There's something about cooking over wood...

[elfs]

Biological anthropologist Richard Wrangham has proposed that cooking was a necessary step in human evolution, because cooking breaks down fibers and improves the bioavailability of many nutrients we don't normally extract from raw foods.

But more than that, we cooked over woodfire. And I would not be surprised at all to learn that cooking over a woodfire is engrained into our genes in a way that, say, cooking with gas or electricity is not. As we camped, we were always cooking with wood, and damn if it didn't make everything we ate taste better. Even pancakes and scrambled eggs. There was something to the smoke that was utterly wonderful.

Comments

[rhonan.livejournal.com]

Have you ever done eggs in a paper bag, over an open fire? Great stuff that! One of my best memories of childhood and summer camp.

[technoshaman.livejournal.com]

Really? Tell me more, I'm about to be camping for a few days...

But WRT OP: Om nom nom, smoke.... :q

[rhonan.livejournal.com]

Paperbag eggs are really simple. Once your fire has burned to a nice bed of coals, take a regular paper sandwich bag, and line it with sliced bacon, just beyond the level you expect the egg mixture to fill. Once you have the inside of the bag completely covered with bacon, add whatever you want to add to the eggs (ham, cheese, diced onions, diced peppers, & etc, and then top with scrambled egg mixture, up to the end of the bacon. Then place the bag a few inches above the coals.

How this works is very simple. At first, watch the outside of the bag. Unless you have it too close to the coals, the fat in the bacon will melt before the paper ignites, then the egg mixture will start to cook. As long as you are not too close to the coals, the bag will not start to burn while there is liquid egg mixture. If you do it just right, the bag will start to singe just as the bacon and eggs are done. Practice away from the kids a few times, and they will think you are a God, for making this work.

After you all are done with a nice breakfast, then you can explain how this is all simple science.

Of course, this is from a guy who learned this at Y-camp, and then spent a number of years as a chef, before figuring out he could make more money, and get more respect, playing with computers.

Addendum to this: We should met for an adult beverage some time. Whilst honoring your heterosexuality, this could make for interesting chat. I by no means assume that this would be limited to just us.

[technoshaman.livejournal.com]

Neat! Same as boiling water in a paper cup, only the results are much more yummy... :)

As for brewski, being as I'm exclusively on two wheels these days and an FNG at it to boot, I'd have to settle for root beer or tea or some such, but it sounds like you've as many war stories as I do, and a wee session of chewing the fat (and the pepperoni, as the old Unix Users Group dude used to say) would .... probably last far too long for my bedtime, but still be time well spent.

(And you wouldn't be the first Bear I've disappointed and yet was still willing to hang out with :)

[acelightning.livejournal.com]

[wyrdone.livejournal.com]

Cooking over coals (not bbq brickquettes, but charcoal) is definetly the way to do it.

Try taking cornish game hens or a smallish chicken with you next time. Gather wild herbs like wild garlic, rosehips, crab apples, etc. (not sure if you get some of those growing wild in the PacNW though) Stuff into the cavity and wrap the bird with well washed grape leaves. Wrap in a layer of foil and bury in the coals for a couple hours. Mmm delish camp cookin.

You own a real dutch oven? (the kind with legs and a rimmed lid)

[wyrdone.livejournal.com]

Oh and if you haven't read before the "Foxfire" series is a really good read.

http://www.amazon.com/Foxfire-Book-Dressing-Building-Moonshining/dp/0385073534/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1249048167&sr=1-1

There are 11 books in total. While the lore and stories are from Appalacia the general living off the land and rural crafts still apply to anywhere.

[technoshaman.livejournal.com]

Moonshinin'? Did, ah say, did somebody give up the Recipe?!

Srsly. I might have to have a look at that book.

Sign me, high-tech hillbilly half-bred city slicker
(you can take the boy out of the country but you cain't take the country out of the boy :)

[wyrdone.livejournal.com]

Making moonshine is easy. Making moonshine *safely* is hard. This is why the revenooers were all hot to trot about catchin dem shiners.

Seriously, moonshining is illegal in the US due to federal BATFE laws.

Now, on the philosophical topic, if you want to learn how to make it safely. There are a lot of resources on the web. http://homedistiller.org/ being one of the better sites.

[grum]

Your characterization makes moonshine sound like meth. Easy to make, hard to make safely, a nightmare for public safety officers... illegal.

Tangentially, I was recently offered a vial of epinephrine by an anesthesiologist in an OR on the grounds that it was only one chemical reaction away from meth. He seemed surprised that I didn't take it. I didn't like him much for that and other reasons.

[wyrdone.livejournal.com]

There *are* serious health ramifications if you try and make shine using the wrong equipment. Heavy metal poisoning being one of the more serious. There is a reason why commercial stills are made from copper or stainless steel. Granted it's less of a concern now since they don't sell lead piping or solder anymore, but other metals like aluminum and tin are reactive and drinking aluminum salts suspended in alcohol are not good for your health.

And that's not accounting for if you get the run bad and get too much acetone and/or methanol in your run and make someone go blind. Or Butanol and 2-propanol (rubbing alcohol) and just make them sick.

*steps off the soapbox*

Now, if you use the right equipment *and* learn the process right (helps if you have some knowledge of chemistry), you can make some damn good stuff. Homemade brandies are superb if aged for a few years after. And essence of mead is heavenly.

[dossy.livejournal.com]

... and yet, people love to crucify smokers.

[briar-fox.livejournal.com]

Tobacco smoke =/= wood smoke. Besides, there is simply no comparison when it comes to exposure - people don't come to a party or sit in a restaurant with a smoldering log in hand.