Tips & Tricks: Campfire Cooking

We went camping Memorial day weekend and it was glorious! I left my phone at home at there was no Facebook, no texting, no emails - yep, not even work email!

You might have guessed that I really enjoy cooking on the campfire. I love any excuse to cook. I've learned a few tricks over the years about campfire cooking and so I thought I would pass those on to you!

1. Grilling: Get yourself a primitive grill. Ours only cost about $10 at Academy Sports and it really does make life so much easier. I love to use my primitive grill to cook corn on the cob and other veggies, hot dogs, burgers, chicken, steaks, basically anything you would cook on a grill at home! I just make sure to bring along my grilling tongs and spatula.
   
   
   
   
   
   We brought along a bag of charcoals. Depending on what I was cooking, I would throw in anywhere from 5 - 15 charcoals once the fire got going. Then I'd let the fire die out and cook over the hot coals, just like a normal charcoal grill!
   
   I marinated the chicken overnight in some Jamaican Jerk marinade (store bought) then cooked the chicken the first night we were there. That way I didn't have to worry as much about the temperature in the cooler.
   
   
2. Food Safety: And on that note, by this point you probably know how crazy I am about food safety (Tips & Tricks: Food Safety). This is something you need to keep in mind, especially if you are camping for a few days. You will probably need to replace the ice in your cooler at least once per day with about 8 -10 lbs of ice, depending on the size of the cooler. Try to limit the number of times you open the cooler and keep the cooler out of direct sun light, this will keep things cool. Keep foods that need to stay especially cold (eggs, raw meats, deli meat, etc.) toward the bottom where it's coolest. If you're worried about the eggs breaking, you can pick up a special plastic egg carrying case; we got ours at Walmart in the camping section for around $3. Keep the raw meats at the very bottom so they don't drip on anything else. Every morning, drain out the excess water from the bottom of the cooler, then dump a new bag of ice in. Around dinner time, check the cooler to see if it needs more ice. This will really depend on how much food you have, the size of your cooler, and the temperature outside. It was warm but not hot on our trip so we only needed to replace the ice once per day.
   
   In addition to keeping your food cool, you want to prevent cross contamination. Even if you're not cooking raw meat at any point in your trip, the risk is still there from other sources. The way that I mitigate this risk is by bringing along some hand sanitizer wipes such as Wet Ones. That way, if I touch anything that could be contaminated - raw meat, dirt, a piece of fire wood, the dog, etc. - I can just wipe my hands and I'm good to go!
3. Frying: When frying over the campfire, you can use cast iron or just a special campfire skillet. This skillet only cost around $10 at Walmart in the camping section. It's got a special handle that doesn't get hot. If you prefer cast iron, a good pan is going to cost you around $50. But it will last you for life and is worth the investment.
   
   
   I got some hot charcoals going, just like I did for the grill, and put the pan directly on the hot coals. I made bacon and pancakes the first morning. I actually dumped out the grease and used cooking spray to prevent the pancakes from sticking. But you could do it either way. By the way, I used the Bisquick shake and pour pancakes. Yeah, I know, I generally despise Bisquick or any other boxed mix, but they make camping so much easier!!
   
   
   
   
4. Food Prep: For breakfast the second morning I made a little egg bake type dish. I cut up the veggies ahead of time at home because that's way easier than having to bring a huge knife along and try to cut up the veggies at a picnic table. I cut up the veggies pretty small - about 1/2" dice - including the potatoes. Even though you're cooking on hot charcoals, getting adequate heat can still sometimes be a challenge. So if you cut your veggies nice and small, they'll cook quickly, even when the charcoals aren't as hot as you would like.
   
   First I cooked the sausage in my skillet. Then I left the sausage and drippings in the pan and added diced red pepper, onion, and potatoes. Once those were thoroughly cooked and soft, I added some whipped eggs and cooked it all together. Once the eggs were cooked, I removed the pan from the heat then topped the whole thing with shredded cheese and sliced scallions. You could hardly call that roughing it haha!
   
   
   
   
5. Mountain Pies: I first heard about mountain pies from some friends of ours who we going camping with quite frequently. These are so fun and they're great because everybody can make their own with whatever fillings they want. You just put a slice of bread in each side of the pie iron, add your fillings, clamp it shut, then cook it directly over the hot coals. They cost about $10 in the camping section at Walmart or around $20 at Bass Pro Shop. That being said, the ones at Bass Pro Shop are a lot heavier and more durable.
   
   
   
   
   We filled ours with cheese and pepperoni then dipped them in pizza sauce which I heated up in my little skillet. Yum! We also made some for dessert and filled them with canned apple pie filling.
   
   
6. Roasting Forks: One of the best tools we've picked up so far is roasting forks. They're just metal forks with long handles. They're great for roasting hot dogs or toasting marshmallows. That way you don't have to go hunting around for a long stick and pray that it hasn't been contaminated with poison ivy or animal urine. Yuck! They range in price anywhere from $1 per fork to about $3 per fork, depending on if you want a nice handle, etc. We got the crappy $1 ones haha.
   

   

   Lola & Matt toasting Marshmallows!

   
   

   
   
7. Bug Screen: Ok, this last one has more to do with eating than cooking but it's relevant. This is another tip that we picked up from our friends who told us about mountain pies. This 12' x 12' bug screen cost us about $50 at Academy Sports and it is the best investment we have ever made! We set it up around the picnic table and it makes eating so much more pleasant. No worries about bugs and it provides some shade too. There's even a hook on the ceiling so that you can hang a lantern for when you're eating in the evening.
   

   

   
   

Believe it or not, between all of that cooking we still found time to go hiking and peddle boating haha!

Tips & Tricks: Food Safety

I know that you come to my blog for the recipes. But today I'm going to talk about food safety. This is a topic that is so critically important, yet most of us never received this kind of information when we were in school. According to the CDC, an estimated 48 million people in the US experience foodborne illness (aka food poisoning) each year.

I'm going to debunk some of the myths, discuss causes of foodborne illness, and suggest ways to prevent it. There are three main categories of food safety that I'll talk about today: cross-contamination, food temperature, and food storage.

Cross-Contamination

As the name suggests, cross-contamination is the result of harmful organisms being transferred from one food source to another. In the home, this commonly happens when a raw food, such as vegetables, comes into contact with raw meat, poultry, or seafood. This may seem obvious; don't let your lettuce touch raw chicken, right? But often times it's more subtle than that. I'll give an illustration:

You're hosting a backyard barbecue to celebrate your new promotion at work. You bring out a platter of raw chicken to the grill. You cook the chicken thoroughly; there's no more pink in the center. But in all of the excitement, you place the cooked chicken back on the same platter without even thinking about it. Your guests cut open their chicken, see that it's cooked properly, and dig in. Your guests go home and over the next three days, they all develop fever, vomiting, and diarrhea. They all have salmonella. But how? The chicken was completely cooked. By using the same platter for the raw chicken as the cooked chicken, the salmonella was able to infect the cooked chicken, even though it was cooked thoroughly according to USDA recommendations.

What can you do to prevent cross-contamination?

1. Wash your hands thoroughly every time after touching raw meat, poultry, fish, or eggs. Tip: If you're cooking at a grill and hand washing is not convenient, you can use antibacterial hand wipes such as Wet Ones to clean your hands after handling raw food.
2. Wash all cutting surfaces, including cutting boards, knives, and counter tops after cutting raw meat, poultry, fish, or eggs.
3. Do not reuse marinades. If you soak meat, poultry, or fish in a marinade, dump it out after use; do not reuse it for vegetables, or other raw foods, or for basting the meat while cooking. Use fresh marinade. You can also avoid this cross-contamination by marinating the vegetables first, then marinate the meat.
4. Do not reuse batters. If you're breading or battering meat, poultry, or fish, dump it out after use; do not reuse it for vegetables or other raw foods. This can also be avoided by breading or battering the vegetables first, then bread or batter the meat.
5. Use a clean spatula and platter every time for cooked meat, poultry, or fish. Never reuse a spatula or platter that has previously come in contact with raw meat, poultry, or fish without washing it first.

Food Temperatures

When we talk about food temperatures, there are two questions we need to ask:

1) What temperature should food be stored at?

There is a temperature range known as the "danger zone." That range is 40° F to 140° F. This means that foods should be stored below 40° F or cooked to temperatures above 140° F. When food is left at a temperature within the danger zone, this allows harmful bacteria to grow to dangerous levels.

When storing left-overs, cool them quickly and refrigerate within two hours of being cooked. When marinating meat or poultry, do not leave them out at room temperature for longer than two hours. (I've been to way too many cookouts where I saw raw meat sitting out at room temperature for hours and hours and hours. Definitely don't eat that!). When marinating fish, keep it in the refrigerator until it is ready to be cooked.

One thing to take note of here is that there is a certain window of time that is considered safe. That means that you don't have to worry if your steak has been sitting out for 30 minutes before being cooked. In fact, it's actually recommended that you let a steak sit at room temperature for a few minutes before cooking. That way it stays nice and juicy. So don't let this scare you. Just be aware of the important times and temperatures.

2) What internal temperature should food be cooked to?

This one is actually a tough one to answer. The answer depends on the food that you're cooking. Based on the danger zone, we know the internal temperature has to be at least 140° F, but certain foods should be cooked to higher temperatures. Here's a quick guide:

Ground Beef                     165 F

Steak - Rare                      135 F

Steak - Medium Rare    140 F

Steak - Medium               155 F

Steak - Well Done           165 F

Poultry                               165 F

Pork & Ham                      145 F

Left-overs                         165 F

You may be asking, "how would I even know the internal temperature of my food?!" You can find an instant read thermometer on the cheap almost anywhere. Even Walmart has them in the kitchen utensils section. You just insert the thermometer into the thickest part of the meat.

Storing Left-overs

Now that you know what temperature you should cook and store food at, the burning question may be how long to store the food for. Another common error people make is storing food for too long and letting it spoil. Click here for a simple guide from the FDA.