wide charcoal piled along the center of the foil.

Looooong squirt of kerosene into Charcoal. Light it off. FOOOOSH!

 

Meanwhile, Scouters (25 or so) make aluminum dinners, chopped steak, fish, various veggies, double wrapped and seamsealed. Coffee pots filled with cocoa, coffee, hot cider,

 

When charcoal (maybe three 40 pound bags) is hot, dinners were laid on, pots pushed in. Someone even attempted a chocolate brownie thing in foil, It was like a chewy cookie when done.

 

It burned for an hour, plus.

 

True, they didn't COOK by Patrols, but they did PREPARE the meals by Patrols.

 

Clean up was rolling up the foil.

 

Clean up water was done over a big jet gas stove.

 

 

You folks have any other interesting demos, examples, ideas?

[Stosh]

OMG, so wrong on so many levels. I haven't used the eye-brow removing method of lighting charcoal in years. Kerosene? That had to make the food taste wonderful. This sounds too much like good-old-boys kinda thing that I really don't want any of my boys learning from.

 

It burned for an hour, plus. Was that time measured from FOOOOSH or when the Fire Department showed up?

 

Big jet gas stove? We talking aviation fuel here?

 

Stosh

[perdidochas]

Here's what I once saw at a IOLS camp cooking demo:

 

On the camp driveway, two feet wide heavy duty aluminum foil, doubled, laid out 25 feet long, held down with some rocks along the edge.

Foot wide charcoal piled along the center of the foil.

Looooong squirt of kerosene into Charcoal. Light it off. FOOOOSH!

 

Meanwhile, Scouters (25 or so) make aluminum dinners, chopped steak, fish, various veggies, double wrapped and seamsealed. Coffee pots filled with cocoa, coffee, hot cider,

 

When charcoal (maybe three 40 pound bags) is hot, dinners were laid on, pots pushed in. Someone even attempted a chocolate brownie thing in foil, It was like a chewy cookie when done.

 

It burned for an hour, plus.

 

True, they didn't COOK by Patrols, but they did PREPARE the meals by Patrols.

 

Clean up was rolling up the foil.

 

Clean up water was done over a big jet gas stove.

 

 

You folks have any other interesting demos, examples, ideas?

 

Hmm, I didn't think that chemical fuels were allowed to be used to light fires. I bet it looked impressive, but it wasn't Scoutlike, IMHO. What part of leave no trace involves 50+ feet of aluminum foil, etc.

[walk in the woods]

You folks have any other interesting demos' date=' examples, ideas?[/quote']

 

We do some of the standards for OLS, eggs in orange peels, cardboard oven cookies, dutch oven desserts and one-pots, etc. One of my favorites is the ice cream salt and mustard slurry coating a roast that is cooked directly on and buried in charcoal.

[Stosh]

When I do OLS cooking demonstrations, I generally go with the stick, pot, mess kit, griddle, wok, dutch oven progression (all patrol-method). It gives the learners an opportunity to view a variety of different cooking options available outdoors. Because of the limitations of Cub Scouting, I also include cooking for larger groups beyond the 8 of a patrol.

 

The variety of different cooking options allows the participants the awareness that the GrubMaster isn't restricted in his/her option just because they have moved from the kitchen to the campsite.

 

I also teach the use of menus/recipes that enhance the seasons. Spring and summer recipes tend to be different than those of late summer and fall.

 

I also focus on use of the different cooking sources, wood, charcoal and gas. I shy away from things like reflector ovens and backpack bakers because they are generally only used for training and not many people actually use them in the field on a regular basis.

 

OLS participants should walk away from the demonstration with an "I can do that.." attitude rather than an a "Wow, it's amazing what other people can do..." attitude.

 

Stosh

[SSScout]

Stosh: The "jet stove" was one of those propane stand alone burners. My Leader always called it a "jet" stove because of the noise it made. And, yes, it was a big FOOOSH, but the dinners didn't take on any kero taste/smell, it had burned down considerable before the aluminums were put on the coals.

I like your last comment about "I can do that".

[TAHAWK]

Helicopter or "dingle fan" chicken. http://boyslife.org/outdoors/1264/goofy-grub/

(A salvaged fan blade placed in line with the chicken on a freely-rotating pivot is driven by the rising heat and causes the chicken on the lower section of chain to rotate = "helicopter"[AFTER TRANSMISSION FAILURE])

 

Eggs in onion.

 

Roast stuffed pumpkin.

 

Pit roast. (The same carried to a wonderful extreme

)

 

 

Chemical charcoal starters are, indeed, "prohibited" by G2SS. Liquid charcoal starter or kerosene are "chemical."

[SSScout]

I have seen whole steer roasts, but THIS is the most extravagant thing I have EVER seen....

[ctbailey]

Huh. I'm surprised at how quickly so many people immediately got on the "That was a terrible idea!" bandwagon.

 

It's true, that the CURRENT G2SS clearly lists liquid firestarters as prohibited items, SSScout didn't say when this cooking demo occured. It might have occurred in the 70's.

 

But, to build an open cooking source big enough for 25 people, that will eventually smolder quite nicely and safely I thought was pretty good.

 

And then to be able to simply wrap up the ashes and toss into the trash after out cold... how much more LNT can you get?

 

The tin foil cooking demo is always a tough bit of the course to logisticate, and I speak from experience having instructed the outdoor cooking portion.

 

To do something similar in accordance with the G2SS would require a bit more lead-up time to get the coals ready, and if prepared in the center of a gravel drive/parking area of camp... why not? Just be aware of the potential for wind, and be prepared with a charged water hose standing by.

 

Sometimes a "backwoods" approach is the correct approach. But sometimes you simply have 25 or more participants who have absolutely no idea that a meal can be prepared in a tin foil pouch, and 5 (or more) traditional fire rings/lays are not possible or plausible for cooking.

 

Done safely, I applaud those instructors who were so bold to think outside the box, and actually accomplish a mass cooking event in a Leave no Trace manner!

[Twocubdad]

I'm figuring these were adults. They should have sense enough to light a fire safely.

 

I'm more bothered that they are teaching tin-foil cooking. This may be a reasonable lesson for BALOO or even WOLS, but I would hope we would step up the game for training Boy Scout leaders. My guys did that in cubs. Where is the challenge? Where is the skill development? Where is the edible meal? I know hobo dinners can be well made, but burying them in 120 pounds of charcoal is most likely to produce more charcoal.

 

It's always amazing to me some of the nice, well-intentioned but totally ignorant trainers districts throw at outdoor training. Sure, you can read the Cub Scout Leader training syllabus and regurgitate it back to a class, but not outdoor skills. When I took WOLS they had a really nice lady teaching the session on running campfires. She did a great job of presenting the syllabus material on how to organize a campfire -- previewing skits for content, mixing skits with songs and run-ons, having the program "follow the flame", etc. Meanwhile, she's walking around a half cord of 10-inch diameter oak logs dropping matches on them. I'm figuring she has a fire lay in the middle of the ring until she runs out of matches. She then ad-libs that if you're having a problem lighting a fire, Styrofoam cups can be used as emergency fire starters. NO THEY CAN"T! At that point I and two other guys jumped in, walked about six feet into the woods and quickly came back with more than enough tender and kindling to build a proper fire.

 

One of the worst thing we can do is teach our Scouts wrong information and techniques.

 

[Stosh]

When my buddy and I did Webelos outdoors, we did it for a number of years, just the two of us. The council didn't really put a whole lot of emphasis on Webelos boys camping at that point.

 

Anyway the number one question the participants always asked at the closing session was "When did you guys cook the meals?" They were all served a lunch supper and breakfast and either my buddy or I were constantly teaching classes. However, we developed a routine whereby we could tell where the other left off and we switched out teaching and cooking throughout the day. Sunday morning was the opportunity to learn how we did it. That way they could cook for the boys and not interrupt the program with the boys. Now they expect the boys to participate more in the food prep, but the dynamics of what we were doing still would allow for younger cubs to have outings with as few as 2 adults. A unit as small as a den could have the boys out for fun and still get in the cooking seamlessly.

 

Stosh

[SSScout]

I saw a very clever thing at summer camp this year. We had started the fire with wood, and were going to lay charcoal on it for the foil cooking. The wood fire burned, sort of, and wouldn't really "get going" to light up the charcoal. Scouter comes up with a hollow aluminum tent pole, and BLOWS thru it, into the fire! Fire picks up! Fellow gets winded, asks for a trash bag.... takes big black trash bag, fills it with air, wraps it around the tent pole end, SQUEEZES it like a bagpipe. Presto! Bellows effect into fire! Charcoal picks up in short order! We all applauded! I was reminded of an old fashioned blacksmith forge and bellows.

[Stosh]

2' long 1/4" piece of copper pipe. Hammer one end almost shut. Does the same thing but the volume of air is constricted enough to really blast and one can do the same thing, but not get winded. A gentle blow will do the trick because of the constriction. The 2' length is variable depending on how much you value your eyebrows.

 

Stosh

[DuctTape]

Why use charcoal at all? As a kid, then a scout, adult, scouter I have made countless meals over the open fires, including foil dinners. A bag of charcoal is not necessary. The problem with the example is the real lesson learned is that of a giant troop cooking pit run by adults for the purpose of feeding boys. Missed the whole point of the patrol method. Yes, that is the lesson that was learned. Giant troop cooking pits run by adults.

[Stosh]

I'm thinking the adults can justify this by putting the fire pit in the middle of all the patrols 300' apart...... Adults running the show can justify just about anything they want.....

 

Stosh