One of the real joys of camping goes back many years – having a real wood campfire outdoors.
There is something relaxing about sitting around the campfire in a comfortable chair with your favorite beverage in hand relaxing with friends and family. (Our beverage of choice is a delicious Gin & Tonic).
When I was in the Boys Scouts in the 1970’s campfires were always a big part of our monthly camping outings. In those days we really did not have chairs – but instead sat on logs and tried to make the fire as large as possible. However – it was still time to sit there and “shoot the breeze”.
One of the side benefits (detriments?) to sitting around the campfire was smelling like woodsmoke when I returned home. It wasn’t just my clothes – but the tent, backpack, my hair – everything smelled strongly of woodsmoke. This is still part of the tradition today – with the difference being we can hop in the shower in the Atlas during our trip so we don’t smell like a walking campfire everywhere we go!
While sitting around the campfire is fun – outdoor cooking takes the campfire experience to an entirely different level. In the past we have done entire meals over a wood fire using a cast iron Dutch oven to make pizza and other baked goods.
This trip we decided to go for simplicity on our wood fire cooking.
On most of our camping trips – the cooking duties are my responsibility – and part of the fun of nice long camping trips. Noel’s job is most often to wash the dishes afterwards – which I would consider a personal win every time. Cooking is creativity in action – washing the dishes afterwards is …. boring.
The one exception to this is with our cast iron pie irons. Noel and her family used these types of pie irons to make pies over a campfire on their camping trips. Once we starting camping in an RV where space and weight are not huge items to worry about – we decided to make this one of our traditions on camping trips as well.
Like everyone these days I went on Amazon to look for cookbooks on pie making with cast iron pie irons. I found one that has 50+ recipes using pie irons – and Noel has tried 4 or 5 different ones over our last couple of trips. Our two favorites are cherry pies to satisfy a sweet tooth and a combination Brie cheese, nuts and dried cherries for a savory delight.
This trip we did the cherry pies on Friday night and will do the Brie pies on Sunday night.
As always – they were yummy!
It was a double win for me – I got to watch Noel cook the pies – I get to eat the pies – and there is no real clean up to-do!
Kirk’s Travelogue 