Open fire cooking doesn’t mean you must do without baking or roasting. It is possible that your favorite recipes are given an enhanced flavor when using this method. When cooking over an open fire, use a Dutch oven with a lipped lid and three feet on the bottom.

STIR WITH A WOODEN SPOON
Metal spoons shouldn’t be used on the inside of a seasoned cast iron pot. Heavy duty wood or should be used in place of the metal utensils which will mar the seasoned coating.

THE FIRE
For Dutch oven cooking, use hard wood to build a hot fire at least an hour earlier than your cooking start time. Stay away from using soft wood or retailed charcoal for your fuel. Soft, resinous woods (like pine) tend to burn cool and produce a lot of black soot. Not only is this residue bad for humans, it leaves a flammable coating on chimneys, and coats your cookware with soot. Because commercial charcoal is often filled with chemicals and additives that bind them into uniform lumps and increase their flammability, I don’t use them for my cook fire. Learning how to build a hardwood fire will keep you from dealing with either of these difficulties. Check to be sure you’ve gotten a good bed of red hot coals laid. Use an oven mitt or cloth to protect your hands as well as a curved iron tool to lift the lid from your pot.

PREHEATING
If needed, wipe the inside of your pot (including the lid) with a paper towel and olive oil. While you prepare your ingredients, place the lid on your Dutch oven and set it near the fire to warm. This is similar to pre-heating your standard oven. The oil penetrates the iron as the pot is warmed, making the vessel ready to cook. The lid keeps ashes from flying into the pot. If onions or peppers are part of the recipe, add them to the oven while it warms so that they may simmer and create a barrier between the rest of the food when it is added and the bottom of the pot.

LOADING YOUR DUTCH OVEN
Prepare your ingredients to be added to the pot. Seasonings are important; don’t forget them. Move your heated Dutch oven a comfortable distance from your fire. The hot lid is best removed by using a curved metal rod.

Add layers of your other ingredients. If rice is part of your recipe, add it and the water or broth at this point. Add any additional vegetables. The meat rests on top of any vegetables, rice or potatoes so that it may flavor them as it cooks. Keep the food from touching the underside of the lid by not overloading the oven. If you are baking bread or a desert, place the batter/dough/ingredients into the pot just as you would before placing it into a regular kitchen oven. Replace the lid.

PLACING THE OVEN TO THE COALS
Using a shovel, scoop some hot coals to the edge of the fire and make a small mound. This is safer than trying to arrange the oven directly over or in the fire. After placing the oven onto the pile, use your shovel to place more hot coals on top of the lid. After you’ve gotten a good even coating of hot coals beneath and on top of your oven shovel some ash around the base and sprinkle it over the top. You are banking the fire. The coals will retain their heat and burn slowly as they aren’t exposed to the air.

Allow your food to cook about the same time as you would in a conventional oven (assuming you have a good bed of coals), possibly 10 minutes more. When finished, remove the live coals from the lid of your pot using a shovel. A whisk broom can remove any ash dust. Use a potholder to lift the pot by its handle. Move the vessel off of the live coals and set it away from the fire. Raise the lid and set it aside using a heavy piece of curved metal. Check the food to see if it’s done. If the food is ready, serve with a wooden spoon. If not, replace the lid, return the pot to the small bed of coals it sat on previously, replacing more coals onto the lid. When a few more minutes have passed, you can repeat the process, checking for doneness.

It’s okay if your first effort results in a few burnt edges. You will soon get the hang of it. The wonderful aroma of hot food will soon silence the critics that will gladly eat around the burnt edges. Leftovers seldom remain. They are ready to eat!

CLEANING AND STORING
For cleanup, gently remove any food residue from the pot with a soft sided scrub pad or wooden spoon. A well seasoned pot won’t require much more than a gentle wiping. In the event you find that you have some food that has become glued to the pot, set the oven next to the fire to reheat and cook those to ash. Don’t submerge your Dutch oven in soapy water or put it through a dishwasher. Heating the metal in hot water and detergents will strip it of its protective seasoning. Re-apply a protective coating of oil to your oven after each use. You should be able to see your reflection in the bottom of your Dutch oven. Replace the lid for storage.

INTERESTED IN LEARNING MORE?
PRIMITIVE WILDERNESS SKILLS, APPLIED will provide you with information for HARD CORE survival in the wild. It’s a great gift for the survival enthusiast on your list and it’s available at The Bulk Herb Store online. Additionally, the new best-selling book – THE VISION by Debi Pearl – offers a wealth of information on herbal medicine.