Weirdest thing you've ever done over an open fire?

[fireheart]

OK, I'm talking about food here.

So my boyfriend's house has an open fire where we've been known to toast marshmallows on it from time to time. A friend of mine tried to introduce us to s'mores (which failed ).

The other night I went out for a food run and came back with potato chips. So the decision was made to skewer THOSE.

Surprisingly they tasted half-decent. Very smokey and very crisp

So what's the weirdest thing that you've cooked over an open fire? And how did it taste?

[Dave1982]

How the heck do you skewer potato chips without them breaking???

ETA: Wait....just so we're ont he same page here, are we talking about American-style potato chips or "chips" in the UK-sense that would be french fries in the US?

[fireheart]

How the heck do you skewer potato chips without them breaking???

ETA: Wait....just so we're ont he same page here, are we talking about American-style potato chips or "chips" in the UK-sense that would be french fries in the US?

American-style ones.

And if you get the right brand, it's quite doable. We used Red Rock Deli brand chips when we tried this one out. The best brands to try are generally Kettle-esque in nature.

Although since you mentioned fries, I'm tempted now to do just that!

[RayvenQ]

Baked Beans and Fosters....turned out suprisingly well.

[Kazim]

Grilled Beaver...
and i mean the animal.
tasted rather good ^^

[Seshat]

Me. Kind of, anyway.

We were having a cookout for my birthday, and Dad had made some skewers. After we'd done some of the cooking, I was walking back towards the fire with mine - and tripped. And skewered my ear.

It's the only tattoo I have. :P

[fireheart]

Me. Kind of, anyway.

We were having a cookout for my birthday, and Dad had made some skewers. After we'd done some of the cooking, I was walking back towards the fire with mine - and tripped. And skewered my ear.

It's the only tattoo I have. :P

Ouch!

Most of the stuff we've done over the fire has been marshmallows, sometimes 2-3 at a time. My friend's idea of s'mores was marshmallow, square of chocolate and Salada cracker sandwiched together.

I'm going up there this weekend. It'll be interesting...

[Ghel]

This maybe isn't weird, but it was really good. I love to grill over an open fire when we're camping, so I decided to make buffalo chicken. I mixed up the sauce (Frank's sauce and butter) and brushed the chicken while it cooked over a low wood fire. The sauce blackened, but it tasted amazing.

I don't go camping as much as I'd like to any more. I should set up a fire ring in the back yard.

[Antisocial_Worker]

Not unusual, but a novel method... Bf found a grilling bowl at the grocery store. It's a metal bowl with holes in it. You fill the bowl with vegetables and seasonings, then plunk it on the grill. Squash, zucchini (both of which I hate), plus some onions and mushrooms. Add cilantro, some salt, pepper, and olive oil and let it char just a bit and those were the best vegetables I've ever eaten. Even the squash and zucchini.

[Seraph]

Hm, I've never tried anything over an open fire before. I'll have to experiment <_<

[DeltaSierra]

I spent a good portion of my youth camping with my family, so pretty much anything that could be cooked in an oven/on a stove got cooked over a campfire.

My favorite was bannock bread - basically a heavy bread dough wrapped around a stick and then toasted over the flames.



Baked potatoes wrapped in tin foil, stuck into the coals, sausages cooked on skewers (to eat with the bannock bread and maple syrup,) shish kebabs (meats, veggies on skewers), garlic bread (cut bread into large chunks, dip in garlic butter, then skewer and toast on the fire,) and fish (usually trout - season and wrap in foil, then stick in the coals)

My Mother was Queen of the pineapple upside-down cake done over the coals in her dutch oven. It was a staple when we went camping. We did this most recently last summer.

[csquared]

Hm, I've never tried anything over an open fire before. I'll have to experiment <_<

In the words of David Tennet,

RUN!

Having been in the Boy Scouts, I have cooked a number of things over an open fire. Nothing really weird. I did do an apple pie and a chocolate cake. The pie came out pretty good. Let's not discuss the cake.

[AccountingDrone]

Medieval recreationist - I once cooked a feast for 25 people using all 13th century 'recipes' [to get field journyman cook in the Atlantean Cooks Guild way back in the 80s], and at our camp at Pennsic or at local events we frequently cook for anywhere from 4 to 60 people just in our personal camp.

Hm, Crepes Benedict
make up a batch of bacon and crumble. Make up a batch of crepes and hold warming. Make a batch of scrambled eggs. Roll the eggs and bacon in a crepe and line up on the warming side of the fire, make up the hollandaise sauce, sauce the crepes and top with the last remaining bacon crumbles. Snip on some chives and parsley. Place pearls before swine and make someone else do the cleanup. I think the largest batch of this I have made was for 25 people.

I did piss off some stupid old lady who had an untrained toy poodle at a pre-pennsic war practice that was actually held at coopers lake back in about 96 or so. I had purchased a whole beautifully plump bunny for spit roasting, her stupid assed poodle went missing after yapping constantly for 2 days. She was walking around trying to find said little monster and saw the bunny on the spit and went off screaming that we were cooking her dog. It took Mr Cooper calling the guy we bought the bunny from and the stupid dog showing up covered in mud to get her to stop yapping about calling the damned cops on us.

[dalesys]

M... saw the bunny on the spit and went off screaming that we were cooking her dog.

Tell the next camp you've found the pig for their roast...

[Seshat]

Australians have a version of bannock bread called damper.

Flour - either plain or self-raising (self-raising has baking powder in it).
Salt.
Water.

Mix into a dough - definitely a dough, not a batter.

your choice:
wrap around a stick (NOT lantana! gum aka eucalypt gives a nice flavour, though)
OR make into a ball and shove it in the coals
OR wrap in foil and shove it into the coals.

If on a stick, hold over the flames as shown in the 'bannock bread' picture.

Eat on its own, with butter or syrup or jam, with vegemite!, or anything else you wish.

But!

BILLY TEA!

Proper billy tea is made in a 'billy' that's been used so long it has a thick patina of ash. It's never washed - sacrelige! - instead it's 'cleaned' by being scalded in the fire.

The traditional billy is an old pot, tin, or any other suitable metal container with holes drilled on either side, and wire threaded through the holes to make a handle. Nowadays you can buy them at camping stores (and frankly, I would).

Make a framework with forked sticks and a straight stick across them. Hang the billy over the fire, using the framework. Boil enough water for a cuppa for everyone, plus a bit extra.

When the water is boiling, toss in a handful of tea leaves for each person, and one for the pot. Boil for another minute or so.

Take the billy off the fire with a forked stick. Let cool for a moment. Wrap your hand in something suitably insulating - a hat is traditional. Hold the billy with your insulated hand, by the handle.

Now comes the insane bit - this IS an Australian tradition, after all!

Whirl the billy three times, rapidly, using centrifugal force to push the tea leaves to the bottom of the billy. So .. by the knee, full forward extension of the arm, arm over the head, full back extension, by the knee again, repeat twice more.
(If you plan to do this, practice with a billy of COOL water. Make damn sure you can do it without getting wet.)

Now you serve the tea. Just pour it out of the billy. Which, you may note, has no spout. (That's not a kettle, THIS is a kettle!)


Some slackers use a tea strainer. Or even just let the tea cool and the leaves settle to the bottom on their own. REAL Australians whirl the billy.

Safety warning: I really mean it about practicing with cold water. Boiling water dropping onto your head is a life-changing experience, and Sapphire Silk and our other nurses have probably all winced and thought 'that is SO INSANE' when reading this. It makes no difference to the taste if you use a tea strainer!