Find out how to organize an outdoor cooking experience—includes planning the menu and building the fire/lighting the grill. Some recipes included.https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/extension_4h_pubs/1000/thumbnail.jp

Bogue, Sue

Lenahan, Jane M.

Levings, Judith M.

Ouverson, Carol M.

English

Find out how to organize an outdoor cooking experience—includes planning the menu and building the fire/lighting the grill. Some recipes included.</p

Levings, Judith

Ouverson, Carol

Lenahan, Jane

Digital Repository @ Iowa State University (ISU)

114H 802   Revised   March 2007Nothing seems to make food taste better than cooking it outdoors. And the experience can be an excellent learning opportunity for your entire 4-H club whether it is a simple one-pot cookout in the backyard, several cookouts, or a club campout. An outdoor cooking activity can be used to achieve many of the 4-H program goals to help youth.• Learn practical skills (cooking a meal without electricity or gas)• Acquire positive self-attitude (building a fi re without help)• Develop leadership capabilities (volunteering to be in charge of the cookout)• Develop abilities to be a respon-sible group member (“we’ll make the salad”)Above all, the cookout should be fun—and that starts with organization.Where to start“Different strokes for different folks.” One leader gets her club started by giving suggestions on when to plan a cookout. Her club’s cookouts have been planned as part of a farm tour, evening club meeting, kidnap breakfast for new members, family night, or program on nutrition or fi re safety. Another leader starts by inviting his club over for an evening meal at which he demonstrates all the wrong ways to plan a backyard cookout. Regardless of the approach, mem-bers need experience practicing basic cooking skills and planning tasty, nutritious menus at their own ability level. As they become more skilled, the menus can be more challenging. Getting organizedA cookout is likely to be success-ful if you are organized and have planned ahead. Here are a few pointers to get started. 1. Think about what you can do if there’s a heavy rain or storm. Will you postpone? Will you prepare the food under a tarp, in a sheltered area, or move in-doors, or postpone? Do you have food along that would require little or no cooking? 2. Make lists so that nothing is forgotten. Here are some things you might include.• Menu• Food ingredients and amounts that are needed4-H Youth DevelopmentCooking Over Campfi re Coals2• Recipes and directions for pre-paring the food• Equipment needed for prepara-tion, storage, and cleanup • Jobs and assignments that need to be made—consider how much experience is needed and whether the task needs a single person or a team. 3. Be sure that a safe water source is available for drinking, cooking, washing hands, and cleaning up. Check the water’s safety before your cookout or carry in your own water.4. Test new recipes or suggestions before springing them on the whole group. You’ll be able to be more helpful if you’ve tried the ideas fi rst. 5. Make a realistic plan for the time you have available.6. Prepare for the unexpected. Ask club members to help make a list of fi re safety reminders. Here are some ideas to get you started.• Remember “stop, drop, and roll.”• Be careful of loose clothing and open jackets. Campfi re cooking checklist: Matches Spray bottle Hot pads/mitts Cooking utensils Hand washing supplies Dishwashing supplies Eating utensils First aid kit Bug sprayPlanning outdoor mealsNutritionThink color and variety when planning meals for outdoors. Try to include a serving from each of the food groups in MyPyra-mid (one from each color band). Choosing an assortment of colors among the fruits and vegetables provides a variety of fl avors and nutrition to your meals. Appetites seem to increase with outdoor activities, so people may want more than one serving. Members can help in the planning. They will want to include their favorites. Encourage them to include some foods that are less familiar also. Look in magazines or special outdoor cookbooks for ideas. These menu patterns can be a guide when planning. Breakfast Lunch DinnerFruit Main Dish Meat or Main DishProtein Food Vegetable VegetableBread or Cereal Bread Vegetable or FruitBeverage Dessert Salad Beverage Bread or Grain  Dessert  BeverageThe Food Guide PyramidA Guide to Daily Food Choices33Manage time and moneyWhen you plan meals, consider the time you have available. Baked beans in a Dutch oven may take hours when you have only one or two to spare. Pudding mixes, biscuit mixes, cake mixes, and cocoa mix can save time, but some convenience foods may be too expensive for your budget. For example, freeze-dried meals may be too costly for a whole group, but you might want to prepare one as a tasting sample. Nonfat dry milk powder is a handy, low-cost ingredient for pudding that is also lightweight and easy to carry. Unless you have plenty of time and fuel, don’t plan to cook the entire meal. Besides, hungry people may like to munch on something like crisp vegetables while the food is cooking. Sanitation safetyThe fi rst rule of food safety is to keep hot foods hot and cold foods cold. If your menu calls for per-ishable food ingredients, be sure to keep them cold until they are used. Insulated bags and ice chests are necessary. Perishable leftovers like meats, cooked egg dishes, and most dairy products are hazardous if they can’t be chilled. Plan meals to avoid leftovers, or discard the leftovers. Take packaged handwipes or pro-vide water, paper towels, and soap for hand washing as the food is prepared and eaten. Also remem-ber to bring a kettle for heating water and dishwashing liquid for cleanup.When you’re through cookingBe sure the fi re is out. Spread the coals and sprinkle with water. (It takes less water to put out a fi re by sprinkling than by pouring it on.) No fi re is safe to leave until you can place your hand directly on the ashes. Do not bury live coals! They may cause underground fi res, which creep out in unex-pected places. Be sure the cooking site is as clean, or cleaner, than it was before you used it. Carry away all garbage. ResearchFor more information, check the World Wide Web or your local library.Activities to make outdoor cooking funA variety of other activities can be planned as part of the outdoor cookery experience. Here are some possibilities.• Make a scrapbook of favorite club cookout recipes.• Look for convenience foods in the store and compare prices.• Have an outdoor cooking contest.• Invite guests for a sunrise, outdoor breakfast.• Experiment with pioneer recipes.• Visit a historical site or festival where outdoor cooking is demonstrated.• Learn about wild edibles and make a salad or herbal tea. • Attend a wild game dinner.• Challenge members to pre-pare a cookout fi re using only one match.• Plan a winter cookout.• Surf the Web and collect out-door cooking information. 4Building the fi reFor the beginner, the fi rst step is learning to build a fi re properly. Success-ful outdoor cookery calls for glowing coals, not active fl ames. The coals give off even heat. You may be an “old hand” at building campfi res, but here are some practical suggestions.1. Select an open spot, away from trees, dead leaves, or anything that may easily catch fi re.2. Start with a crumpled piece of paper or handful of tinder.3. Arrange very small twigs or sticks in teepee fashion. (Do not use leaves; they smother the fi re.) Lay the sticks so that plenty of air can get through the spaces between them. Choose your fi rewoodThe kind of fi re also depends on the kind of wood you use. Avoid wood with a pithy cen-ter. It does not burn easily, and gives little heat. Use split logs rather than round, smooth ones. They burn more readily. Soft woods (pine, spruce, cedar, aspen, basswood, and birch) burn quickly and leave ashes but few coals. Hard woods (oak, ash, hickory, apple, walnut, cherry, maple) burn slowly and provide excel-lent coals for baking or toasting. For a charcoal fi re—This fi re is easy to light. If you have never used charcoal, follow this plan.1. Place the charcoal under the rack where the food is to be cooked.2. Add crumpled newspaper. Light the newspaper.3. When the coals begin to turn white or glow, they are ready. Stir the hot coals with a long, thick stick or an iron rod to distribute the heat more evenly. Add food onto the rack.If the coals fl ame from fat dripping into the fi re, sprinkle with water. A spray bottle is handy to use. How hot to build the fi reBeginners often ask how hot to build a fi re. A quick rule of thumb is to hold your hand palm-side down at about the position the food will be above the fi re and count (one-thousand-one, one-thousand-two, etc.). If you can hold your hand for 6 seconds or more, it is a slow fi re; 5 seconds is a medium-slow fi re; 4 seconds is a medium fi re; 3 seconds is medium-hot; and 2 seconds is a hot fi re. Most foods are best cooked over a medium fi re.  For a teepee fi re—After the small twigs begin to burn, add larger sticks the same way you did the small ones. A teepee fi re burns quick and hot, with the fl ame directed to one spot. For a log cabin fi re—Build larger sticks in log cabin style around the kindling. This is a long-burning fi re but takes longer to get started. 55Planning outdoor mealsAny method used for cooking indoors also can be used outdoors. Foods can be baked, barbecued, braised, broiled, roasted, fried, steamed, or stewed. However, it may be more challenging to get the same quality as is possible with indoor appliances. Cooking times also will be more variable. On the other hand, the smoky fl avor from cooking outdoors is something that can’t be duplicated indoors. Cooking equipment—either made or purchased—can range from green sticks to tin cans and refl ector ovens to Dutch ovens and grills. Here are a few suggestions for using some different types of containers and equipment. You’ll fi nd many others in current out-door magazines and on the World Wide Web.Cooking on a grillMeats, fi sh, poultry, and some bread products can be cooked di-rectly on the grill. Foods on or in foil, or in pots and pans, also may be cooked on the grill. Cooking speed can be controlled by adjust-ing the distance between the food and the coals and by the number of coals. Grilled Roasting EarsTurn back husks of sweet corn, and strip off silk. Lay husks back in position and line up on grill over hot coals. Turn ears frequently using long-handled tongs and cook for 15 to 20 minutes or until husks are dry and browned. (Corn will look “suntanned.” For browner, sweeter corn, continue roasting to suit own taste.) To serve, break off husks. Serve with butter, salt, and pepper. For even more zip, sprin-kle with lemon juice. Cooking on a stickCombinations of meat and veg-etables, fruits, and even breads can be cooked on a skewer or stick. It is dry heat cooking and is much like using a rotisserie indoors. Hold the food near the coals and rotate until it is evenly cooked. Metal skew-ers, green sticks, wood dowels, and straightened metal coat hangers may be used. Cooking is controlled by the distance of the food from the coals and the amount of rotating. Supper on a SkewerCut 1 pound of big bologna or wieners in 1-inch chunks. Cut 1⁄2 pound of Swiss or other cheese in 1-inch cubes. Cut big dill pickles in 1-inch slices. Alternate meat, cheese, and pickle on oiled skewers or sticks. Baste with a commercial barbecue sauce or sauce made from the recipe below. Roast over coals for about 15 minutes, turning frequently. Makes 6 to 8 servings. Homemade Barbecue SauceCombine 1 cup chili sauce or catsup, 2 tablespoons French dressing, 2 teaspoons vinegar, 2 teaspoons prepared mustard, and 1⁄2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce. Heat to boiling. Fruit KabobsCut a variety of fresh or canned fruit (except melons) into uniform pieces. Thread fruit on long skew-ers. Blend 1 cup honey and 11⁄2 tablespoons lemon juice. Brush over fruit. Grease grill to prevent sticking if these are placed on grill rather than held over fi re. Heat over medium fi re, brushing occasionally with butter. Avoid scorching. Serve with remaining honey mixture. 6Cooking in a Dutch oven or skilletThese utensils may be used for a variety of cooking methods—frying, roasting, baking, braising, and stewing. The cast iron helps to provide even heat. Number of coals and placement of the coals control cook-ing speed. Coals can be placed around the Dutch oven and on top of the cover, if desired. The Dutch oven may even be buried with some coals for slow, even cooking. Skillet BiscuitsMelt 1⁄4 cup butter or margarine in a heavy 9- or 10-inch skillet on grill. If desired, sprinkle with garlic powder, onion salt, or paprika. Prepare biscuit dough according to package directions (or use refriger-ated biscuit dough from a tube). Pat to 1⁄2-inch thickness. Make into 12 biscuits. Arrange in skillet, turning biscuits to coat both sides with the butter. Cover skillet with lid or heavy aluminum foil. Place on grill 4 inches from medium-hot to hot coals. Bake 8 to 10 minutes. Check often to be sure biscuits do not burn. Bake for 5 minutes longer or until done. If desired, biscuits can be turned so they brown on both sides. Makes 12. Graham Cracker Cherry Pudding20 graham crackers, crushed1⁄2 cup chopped nuts1⁄4 cup butter or margarine, soft-ened2 tablespoons sugar1 can cherry pie fi llingLine bottom of Dutch oven or skil-let with aluminum foil and butter well. Blend crackers, nuts, butter or margarine, and sugar. Sprinkle 2⁄3 of this mixture on bottom of foil-lined Dutch oven. Cover with cherry pie fi lling. Sprinkle with remaining crumbs. Cover and bake 20 to 30 minutes or until heated through. Makes 8 to 10 servings. Cooking in coffee cansThese are “one-trip” utensils. Because of the diffi culty of clean-ing the cracks and crevices, discard them after one use. These may be used for baking, broiling, stewing, or braising. Since the metal is lightweight, it is more diffi cult to control the heat. Dinner-in-a-Can1 pound ground beef4 tomatoes, sliced1 can (15- to 17-ounce) whole kernel corn, drainedButter or margarineSeasonings: pepper, salt, dried oregano, garlic powderOptional 1 cup buttermilk baking mix 1⁄3 cup milkShape meat into 4 patties. Grease 4 two-pound coffee cans. Place a patty in each can. Top each with 1 sliced tomato and 1⁄4 of the corn. Dot with butter or margarine and add seasoning. Cover each can with heavy aluminum foil. Place cans on grill 3 to 4 inches from hot coals. Cook 20 to 30 minutes. If desired, remove foil and drop in spoonfuls of batter made from baking mix and milk. Cook uncovered for 10 more minutes, then cover with foil and fi nish cooking 10 additional min-utes. Makes 4 main dish servings. Campfi re FondueIn a small saucepan, heat 1 cup (11 ounces) condensed cheddar cheese or nacho cheese soup and 1 cup shredded Swiss cheese until cheese is melted. Stir frequently to prevent sticking. To eat, place cubes of French bread or bagels on sticks or fondue forks. Dip into hot cheese mixture. Makes 4 servings. 77Cooking with aluminum foilMeals can be cooked in aluminum foil packets. Makeshift cooking utensils can be made for baking, braising, broiling, and steaming foods. Chicken-in-the-GardenFor each person, tear off a 40-inch length of aluminum foil and fold in half. Just off center, place 2 or 3 pieces of rinsed chicken, 1 peeled potato, 1 tomato, 1 sliced onion, and 2 green pepper rings. Sprinkle with 2 tablespoons instant rice, 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce, dash of salt and pepper. Dot with butter.Fold foil into a packet. Cook over glowing coals about 11⁄4 hours, or until chicken and potatoes are done. Turn package about every 20 to 30 minutes. Baked Shoestring Potatoes4 medium baking potatoes3 tablespoons butter or margarine11⁄2 teaspoons saltDash of pepper1⁄2 cup grated cheese1⁄4 cup milkCut a 48-inch length of alumi-num foil and fold in half. Scrub or peel potatoes; cut them into thin lengthwise strips as for French fries and place just off center on the foil. Dot each with butter; sprinkle with salt, pepper, and 2 table-spoons cheese. Pull edges of foil upward, then pour 1 tablespoon milk over the potatoes. Make foil into a packet. Cook over glowing coals, about 1 hour or until done. If desired, fold back edges of foil and sprinkle potatoes with extra cheese. Makes 4 servings. Camper’s Pizza1 cup buttermilk baking mix1⁄3 cup milkBottled or canned pizza sauce (about 14 ounces)1 package (31⁄2 ounces) sliced pepperoni or other cooked meat8 ounces shredded mozzarella cheese or other cheeseDried oreganoUsing baking mix and milk, prepare biscuit dough as directed on a box of buttermilk baking mix. Divide into 4 equal parts. Pat each part into an 8-inch circle (or use English muffi n halves). Place circles on a greased grill 5 inches from medium coals, or place dough on a sheet of aluminum foil on the grill. Cook until lightly browned underneath. Turn each circle over and spread with sauce; top with the meat, cheese, and oregano. Cook 12 to 15 minutes longer or until sauce bubbles and edges of dough are browned. Makes 4 servings. File: 4-H and Youth, 4-1Prepared by Judy Levings, 4-H youth develop-ment program specialist; Sue Bogue, extension program specialist; Carol Ouverson, extension communication specialist; and Jane Lenahan, extension graphic designer.This publication is available on the Iowa State University Extension publications Web site at www.extension.iastate.edu/store.. . . and justice for allThe U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) prohibits discrimination in all its programs and activities on the basis of race, color, national origin, gender, religion, age, disability, political beliefs, sexual orientation, and marital or family status. (Not all prohibited bases apply to all programs.) Many materials can be made available in alternative formats for ADA clients. To fi le a complaint of discrimination, write USDA, Offi ce of Civil Rights, Room 326-W, Whitten Building, 14th and Independence Avenue, SW, Washington, DC 20250-9410 or call 202-720-5964.Issued in furtherance of Cooperative Extension work, Acts of May 8 and June 30, 1914, in coopera-tion with the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Jack M. Payne, director, Cooperative Extension Service, Iowa State University of Science and Technology, Ames, Iowa.

4-H Youth Development: Cooking Over Campfire Coals

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4-H Youth Development: Cooking Over Campfire Coals

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