For those of you who enjoy tents, black flies and Coleman stoves, have we got a story for you! In celebration of the fact that you can sleep outside without getting frostbite, we asked readers to submit their favorite camp fire recipes. Some avid campers replied right away, and we filled in with some of our own suggestions, culled from hours of intense internet searches. (And by “hours,” we mean “10 minutes.”)
So, before you head out into the wilderness, stock up on ingredients (and grab a friend, so they can help carry some of this stuff), and give these outdoor-friendly recipes a try.
Got your own camp fire favorite? Send it to us at news@theconcordinsider.com and we'll share it with our mosquito-net-loving readership.
Octo dogs
From the campsite of: Isabelle Steiner, age 9, Bradford
You take a regular hot dog and hold it the long way. Next, you split it carefully about halfway down the length of the hot dog. Then you slice it again so there are four dangling pieces. If you are careful, like my dad, you can slice it again and get six or eight dangling pieces. Put the uncut end on a stick like normal and hold it over the fire. The dangling pieces sizzle and curl up so it looks like an octopus! They get crunchy and smoky and look really cool. The best part is, you can eat them off the stick and they taste great!
Peanut butter burritos
Flour tortilla
Peanut butter
Mini marshmallows
Chocolate chips
Tinfoil
From the campsite of: Sarah Earle, Loudon
Spread a flour tortilla with peanut butter. Sprinkle mini marshmallows and chocolate chips over the top of the peanut butter. Roll it up, wrap it in foil and heat it on a pan or rack on top of your campfire until nice and melty.
Banana boat
From the campsite of: Lee Denoncourt
1 banana per person
1 Hershey bar per person
3-5 marshmallows per person
Aluminum foil
Pearing knife
1 spoon per person
1 damp towel per person
Tear off enough aluminum foil to more than cover the banana (about 12 – 14 inches). Lay the banana in the center of the piece of foil. DO NOT REMOVE THE SKIN. Slice out a “V”-shaped piece along the top side of the banana to make it like a canoe/boat. Break the Hershey bar in half, lengthwise, and line the insides of the boat with chocolate. Place marshmallows in the chocolate boat lining (the more, the better). Next, pull the foil up so it encloses the banana boat without touching the marshmallows. Heat it over the fire long enough to melt the chocolate and marshmallows. Remove it from the fire and allow it to cool a few minutes before eating. Use the spoon and damp towel as desired.
Suggestion: Don’t eat the banana skin or tinfoil.
Chicken with bacon
From the campsite of: Paul Basham, Concord
Two slices of bacon
A leg and thigh or a half-breast of chicken
A potato, peeled and sliced
Two carrots, cleaned and sliced
Several slices of onion and/or green pepper (optional)
Add a significant amount of hard wood and let the fire burn down to a bed of hot coals. While your fire is burning, you can prepare your food as follows: Lay a 2 foot-long strip of aluminum foil (with the brightest side up) on a flat surface. About one third of the way from one end of the aluminum foil, lay the slices of bacon. Then put the chicken on top of the bacon and place the potatoes, carrots, onions and green pepper on top of the chicken. Wrap the food securely. When the fire has burned down to the hot coals, place your foil-wrapped meal directly on the hot coals with the meat side down. After about 20 minutes, turn it over without tearing any of the foil. About 10 minutes later, your meal should be ready to eat. The amount of time for cooking can vary. Check the meat to be sure it’s cooked through.
During the early stages of the fire, when it is burning brightly, you could be using a reflector oven to bake some dinner rolls. After you have removed your meal from the hot coals, you can now add some more wood to brighten up your campsite or give you extra warmth in the cool of the evening. Be sure to have a pot of coffee brewing or other beverage available to drink with your outdoor dinner. This should provide for you a hearty meal to enjoy by your campfire.
Hobo dinner-in-a-can
From the campsite of: The Insiders
1 pound ground beef
4 tomatoes, sliced
1 (17 ounce) can whole kernel corn or green beans, drained
Salt, pepper and margarine to taste
1 cup Bisquick baking mix
1/3 cup milk
Divide meat into four patties. Place meat patty in each of four lightly greased 1-pound coffee cans. Top each patty with tomato slices, corn, salt, pepper and dot of margarine. Cover each tightly with heavy-duty foil. Place cans 3 to 4 inches from hot coals. Cook 20-30 minutes.
Stir baking mix and milk to a soft dough. Drop dough by the spoonful into each can. Cook uncovered 10 minutes; cover, then cook 10 minutes longer.
YUMMY lamb
From the campsite of: Bruce Clendenning, Concord
lamb
two potatoes
two onions
red wine
olive oil
butter
salt
pepper
rosemary
oregano
thyme
garlic
Before you leave home, mix together in a small bowl a marinade with red wine, olive oil, salt, pepper, rosemary, oregano, thyme and garlic. Marinade should be strong tasting, but not overpowering with a nice amount of oil (about one cup or so wine and 1/4 cup olive oil is a good starting point). Trim about a pound or so of meat from a larger piece of leg or loin of lamb (whichever you like more or is readily available). Cut into large, but not huge pieces that you can grill reasonably. This is much easier if you do NOT include the bones in your finished product. Place lamb pieces in heavy-duty Ziploc bag. Pour in marinade to cover lamb pieces. Place Ziploc inside second Ziploc to prevent leakage. Store inside cooler at/near to top. If desired, halve two onions and quarter two potatoes; rub on a little butter or olive oil, salt, and pepper; wrap pieces inpidually in aluminum foil, and put in a separate Ziploc bag in the cooler.
At campsite, gather wood for campfire and make sure there's enough to ensure a good bed of coals. Start fire and keep adding medium sized wood to get a really nice bed of coals. When fire/coals are hot, place foil-wrapped onion/potatoes directly into coals (reachable with tongs when grate is on to enable turning once and taking out when meat is cooked) and place grate of some kind over fire, elevated high enough (six to eight inches) to keep flare-ups from causing extensive charring once cooking begins. When cooking grate is hot, place meat on surface and cook directly over coals and low-flame. Cook about four or five minutes per side, depending upon thickness of pieces. When meat is done to your taste, remove from heat and put on camp plate for a few minutes to let juices set. While meat is sitting, remove foil-wrapped veggies from fire, unwrap carefully and plate. Add meat pieces to plates and enjoy with red wine. (While you're eating, pour marinating liquid into fire. There's no good way to safely deal with the meat juices/wine/oil mixture otherwise while camping.)
Indoor s’mores!
Okay, so maybe camping isn’t your thing. Should you be punished for that? Denied delicious camp food, like s’mores, just because you don’t like bug bites and keep Benadryl spray on hand at all times just in case you do get a bite? That’s just not fair. So, for the non-campers out there, here’s a recipe for s'mores you can make in the oven, from allrecipes.com.
Ingredients
1 cup butter, melted
1/3 cup white sugar
3 cups graham cracker crumbs
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
3 cups miniature marshmallows
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9-by-13 inch baking dish.
In a medium bowl, combine butter, sugar and graham cracker crumbs until well coated. Press half of crumb mixture into the bottom of the prepared pan. Top with the chocolate chips, then the marshmallows. Sprinkle the remaining graham cracker mixture over the marshmallows and press down with a spatula.
Bake in preheated oven 10 minutes, until marshmallows are melted. Cool completely before cutting into squares.
