5 Tips for Cooking over Fire
Are you wanting to cook more over the campfire but unsure where to start? I’ve got 5 simple tips to get you more confident cooking over the fire!
Cooking over fire can be an intimidating thing, trust me, I’ve been there too! Unlike a household oven or stove, fire is a little harder to control and predict. If you’ve ever cooked a marshmallow too close to the campfire and had it go from perfectly golden to scorching fire ball in 0.3 seconds, you know what I mean.
It takes time to really learn the art of cooking over fire, and I myself am still learning SO much, but it doesn’t have to be as difficult as you think! I've compiled my top 5 tips to make you feel more confident cooking over fire below! With a little practice and patience, you’ll be cooking up all sorts of delicious dishes soon!
Start early
Make sure to start your campfire well before the time you want to cook (30 minutes - 1 hour) so the flames can die down and you have lots of hot coals to cook with. This is a great time to crack open a beer and enjoy some conversation with your friends.
Cooking over straight flames can be tricky not to burn the outside and have a raw inside, so be patient for the coals! Cooking over coals is easier to control the heat by moving around coals, adjusting the height of your grate, or moving your food to a different spot.
Additionally, if you’re wanting to bake using a dutch oven in the fire, you’ll need coals to heat the top and bottom part of the dutch oven with (using briquettes in place of wood is great in this case, as they keep their heat a little longer than wood coals).
Extra tip: to make sure you have a steady supply of good, hot coals, keep a small fire going next to your coals/cooking space, so that you can pull fresh coals from the fire when you need more.
2. Choose your tools
Get yourself a good pair of fire resistant gloves and hardy tongs so you can handle cast iron cookware, move around coals, and tend to your food without burning all your arm hair off. I was a little stubborn at first and thought I could get away with using sticks to move around coals and my food, but after sacrificing lots of arm hair and a few burnt fingers, I decided to start using some proper tools. You can find fire resistant gloves and tongs at most hardware stores or BBQ stores.
3. Choose your cookware
Use cast iron cookware or other fire resistant cookware when cooking over fire. They won’t warp or melt in the heat, and tend to cook food more evenly. Avoid anything with plastic handles or attachments, for obvious reasons!
4. Utilize a fire grate if cooking large amounts
When cooking for more than just my husband and myself, I love using a large fire grate to cook everything at once. It makes cooking with multiple pots and pans or grilling lots at the same time really easy. When selecting a fire grate, make sure it has sturdy legs on it so that it won’t collapse under the weight of multiple pots/pans.
After using the grate, remove from the fire (wearing your fire resistant gloves) and place on the ground away from any grass or flammable objects to cool down before packing away.
5. Keep it simple (you don’t always need the fancy equipment!)
Think back to when you were a kid, roasting hot dogs and marshmallows over the fire. All you needed was a twig from the tree and a sharp knife, and you were able to create the perfect roasting stick. It can still be that simple!
As much as I love my cast iron cookware and fire tools, you can cook so many things with very little equipment! Some simple pieces of equipment you can use are:
A roasting stick - you can cook things like hotdogs, kebabs, bannock, marshmallows, etc.
Aluminum foil - for things like foil packets, baked potatoes, or baked brie (you gotta try it! Peach and Walnut Baked Brie)
A clean, hot stone - while I’ve never done this before, I’ve heard of many people using a clean, flat stone like a frying pan and heating it over the campfire to cook things like eggs, meat, etc. Maybe one day I’ll try it, this is definitely for the adventurous people out there!
Your imagination! Cooking outdoors is a lot about being creative and problem solving, so let your imagination guide you!
Drop any of your own tips and tricks in the comments below!