campfire cooking – foodisthebestshitever

Curried sausages on the campfire (but easily adaptable for the home kitchen just in case you didn’t figure that one out for yo’ self)

Welcome to another thrilling installment of “the things my ma cooked for dinner when I was a kid and now I cook them sometimes because I am disgustingly in love with nostalgia”.

The ol’ curried sausages were on high rotation as a midweek dinner option during my years at home. Woolies snags, a bit of Keen’s curry powder (one of the only “spices” in my Ma’s pantry. Seriously, I made a spice rack for my year 8 wood work project and it was home for the Saxa salt and pepper, and Keen’s curry powder. That was it), an onion and a couple of other bits and pieces all came together in the big pot to make our bellies very happy indeed. A scoop of either under cooked or over cooked rice on the side and dinner was sorted.

I have made it a little different because that’s just what I do but I think even my Ma would agree that the essence of the thing is still there.

CURRIED SAUSAGES

Serves 4

600 g sausages (beef or lamb is my choice but this is also perfect with pork, chicken or “of no specific origin” snags)
1 onion, large dice
5 garlic, roughly chopped
1 ½ tbls Keen’s curry powder
1 capsicum, large dice
1 zucchini, large dice
1 x 400 g tin diced tomato
1 x 400 ml tin coconut milk
Salt and pepper
Natural yoghurt, mango chutney, coriander and steamed rice, to serve

Heat a splash of oil in the pot that you will be cooking your curried sausages in. Add whole sausages and cook over medium heat for 6 – 7 minutes or until cooked through.
Remove sausages and set aside while you get the rest of this thing going on.
Using the same pot as the sausages were cooked in, sauté onion and garlic until starting to soften a little.
Add curry powder and cook out for 1 minute.
Slice cooked sausages into 2 cm pieces and return to pot with all other ingredients.
Simmer for 30 minutes over med – low heat.
Check seasoning and get it on the table, with garnishes somewhere also on the same table.
Camp fire or stove top, it’s Keen’s curry powder for the win.

June 17, 2019

foodisthebestshitever2 Comments

Campfire (or possibly home oven) Chicken with Broad Beans and Bacon

“You may sleep like animals and smell like animals, but you shall eat like men”.

Well, I heard through a friend of mine that that is indeed what Jesus said and by jeepers I do believe I agree with that man!

I am more than happy to sleep on the floor with nothing but a rolled up old tee shirt that I had been wearing for work on the two days previous, and nary a blanket or mattress in sight, on the odd (or possibly way too oft) occasion that I’ve indulged in one too many tipples of the white man’s devil water and nodded off (passed out) on the floor while searching for my bed… which is coincidentally in the same place it has been for the last 5 years… I’m sure there should be some kind of ingrained memory thing there, but no.

I belive I told you to put coals on the top of the camp oven too... — I believe I told you to put coals on the top of the camp oven too…

That same minimal necessity sleeping theory is also applicable for camping. I will sleep on the ground (although that tune may be sung a little differently as I grow older), wear the same clothes and bath in nothing but the sweat dripping from my own pores for as many days as need be but just before I can no longer see modern civilization from the brink of Lord of the Flies syndrome I will cook up a damn fine meal that I shall devour like some kind of strange red bearded camp royalty and bam! I am human again.

Ready to bring you back from the brink of Lord of the Flies syndrome... — Ready to bring you back from the brink of Lord of the Flies syndrome…

It’s not hard to eat well while you’re camping, it really isn’t. What is hard is a brick. Bricks are very hard, but eating well while camping is not. Argue that point with me why don’t you…

Something as simple as camp oven chicken for example, can be lifted to dizzying new heights if you remember to pack a little ham stock that’s been in the freezer since last Christmas and way too many broad beans from the garden. It’s about the fore-thought – past Graz looking out for future Graz and all that. I’m certainly not implying that all of your camp meals should be like you’re staying at a five star resort, because then let’s face it – you’re going to be needing a bath robe and a little mint choccy on your pillow too and, although I am more than happy to be designated camp cook, you will not be receiving room service from me… lip service possibly, but room service definitely not. So you just get your own ass organized and pack a couple of ingredients for your tromp de monde camp dish then you are coming out on top… and in the orgy of camp cooking, on top is indeed a good place to be.

Cook it before I shoot you with my beer gun

CAMPFIRE CHICKEN with BROAD BEANS and BACON (serves 4-6)

1x 1.6kg chicken of prime origin
3 rashers bacon
1 brown onion, diced
1 carrot, diced
3-4 cloves garlic, chopped
2-3 cups broad beans podded from what looks like way too many broad beans for you and your family but trust me, it isn’t (if you can’t get them fresh, frozen are readily available and would do the job also)
2 cups ham stock
Salt and pepper

• Saute bacon, onion, carrot and garlic in a large camp oven (dutch oven) until just starting to colour
• Add your chicken and ham stock and season that sexy beast well
• Put the lid on your camp oven and keep it on med-low coals, with a layer of coals on the lid, for 40-50 minutes
• Sweep coals off the lid and check the chook… it should be pretty close. If not, put the lid back on, cover with coals and leave for another 10 minutes. Repeat the sweeping and checking…
• Once the chicken is done add the broad beans and simmer uncovered for another 10 minutes
• Serve the chicken with bread that Jennee baked in the camp oven earlier that afternoon (not showing off or anything) and tune in to the pretty sounds of the bush at sunset
• Aaaaaahhhhhhhhh

Oh, and then eat some bastardised smore type thing for dessert

PS this could be done in a baking dish in the oven at 180C for the same times…

October 19, 2015October 19, 2015

foodisthebestshitever10 Comments

Black Rock Camping Part 3… the final instalment of how to eat like a king while camping

Black Rock Camping 3

We endured but another night of wind and rain worthy of the adventures of Scott of the Antarctic himself. We should of maybe packed ourselves up, or possibly threw caution to that proverbial wind, but instead we decided throwing ourselves three sheets to the wind would be a better option and we drank ourselves numb to the pending eventuality that our campsite would be lifted from its tethers and transported back to Oz itself!

Our determination and the fact that we were all oblivious to the storm that continued around us paid off as we awoke to blue skies and the promise of a sugar-sweet day in paradise. I foraged native fruits and berries, tracked wild boar and gathered emu eggs for our breakfast feast. That is, I Viking raided the fuck out of everyone’s eskies and used the pillaged goods to create a communal breakfast. I let my brain be free as it instructed my hands through the motions needed to get this kick-ass breakfast on the table. I feel my brain worked very well with my hands on this occasion.

We ate a spiced vegetable and bean stew with baked eggs, sausages and bacon, and pots of freshly brewed coffee (we are not animals) and tea. *Fun camping fact #2 – if you want to eat like a king while camping get yourself a camp spice rack.

Eggs baked on top of a spiced vegetable and bean stew looks damn good eh?

SPICED VEGETABLE & BEAN STEW WITH EGGS (for 8)

6 big handfuls of diced vegetables that you can steal from everybody’s eskies. We had onion, corn, eggplant, carrot, mushrooms and kale
1 tin of cannellini beans
1 tin of kidney beans
1 tablespoon each cumin seed, paprika and dried oregano
½ teaspoon dried thyme
½ a teaspoon dried smoked chilli powder
Seasoning
2 tablespoons smoky barbecue sauce
1x 700g bottle of tomato passata
½ cup water
8 eggs
Sausages and bacon, to serve

• In some medium-high heat coals ☺, cook off all of the vegetables except kale with a splash of oil
• Once starting to colour and soften add spices and kale and cook out for another couple of minutes
• Add beans, barbecue sauce, tomato and water and simmer, covered for another 8-10ish minutes or until vegetables are cooked. Add another splash of water if it starts to thicken up too much as you need a wet sauce to poach/bake the eggs in
• Check and adjust seasoning if necessary
• Make a few (eight, actually) little dips in the stew and crack eggs straight into them. Don’t be too concerned if they don’t stay where you want them too, it’s all good in the end
• Cover camp oven and simmer, covered, for another five minutes or so (until the eggs are cooked but still a little soft in the middle is the desired result)
• Once cooked, serve with an array of camp fire meats, a pot coffee, tea, whiskey or what ever it is you drink in the morning and the company of some nice people

I am starting to think the reason I get invited on these trips is because of my camp cooking smarts, which is A OK by me. The challenge of cooking with only the (almost) bare basics, using the most primitive of cooking methods, just damn well appeals to me. Camp seasoning provided by the fire and the flora in this unattended outdoor greenhouse that is my kitchen stadium. Fire and then some more fire. It is all about the fire when I’m on the scene. You can take your trek through the bush, read your Mills and Boon novel or build a carnie survival hut in the bush, but you’ll find me tending the fire, getting the next meal together and possibly (definitely) sipping on a sneaky beer… well, as long as we’re done with breakfast.

The camp spice rack helped bring a little Jamaican influence to our chicken and chorizo. Pretty easy huh?

That sucker in the coals next to Marky's meatballs — That sucker in the coals next to Marky’s meatballs

Camping is my shit.

We wake, eat, drink, relieve ourselves and sleep when we feel the need, as our bodies regress back to the bare necessities of what you need to do to stay alive. Camp life is not dictated by alarm clocks, bus schedules or appointments at the herpes clinic. Meal times are not relevant as you eat when you feel like you want to eat, not when your boss sanctions your union approved 45 minute lunch break. As my friend Daniel-San, a fellow strapping young red-bearded lad, would say, “that is camp time, folks”. And you know what? It really doesn’t matter if you are drinking a beer at 10:30am or asleep at 7pm, as long as you are out there, enjoying what our dear sweet mother nature has to offer you, what ever that may be.

But this camping trip is almost over and nigh is the time that we shall return to our urban homes so that I may clean myself up, for I am currently exuding more funk than James Brown’s butt crack.

It’s been real, folks. It’s been real.

September 25, 2014September 25, 2014

foodisthebestshitever8 Comments

Black Rock Camping Day 2… banana cake and lamb in the camp oven (not at the same time though)

Black Rock Camping Day 2

It was a bit of a broken sleep last night as I was awoken numerous times by the pitter patter of a good hit of rain dropping to us from somewhere above. *Fun camping fact #1 – although the sound of rain dropping on a tin roof is nice, and somewhat therapeutic, the sound of rain dropping on the family tent is not.

I got up, mildly freaking out as to whether we had stowed our camera and other water resistant items. All good… we are getting a little wiser with age apparently.

Camp breakfast was one of many pans of bacon, eggs and sausages and pots of coffee and tea, all consumed to a background rendition of “let’s yell and scream heaps even though it’s only 6:30am” as recited by the Unruly Monkey-like Special Needs Children Choir. Beautiful. Welcome to the bush, fellow campers.

The kids were more than happy to clean the bowl… no washing up for us

The cake in it's new home amongst the coals — The cake in it’s new home amongst the coals

That is some good looking shit right there

And yes, it did taste as good as it looks

Banana cake in the camp oven was next on the agenda, as we had never attempted cooking a cake in the coals before and let’s face it, if you need to subdue a group of unruly monkies what better way to do it than with bananas or a product that is a derivative of said bananas. We were prepared for this uprising of small monkey-like children and feeding time at the zoo went down a treat! This cake was kick-ass.

Chalk one point up to the clearly smarter adults. That’s one-nil suckers!

The men folk drank away the afternoon while the ladies made the tents look pretty and started to prepare our next meal… well, maybe it didn’t go down exactly like that… or even remotely like that, but I did get my ass into the kitchen (camp table near the fire) because I give not a fuck about the location, I just know that being in the kitchen is my time to shine. The cooking begun, we did manage to encourage a sneaky beer or two past our bearded lips just for the sake of it. We may have been glanced that “what the fuck are you doing” glare from a wifey or two but there was five of us men folk so that really didn’t mean a thing to us right now – power in numbers, strength of the brotherhood, dib dib dib and all that shit. We would face our respective lectures on our drive home I was sure but for now, another beer please my good man.

And then the wind and rain came suddenly and mercilessly as if I had just deemed their prize winning turnip nothing but a fraudulent, fiberglass butt-plug. They worked in unison swiftly to dampen our spirits and our spare underwear, but we battened down the hatches in a fashion worthy of a “sea farers hatch battening badge”, and then the rain left us and I finished cooking my camp oven roast lamb. But it wasn’t just camp oven roast lamb; it was camp oven roast lamb, adorned with camp mint sauce and root vegetables, worthy of a “damn tasty assed camp lamb roast award”. But I’m sure you don’t really give a shit about my crappy awards now, do you?

The mint sauce really lifted this meal way out of the realm of sausages, white bread and tomato sauce

LAMB SHOULDER IN THE CAMP OVEN (for 4)

1 small lamb shoulder (about 1.5kg), bone in for the flavour and to give the kids something to gnaw on
2 sprigs rosemary
2 bay leaf
1 tablespoon cumin seeds
1 tablespoon dried oregano
Salt and pepper
1 bulb garlic, sliced through the middle horizontally
A couple of handfuls of root vegetables, all cut similar size
Mint sauce, to serve

• Rub the lamb down with the herbs, spices and seasoning
• Put it in the camp oven with ½ cup of water and cover with lid
• Move a few coals out of the fire and nestle the camp oven into these, shovel a few more coals on top. Leave it for 2 hours, occasionally turning camp oven and replacing coals
• While the lamb is getting sexy, make some mint sauce just so everyone knows how much of a bawsss you are
• After 2 hours add vegetables and garlic to the bottom of the camp oven and return to the coals for another hour or until everything is tender and delicious
• Carve it up and eat it with mint sauce, washed down with the finest booze your esky has to offer

CAMP OVEN BANANA CAKE (with dubious measurements)

4 eggs
250g unsalted butter, softened by the morning sun
4 cups self raising flour
4 super ripe bananas, chopped or mashed
1 cup sugar
Milk to make it into a thick cake batter consistency – probably about 1-2 cups

• Get the kids to mix this one up so as to keep them occupied for a few minutes
• Cream sugar and butter
• Add eggs
• Add bananas
• Add flour
• Add milk
• Bake on low coals in a lined camp oven for 45 or so minutes or until cooked. I’m sure a cake tin and domestic oven will do the job just fine, too

I’ll be back tomorrow with some more camp goodness.

*If you like the idea of camp oven cooking and you want to know more, there are some fine folks who have created a facey page that is all about the answers you seek. You can find it here

September 24, 2014

foodisthebestshitever17 Comments

Black Rock Camping Day 1… a chilly swim and burgers on the fire

As I had previously mentioned, we were to venture out into the wilderness on a family camping trip. Our tribe, plus four other families all followed by their own respective broods of small humans. I wasn’t totally sure if we may be setting ourselves up for disaster, but one thing I was sure of was that we had brought with us enough booze to self medicate even the most treacherous of feral child, Lord of the Flies, type scenarios that these kids could throw at us.

Bring it on!

We arrived at the Black Rock campsite via the convenience of modern technology, the metal chariot we fondly refer to as the automobile. Uponst our arrival we immediately set about the task of erecting (heh hem) our ready made, easily transportable, space saving, comes with a free set of steak knives, campsite. Thereupon I was greeted by an old friend; as we unraveled our tent from it’s cob web coated shroud the wafts of stale campfire smoke filled my nasals. To some it is a musty smell that reeks of a stale manifestation of unattended mould spores, but to me it is a fond memory of great times. Great food shared with great friends and cooked in what can only be described as a great cookhouse; an idealistic kitchen forum with a back drop of nature’s most awesome glory… and nary a gimp like, peg legged, old man in sight… it is true I have worked in many questionable kitchen situations.

These pizza scroll were damn delicious. Beetroot leaves, tomato passata and cheese. Rocking

We ate beetroot leaf pizza scrolls that Jennee had the forethought to prepare prior to our leaving home, followed by a swim in the river that was nothing short of invigorating as the river had declined the offer to follow the sun in its warming of the new season and sat not one single degree above damn cold (whether in celcius or fahrenheit), followed by my personal favourite – the lighting of the fire ceremony (entirely clothed this time, as we were in the company of other families who had small children who were not fully accustomed to the beast that is “camping Grazza”), followed by the drinking of the beer (another personal fave), followed by the cooking of the dinner. Tonight it would be burgers, just because that’s how we roll.

Cooking on the fire really does not suck

Beef mince pattie seasoned with paprika, sumac and a heap of salt and pepper, lettuce, tomato, cheese, fried onion, mayonnaise nazi homemade mayo and bbq sauce and a few jacket potatoes on the side.

There may be a fork on the side of this plate but that was for the roast potatoes. Please believe me when I tell you I am not some kind of nutter who eats a burger with a fork… while camping for effs sake

Magic. Full flavoured camp goodness, with not one sexy mardigras bound gay man in sight.

Now I am in bed and writing to you with a pen-on-paper type course of action, with nothing but the illumination of a small battery powered lamp and the company of my youngest little man, Obi.

I am going to go and pee outside ☺

September 23, 2014

foodisthebestshitever34 Comments

Camping, camp food and other interesting stuff

Where has your favourite food-blogging filthy-mouthed pirate been? Been camping, that’s where.

I guess the definition of camping could be a lot of different things to a lot of different people… much like the phrase “no, you may not enter through my back door”.

For some it is a reason to avoid showering for a few days, drink some rum, and eat mighty white and Woolies sausage sangas for every meal. For others it means they will leave home with nothing short of the Ritz Carlton in tow, hot shower and flushing toilets are not an optional extra. And for others still, a lonely goat pulling a goat skin covered wagon (made from the last lonely goat’s bretheren no less) and cooking over a campfire is their life. Gypsy carnival folk are a fine example of this… but to me it is an opportunity to relax, hang out with the fam, throw a line in, maybe go for a swim and cook up some kick-ass food in an idealic kitchen boxed in only by beautiful nature and shit.

A typical camp day goes thus; I put on my ever-so-flary Elton John sequened one-piece, spend and hour getting my hair just right, then I… oh, not that camp day! I get up early to cook the family breakfast. A personal fave is something that goes by the affectionate moniker of “camp breakfast”. Bacon, sausage, eggs, mushrooms and beans all cooked in the same pan and then served by simply chucking forks in said pan, then placing pan and a few pieces of chunky char grilled toast in front of the ravenous hoardes. With breakfast done we’ll be off for a fish or maybe an early a.m swim, then return to camp to get something cooking slowly in the camp oven* for the evening meal, and maybe whip up something for lunch while I’m there. This is usually enough to get Jennee to break the shackles of her comfy chair and good book, and hop onto a dirty old log to eat. Then it’s another fish or swim or some other kind of nature focused type activity while the evening meal gets sexy.

Fire is about the only neccessity for me when I’m camping. It conjours up memories of weekend camping trips for me as a child. And watching my kids poking the fire as I write this with a good old fashioned pen on paper type scenario, the innocent facination with the greatest discovery in our world thus far (Yeah you read that correctly! Penicilin can get fucked. I’m allergic anyway. Seriously. That stuff takes me to a bad place) is obvious. They are addicted… as am I… as was my father… and his father before him. And yes, it is all fun until someone steps on a hot coal. But that is a lesson very quickly learned if your IQ is anything above 4.

Get the kids to put the tent up and get yourself a beer

Make a little mix of sea salt and pepper to take with you. We are not heathens!

chicken and lamb with tomato, onion, carrot and anchovies

I want to eat that… and the potatoes that are roasting in the coals in the background

To quote Aussie box office hit of the ‘90s, The Castle, “how’s the serenity”

We didn’t even brush our teeth. Mostly because I forgot the tooth brushes,but we happily piggy backed in a “stick it to the man” with that. Don’t tell Jennee though because she’s pretty picky about oral… hygeine that is.

*the camp oven. A large cast iron pot with lid, for cooking on an open fire. The Australian version of the witches couldron.

April 19, 2013

foodisthebestshitever7 Comments