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 :)