Much has been written about Backwoods cooking. Most Scouts idea of Backwoods cooking is to cook sausages and bacon on a sharpened stick. What I am detailing here are a few examples and methods which are a little different. They are not too difficult to do and could provide a change to the usual methods of cooking.
Egg in the Orange
Cut an orange in half. Scoop out the flesh which is inside and eat this, be careful not to cut through the skin! Now crack an egg into the skin and place on the embers of the fire. This should now be baked until the egg in cooked to preferred liking.
Another option is to cut the top of a potato of and scoop some of the middle of a potato out and crack the egg into here. This can then have the top put back on and secured with small wooden pegs. Bake until the potato is cooked.
Steamed Fish
Make a fire that is long enough for the length of the fish and more than wide enough. Let this burn down to a good bed of embers. Meanwhile butcher the fish and clean it thoroughly.
Cut a lot of grass to use for the steaming.(This way it grows back.) Place a good layer on top of the fire. Put the fish on top of the grass and place more grass on top. Then cover the fire and grass with earth and pack it down. Wait for 30 mins and uncover.
You really need to ensure you have a good bed of embers to be successful.
If you are by the sea shore, then the same method can be used but use seaweed instead of grass.
Pit Oven/Figi Oven
Dig a pit, or use a natural depression in the ground. Light a fire in this and build it up, including as many rocks as you can find. DO NOT use flint or rocks from a river bed, they have been know to explode from the water evapourating inside them.
When you have a good bed of embers, wrap your food up in leaves, or on a bed of grass (see above) and cover the top of the hole over with sticks. Over this lay sacking or mats and then cover this over with earth. Make sure you seal in around the edges. Leave for 2 hours and then enjoy. One tip though, if you are cooking for a larger number of people, then put more embers over the top of the food to ensure it cooks.
Damper Breads
Rather than just the usual dough twist, why not try making your own breads such as Chapatis, or mix in some Baking powder or Bicarbonate of Soda to make a Soda bread. Or you could add some dried fruit to make a fruit loaf. There are plenty of similar recipes on the Web, try the Outdoors Online Website.
In the case of Scouting activities you could provide the flour, or if you are a purist you could make you own from ground acorns, bull rush heads etc.
Stewed Fruit Puddings
Autumn provides a lot of fruits available for use, in the UK for example there are Apples, Blackberries, and many others. Crab apples are more predominant in the wild, but make the most of what you can find. Get the all together, peel the apples and stew them up. This can then be used in tarts, pies or just eaten on its own.
As I have said, this is not a list of all the means of backwoods cooking far from it. Just a few that I have tried and enjoyed. Tribespeople all over the world have been creating sumptuous feasts for centuries from very basic ingredients.
If you have any ideas which you think are good, and in particular usable by Scouts aged between 11 and 15 then please E-mail me at Scott@home-cov.demon.co.uk
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Scott Wiggins - July 1997