Camp fire Cooking
Freshly Cooked Yabbies Camp fire cooking can be fun or a nightmare depending on how well prepared you are. Most of you will plan your trip to the Australian Outback fairly well in advance. Where will we go? What will we take? How much will it cost? But the “What will we eat?’ part is often overlooked. Camp fire cooking preparation is important. Dad would get up from breakfast in the morning camp and say to Mum, "That was a good breakfast, Dear. What's for dinner?" You can prepare a really flexible menu and plan your meals months in advance if you want to. This is the fun part of waiting for the big departure day to arrive. As with everything in the bush, whether it be your choice of clothing, your camp gear or your emergency tool kit: Keep your camp fire cooking plans simple. I have tried almost every camp fire cooking gadget, short cut, and recipe imaginable. This is what I take to cook with now. It will fit in a plastic milk crate or one of those plastic storage boxes for kids’ toys. • A good cast iron camp oven and a lid with a reasonably high lip around the lid. You can pick them up for as little as $30. • A pair of camp oven irons. I made mine by flattening the ends of two off cuts from lightweight tent poles. Cut them about 18 inches (450mm) long, flatten the last 3 inches (75mm) of one end and bend them up into a hook shape. Drill a small hole in each of the other ends, Hook the two pieces together with a bit of lightweight chain the electrician uses to hang fluorescent lights. Check out the best length of chain by lifting and carrying your camp oven before you head off. • A good heavy fry pan. If you are a bit handy fit it with a folding handle (not metal!) so that it will fold up and fit inside your camp oven. • A medium sized saucepan. Do the same with the handle as for the fry pan. If you don’t want to go to this trouble there is a great little tool in camping shops that will clamp on to the edge of your billy, saucepan or frypan. It is easy to lose so put a length of chain on it too, and don’t let the kids play with it. The three items should then pack inside one another, separated by fresh sheets of newspaper each time you pack up camp. Put the lot into a woven nylon bag, (Dave uses the old ammonium nitrate bags they used for explosives in his opal mine. Find one that originally had grain in it if you can.) Then put the lot in the plastic crate. There they are safe, clean and won’t rattle. • An old aluminium kettle that fills via the spout is a lot safer than a billy to heat water for your tea or coffee. Mind the hot handle. You may want to use the camp oven irons to handle your kettle after you have had a bit of practice. • If you were only allowed to take one camp fire cooking utensil, take a jaffle iron. You can cook almost anything in it if you have sliced bread! Store it in newspaper inside another woven nylon bag. • Get a resealable rectangular plastic box to keep all your plates and cutlery in (flatware in the U.S.). Use this as a wash up bowl or mixing bowl as well. • A nylon cutting board makes an excellent food prep base. Get one as big and as light as you can find. One of my mates has screwed one onto the drop down tail gate of his Toyota wagon. • Take PLENTY of aluminium foil, plastic bags and paper towel. Throw your food into cardboard boxes or in the car fridge and you are ready for "bush cooking" or camp fire cooking.
Outback Oven Damper
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