SPIT COOKING
   When cooking a small animal like a duck, squirrel or rabbit the problem is often encountered of the meat not turning with the stick, as you turn it. This problem can be solved by drilling two holes in the middle of the stick you are using to skewer with. Whittle two smaller sticks that will fit through the diameter of the holes you just drilled snugly, pointing them on one end. Now, skewer the beast as before and pierce the body through with the two smaller sticks, through the drilled holes and through the other side of the meat you are cooking. Now, it will turn when you turn the skewer, rather like a rotisserie. You may also wish to bind up the meat with some sort of string to keep legs and such from dangling and falling into the fire as they cook.
    A spit is a green stick used to skewer the items you wish cooked and then either held over the coals or supported by two forked sticks or allowed to dangle over the coals by jamming the other end under a stone or stuck into the ground. This method can be used like a shishkabob for chunks of meat and vegetables. Dough may be formed into a snake and spiraled around a stick and baked over the heat of the coals or near an open flame. Be sure to turn frequently, you only want it to brown. Eggs may be cooked by making a miniature arrangement of two forked sticks, carefully pecking a tiny hole in each end of the egg and skewering the egg and placing it across the two forked sticks near the fire. The holes give you a means of skewering the egg and also allow steam to escape to keep the egg from exploding. It is tricky though. A few will explode anyway no matter how careful you are.


ASH COOKING
     This is kind of a misnomer, for to cook using this method you place items to be cooked right on the bed of coals, not a layer of ash. Many foods may be cooked by placing them right on top of the hot coals themselves. If you use hardwood coals you will have very little to no ash to stick to your food. A little ash will not hurt you anyway. A dough prepared and flattened into cakes or rolled into balls and placed directly on the coals will cook just fine. When the outside is thoroughly browned just remove from the coals and break open and eat the bread from inside or rake off the ashes and eat whole. The outside is usually too burned to eat by the time the inside is done, but the inside is very tasty. Steaks may be laid directly on the coals and turned frequently. Laying meat directly on the coals really sears and seals the meat’s natural juices in and makes the juiciest steak you ever ate! Tubers, such as potatoes can be cooked this way. You should bury them in the coals. You can poke at them to see if they are tender. Don’t let the hard feel of the outer layer deceive you, though. The longer they stay in the coals the thicker this outer layer will get, as it burns. Corn on the cob, unhusked and soaked laid on the coals steams corn very well. Turn frequently. No need to overcook corn. It is good even raw.
 
FLAT STONE COOKING
   A flat stone either pre-heated in the fire or placed over two other stones and hot coals raked beneath it will make a fine griddle for cooking cakes, eggs, meat or just about any item you would normally cook on a griddle. Soapstone is a particularly good choice for it retains heat for a long period of time and heats evenly throughout. However, I have cooked on a ‘griddle’ made of granite many times. I actually was challenged on this once and accepted the invitation to a contest between my rock and the challenger’s frying pan. We were given the same amount of coals from the same fire. We each cooked pancakes from the same batter. l was still cooking pancakes long after the challenger’s frying pan and coals were cool!
 
Let’s look at a few more cooking methods!
    When using any cooking method keep normal cooking times in mind and the temperatures you are working with based on the chart above. You should also check the item you are cooking frequently and turn it regularly, except in the cases mentioned below that require no checking. Following the guidelines included and trying these methods out and getting a ‘feel’ for them is the best way to be successful at them.
 

DANGLING
   A small animal such as described above may also be cooked by wrapping the body with string, securing all dangling parts and then allowing enough length to dangle it near the fire with a tripod or ‘dingle’ stick. This allows the meat to turn and cook evenly by giving it an occasional whirl. Just don’t dangle close enough to the fire for it to scorch the meat and/or burn the string in two. I always use two strings just to be sure in case one does burn in two, to keep it from falling to the ground. It also works very well if you are cooking something with an open body cavity like a duck or chicken to preheat rocks and put them inside the body cavity. That way you are cooking inside and outside at the same time. It is a good idea to use a reflector in conjunction with dangling. You may also wish to catch the drippings in a container, if you have one, for cooking and flavoring other foods, such as gravy.
 
REFLECTOR COOKING
    A reflector may be as simple as several short logs stacked on one another to the height of two to three feet and staked on each side to keep from tumbling down or it could be constructed to have three sides thus utilizing more heat. Slanting your reflector in toward the fire is also more efficient than a wall perpendicular to the ground, kind of like your indoor fireplace back wall. The reflector should be placed behind the item being cooked so the item being cooked is between the reflector and the fire, reflecting the heat of the fire and cooking the meat thoroughly. The reflector can be used in combination with many of the cooking methods described here, not to mention the warmth it can provide you by situating your shelter so you are between the shelter and the fire with the reflector to the other side of the fire reflecting the heat back to you.

CLAY COOKING
    Cooking meat by covering it with clay and baking it in the coals has the effect of a clay oven and steams the meat until tender and juicy in its own juices. To use this method acquire some good sticky clay or mud, and smear it over the entire item you are cooking. Punch a hole with a small stick through the clay to the meat to allow a place for steam to escape. Place it near the fire to allow the clay to harden, then checking to make sure your steam hole is still clear, place it in the hot coals and cover it with more coals, being careful not to cover the steam hole, otherwise it can explode, then, cook until done. Fresh fish or fowl, cooks up particularly well using this method and you need not remove feathers or scales as these will pull off as you remove the clay. The entrails cook into a small ball in the body cavity that is easily raked out after cooking and does not taint the flavor of the meat. In the case of any other animal, it should eviscerated and skinned and covered with yucca or grape leaves, even brown paper, to prevent any grit from staying with the meat. You may also wish to place herbs and spices in the body cavity before covering it with leaves and clay.

WANT MORE? THERE ARE MANY OTHER METHODS OF COOKING IN THE OUTDOORS. IF YOU WANT THE ENTIRE BOOK DOWNLOAD THE DESTIN-E BOOK, WILDERNESS COOKING!

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT!
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