Traditionally American camp fire dishes

[Cambridgeskip]

So between them my PLs and adult leaders have come up with the program for the rest of this term. Entirely by coincidence we are going to have a cook out on fires at a local campsite on your very own 4 July (actually we wanted it on another date but had to shuffle dates around due to availability of adults!). I would like the PLs to decide on what the dishes to be cooked are but what I would like to be able to do is point them towards dishes that scouts in the USA would typically cook on a fire, preferably with minimal utensils. There's plenty out there to google but I'd rather get it from the horses mouth and put the ideas to them,

So anything that you can think of that is very American point right this way!

[mrkstvns]

6 minutes ago, Cambridgeskip said:

So anything that you can think of that is very American point right this way!

You are in luck!

SCOUTER Forum has an entire area chock full of good camp recipes:
https://www.scouter.com/forum/65-camp-recipes-and-cooking/ 

In my opinion, the most quintessential "campfire food" is S'mores.  Simply spear a marshmallow on a stick, brown it over the fire, then smear it on a graham cracker with a piece of chocolate candy bar on it. Cap it off with another graham cracker to make it a sandwich.  I've yet to meet a kid who didn't love making S'mores!!

[SSScout]

First, one needs an appetite.  Hike, row, canoe some class threes and fours  . . .

Leave someone in camp to cook the meal for you, because when you get back from the climb up Mt. Sugarloaf,  you may not feel up to cooking the repast Cambridge is thinking of here.

Good hardwood, burned down to a thick layer of coals.  Dutch Oven Brownies, include the chopped walnuts and chocolate chips.

Hamburgers, held in a grill basket, not on a frying pan, hold over the coals.    Carrot sticks, celery sticks, potatoes rolled up in Aluminium sheets,  laid on the coals and turned about every 15 minutes so they cook evenly.  Butter for the veggies.  Please note, I did not put the hamburger in the foil. The "patties"  therefore need to be very firm.   The smoke and burnt edges are desired.     Ice tea, ice coffee.   If you can get ice.   TANG, if you can find it.....  

Please note I mentioned the titular dessert first.  Most important.   Exact recipes on line available.

Oh, if it is especially meant to be an "American" forth of July picnic, you need Watermelon, preferably a "Gator Melon", which is long , cylindrical, not spherical, with SEEDS.  Potato Salad, too, is called for.  Cut up Idaho Russett Potatoes into 1" cubes, about, boil until not quite done. Run lots of cold water over them to stop the cooking, and cool them.  Sliver some carrots and a bit of onion and celery (ratio Potato 10, carrot 1/2, celery 1/4,  onion 1/4) , mix with hands, then glob in real Mayonaise  until you like the way it looks. Let sit in your 'fridge over night for best taste. 

Let me know when dinner is scheduled, so I can book my flight....

 

Edited April 30, 2019 by SSScout

[Cambridgeskip]

14 hours ago, mrkstvns said:

You are in luck!

SCOUTER Forum has an entire area chock full of good camp recipes:
https://www.scouter.com/forum/65-camp-recipes-and-cooking/ 

In my opinion, the most quintessential "campfire food" is S'mores.  Simply spear a marshmallow on a stick, brown it over the fire, then smear it on a graham cracker with a piece of chocolate candy bar on it. Cap it off with another graham cracker to make it a sandwich.  I've yet to meet a kid who didn't love making S'mores!!

Thank you, I'd never stumbled across that one before!

[Cambridgeskip]

13 hours ago, SSScout said:

First, one needs an appetite.  Hike, row, canoe some class threes and fours  . . .

Leave someone in camp to cook the meal for you, because when you get back from the climb up Mt. Sugarloaf,  you may not feel up to cooking the repast Cambridge is thinking of here.

Good hardwood, burned down to a thick layer of coals.  Dutch Oven Brownies, include the chopped walnuts and chocolate chips.

Hamburgers, held in a grill basket, not on a frying pan, hold over the coals.    Carrot sticks, celery sticks, potatoes rolled up in Aluminium sheets,  laid on the coals and turned about every 15 minutes so they cook evenly.  Butter for the veggies.  Please note, I did not put the hamburger in the foil. The "patties"  therefore need to be very firm.   The smoke and burnt edges are desired.     Ice tea, ice coffee.   If you can get ice.   TANG, if you can find it.....  

Please note I mentioned the titular dessert first.  Most important.   Exact recipes on line available.

Oh, if it is especially meant to be an "American" forth of July picnic, you need Watermelon, preferably a "Gator Melon", which is long , cylindrical, not spherical, with SEEDS.  Potato Salad, too, is called for.  Cut up Idaho Russett Potatoes into 1" cubes, about, boil until not quite done. Run lots of cold water over them to stop the cooking, and cool them.  Sliver some carrots and a bit of onion and celery (ratio Potato 10, carrot 1/2, celery 1/4,  onion 1/4) , mix with hands, then glob in real Mayonaise  until you like the way it looks. Let sit in your 'fridge over night for best taste. 

Let me know when dinner is scheduled, so I can book my flight....

 

Alas this is specifically for our regular Thursday evening scout night so no camp or hike to get them hungry! 

Some home made burgers could be quite fun for it though.

[MattR]

What the scouts would cook over a fire and what I would cook over a fire, on July 4th, are very different things.

Barbecue. (Where are all the people from Texas?) Burgers with good stuff mixed into the meat will work but marinated something is my favorite. The least expensive is probably chicken thighs. They taste good and have enough fat in them that they're a little more forgiving if they get too much heat.

[walk in the woods]

18 hours ago, Cambridgeskip said:

Entirely by coincidence we are going to have a cook out on fires at a local campsite on your very own 4 July

You don't have July 4th on the calendar in the UK?  Does it go straight from 3 to 5? 

Foil packs have been a favorite of some of the boys I've worked with if you're going for limited utensils.  Slathering a roast of some sort in mustard and rock salt until fully covered, then set it on and bury it under coals.  Makes a nice roast in a fairly short amount of time.  Be sure to knock the crust off with the back of a knife before eating.  But mostly, left to themselves, the boys would choose burgers and or sausage/hot dogs on a skewer.

[mrkstvns]

12 minutes ago, MattR said:

Barbecue. (Where are all the people from Texas?) Burgers with good stuff mixed into the meat will work but marinated something is my favorite. The least expensive is probably chicken thighs. They taste good and have enough fat in them that they're a little more forgiving if they get too much heat.

Howdy MattR!  Ya got your heart in the right place, but y'all friends across the pond can't really be trusted to do barbecue. 

Good barbecue is a work of art. It takes hours and hours of slow smoking with just the right spices, just the right kind of wood and just the right amount of humidity in that smoke. It is not a skill that can be mastered by a new chef reading a few quick messages in a Scouting Form....not in any way that entitles such a dish to be rightly called "Barbecue".

If you want to call your meat covered in sugary sauce a " barbecue", by all means, slap together some quick and dirty recipe using bottled "sauce".  That approach works just fine for chef imposters in Kansas City and Carolina, but it sure don't feed the bull in any part of the Lone Star State!

[MattR]

1 minute ago, mrkstvns said:

but y'all friends across the pond can't really be trusted to do barbecue.

As long as nobody is hurt, we trust and encourage all scouts to try something new.

I hate to tell you this but some of the best barbecue I've ever had was in Argentina. The only spice they used was salt. What made it so good was the fact that the meat was all grass fed and very slowly cooked. Every house in Argentina has a very simple brick barbecue in the back yard that consists of a U shaped brick wall on a concrete slab. That's it. They put a fire at the base in a corner, stretch the meat across an antenna looking thing, and just lean it over the coals. For several hours they drink beer and rotate the meat every hour. That and some salads and it was incredibly tasty.

[ianwilkins]

21 minutes ago, walk in the woods said:

You don't have July 4th on the calendar in the UK?  Does it go straight from 3 to 5? 

Can't think why the UK doesn't* celebrate American Independence Day. 😇

All friends now though eh?

* Well, some shops and pubs try and milk it for commercial gain, like St. Patrick's day but less green and Guinness, and more stars and stripes and hot dogs.

 

[mrkstvns]

42 minutes ago, ianwilkins said:

Can't think why the UK doesn't* celebrate American Independence Day. 😇

 

They could call it "Bloody Traitor Day".   

[PinkPajamas]

Canned bake beans! Nothing more 4th of July-y than a side dish of canned bake beans. 

[walk in the woods]

59 minutes ago, PinkPajamas said:

Canned bake beans! Nothing more 4th of July-y than a side dish of canned bake beans. 

And the Blazing Saddles Campfire Scene on a loop!

[ianwilkins]

15 hours ago, mrkstvns said:

They could call it "Bloody Traitor Day".   

We've already got Bonfire/Guy Faulkes Night. Or "burn an effigy of that catholic that tried to blow up parliament" night. Though the details are mostly lost in a hazy mess of low quality meat, drinking, sparklers, and fireworks.

 

[qwazse]

Before dessert, ice cream and cake usually, I would pass around the text of the Declaration of Independence and have each person take a passage.

My SM would make ice cream. Incredible stuff!