How can I control the heat when cooking on a campfire?

Question

In few weeks a group of us will be camping and rafting. My wife and I have been assigned dinner responsibility. I've done the hamburger/hot-dog thing on campfires, but I was looking for something more. We are thinking about Carne Asada, and Beef/Chicken Kabobs, but I'm concerned about controlling the heat so the kabobs don't burn. Any suggestions?

Asked by BillN

Answer

The key is mostly to cook over coals rather than open flame if you want decent control. This is a principle you find all over slow smoking/BBQ. You start the fire with plenty of wood and let it burn down to a pile of red coals, which you then can cook over with nice control.

Personally, when I want to cook over an open fire, I treat the fire pit as 2 zones: fire and coals. I use the "fire" side for anything where I want an open flame, like roasting marshmallows or hot dogs. As a chunk of wood on that side of the pit burns down to coals, I move it over to the other side, for more controlled cooking.

Another way to handle the variability in campfires is to cook with things with a lot of thermal mass to even the heat out. In practical terms, that boils down to cast iron and clay/ceramics. Whether it's a dutch oven or a little "cave" of fire bricks, these materials spread the heat out so nicely you can often just bury them in the coals and "bake" or "roast" a lot of options that you might not have considered as "camping foods".

The same is true of other cast iron pans and much of the stoneware from places like Pampered Chef, meaning you can pan fry, saute, and do many of the other more typical "kitchen" tasks over a campfire.

One word of warning regarding this principle though is that it might seem like collecting rocks from a nearby stream to use as the thermal mass is a good idea. It is not. Rocks that have spent long periods under water can crack and/or explode when suddenly heated up.

Answered by J Wynia

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How can I controll the heat when cooking on a campfire?

Question

In a few weeks a group of us will be camping and rafting. My wife and I have been assigned dinner responsibility. I've done the hamburger/hot-dog thing on campfires, but I'm looking for something more. We are thinking about Carne Asada, and Beef/Chicken Kabobs, but I'm concerned about controlling the heat so the kabobs don't burn. Any suggestions?

Asked by BillN

Answer

The key is mostly to cook over coals rather than open flame if you want decent control. This is a principle you find all over slow smoking/BBQ. You start the fire with plenty of wood and let it burn down to a pile of red coals, which you then can cook over with nice control.

Personally, when I want to cook over an open fire, I treat the fire pit as 2 zones: fire and coals. I use the "fire" side for anything where I want an open flame, like roasting marshmallows or hot dogs. As a chunk of wood on that side of the pit burns down to coals, I move it over to the other side, for more controlled cooking.

Another way to handle the variability in campfires is to cook with things with a lot of thermal mass to even the heat out. In practical terms, that boils down to cast iron and clay/ceramics. Whether it's a dutch oven or a little "cave" of fire bricks, these materials spread the heat out so nicely you can often just bury them in the coals and "bake" or "roast" a lot of options that you might not have considered as "camping foods".

The same is true of other cast iron pans and much of the stoneware from places like Pampered Chef, meaning you can pan fry, saute, and do many of the other more typical "kitchen" tasks over a campfire.

One word of warning regarding this principle though is that it might seem like collecting rocks from a nearby stream to use as the thermal mass is a good idea. It is not. Rocks that have spent long periods under water can crack and/or explode when suddenly heated up.

Answered by J Wynia

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Why did my banana catch fire in the microwave?

Question

Wow, that sounds like a silly question, but really! My wife froze bananas in the freezer with the peel still on. You can't peel them frozen. I put it in the microwave for one minute at 50% power. After 30 seconds the thin end of the peel (where a bunch connect to each other) was on fire, with a visible flame (about the size of a lighter). What on earth happened?

Asked by yossarian

Answer

It's caused by the high amount of potassium in the banana. Microwaves react with metals, bouncing off and cause arcing. You can even create a cool light show by putting a raw peeled banana in the microwave. Don't worry, it won't explode, but it will make a mess, it's also harmless.

This can also happen in some frozen vegetables depending on the soil conditions they grew in. As noted in the linked article, other high concentrations of metals such as magnesium, iron, and zinc can be the responsible mineral.

Momentary brief sparking is harmless and won't harm your microwave, but the USDA recommends turning off your microwave if you see sparks nonetheless. If it does start a fire, unless it's a very small fire, do not open your microwave door. The safest thing is to turn off the microwave and let the fire burn itself out by consuming all the oxygen. Opening the door could create a dangerous backdraft induced fireball.

Edit: Found a banana in microwave video.

See Also:

• http://www.scribd.com/doc/1697458/USDA-Microwave-Ovens-and-Food-Safety
• http://www.inspection.gc.ca/english/fssa/concen/specif/veglegmicroe.shtml

Answered by hobodave

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How do I cook chicken and asparagus over an open fire?

Question

I have some chicken breasts and some asparagus that I want to cook tomorrow whilst we're out camping for midsummer.

The fire will have a grate over it probably.

Is it better to wrap the food in foil to prevent it being touched by open flame? How can I make sure the chicken doesn't get too burned on the outside whilst being cooked on the inside?

Answer

You have two delicious choices. Both require a bed of coals, so I'll start with that.

You'll need to build a fire with the logs stacked 'log cabin' style, and let the fire burn down to coals. You want a deep red coal, just starting to darken on top. The coals should look something like this.

You can bake, or bbq the chicken and asparagus. Both are delicious methods.

To bake, wrap the chicken, asparagus and a starch like potato gratin style in layers of tinfoil. Use the starch around the outside, you'll sacrifice a layer of it as some of it sticks/burns to the tinfoil. Put the most delicate item in the middle, in this case the asparagus, and the chicken around the asparagus. Add a generous amount of butter, salt and pepper and bake for about an hour buried in the coals. Corn or green beans are also very good, and can be sacrificed a little around the outside to preserve your meat and vegetables.

I would layer it this way.

 1.Coals
 2. Tinfoil
     2. Potatoes 
     2. Generous dollop of butter
     3. Salt & Pepper 
     4. Green Beans 
     5. Asparagus
     6. Chicken 
     7. Potatoes
 3. Tinfoil
 4. Coals

Now, BBQ. You'll do it very much like a charcoal BBQ. Keep the grate close to the coals, you can generally test the heat by holding your hand above the grate, you should only be able to keep your hand there for a second or two at most.

Grill the chicken like you would on a bbq, and roast the asparagus on a cooler part of the grill. I'd marinate both before putting them on the grill. I'd also try to get an aromatic wood like hickory or mesquite, pine will impart a resinous taste.

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