Cook Shack

Grate Cooking -- Game Meat Hash
Campfire cooking involves more then hotdogs on a stick.

By Cheri Eby - Author of Cooking on Location

Don't place your grate directly over the campfire. By building a trough that leads to your grate, you can easily move hot coals with a shovel to the grate allowing the main fire to be used for other purposes.

Grate Cooking: For many people, cooking over an open fire is typified by choking smoke, tearing eyes, and flaming pot holders, topped off with black-on-the-outside, raw-on-the inside creations. However, the smell of breakfast cooked over a campfire can make most taste buds salivate. The secret to successful open fire cooking is easy -- don't cook over an open fire. It's almost impossible to build the traditional fire ring that you are going to have every one sit around for the evening campfire hunting stories and use this same pit for cooking over burning, leaping, hot flames.

The best solution is to build a trough next to the campfire area and using a shovel or other device, move hot coals from the open fire into the trough. Set your grate over the trough and, "Voila", you now have a much more controlled cooking environment. You can have more coals on one side or add a little wood to have one side of your cooking area hotter than the other. Thus, if you wish to continue cooking one item, you can, while keeping other items warm.

Game Meat Hash
Serves 4

Ingredients

1 lb. left over steak or roast from elk, moose, or deer, shredded
small amount of cooking oil
4 potatoes peeled and sliced
1 green bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1 onion, peeled and chopped
1/2 tbsp. course black pepper
1/2 tsp. salt

Heat oil in heavy cast iron Dutch oven or skillet set on cooking grate over coals. Cook potatoes in oil until almost done. Add in the bell pepper and onions continue cooking until vegetables are done. Mix the game meat with the potatoes and heat through. Season with salt and pepper. Top individual portions with fried or poached egg sprinkled with paprika.

Campfire Breakfast
Game Meat Hash
Fried Eggs
Fresh Melons & Berries
Corn Bread With Honey
Coffee
For information on how to order Cheri Eby's book, Cooking on Location, please click HERE.