Backwoods cooking

[KIMBOKO]

Please lets us know what you did and how it went!.

 

[Buckshot]

Had the cooking session on Friday night.

The scouts did chocolate bananas, they had the option of apples but no one took it !
I did a chocolate orange, bannock and a trout on a stick.
I put an egg in the bannock but didn't have quite enough flour to absorb the liquid so it was a bit sticky really. We could just about try some of it though before it was time to go home.
Everyone was really impressed with the trout I did the demo of boning it and folding the meat out and then putting it in the split stick to cook (I forget the name of this method - sorry). Every one of the scouts said it was really nice and the parents who came to collect them agreed as well

The scout leader (what are they called now - Arkala?) has decided to use a little of my knowledge, in a couple of weeks I'm doing a 'lighting a fire without matches' demo then over the next 2 months or so I'm doing some other talks/ demos on other bushcraft topics followed next year by a 'survival weekend camp'


Should be interesting...

Thanks to all who suggested ideas for the feast - it was great.

Cheers

Mark

 

[Womble]

Thats sounds lovely, I'm going to have to try that

Ed

We were going to repeat the apple core thing at Merthyr Mawr, but the apples were used to make the emergency Apple sauce that went with the piglet!

Buckshot:

In general, the Scout leader is usually called "Skip", Cub leaders are usually called "Akela" (from the Jungle book)

I'm currently doing something simelar with an Explorer Scout group (14-18 year olds), the leader asked if I'd do a talk/demo and come along to their backwoods camp. The talk was last Wednesday, and everyone seemed to have a good time. It was a pleasure for me to talk to a group who were genuinley interested in the subject; and I ran out of time rather than subjects to talk about!
The camp is this coming weekend in some local woodland, and should be good...

 

[Buckshot]

Sounds great Jon, let us know how it goes and what you do.
It will give me some ideas...

 

[falling rain]

Just noticed the thread. I'm doing a Bushcraft Birthday party in November for girls Which is always more dificult than boys as boys love making fire and building shelters, knots etc. Girls are harder to please, but this cooking thread may have just saved the day - great ideas guys thanks a million

 

[Buckshot]

Sounds good Nick
I reckon you'll have to sort out some decent recipies for them. What age are they?

Cheers

Mark

 

[Toddy]

Just noticed the thread. I'm doing a Bushcraft Birthday party in November for girls Which is always more dificult than boys as boys love making fire and building shelters, knots etc. Girls are harder to please, but this cooking thread may have just saved the day - great ideas guys thanks a million

Scoobies are the latest thing for girls to make, show them some natural cordages and make some simple ply cords for them to copy for bracelets; it'll fascinate them for ages. It kept an entire Brownie pack and six leaders busy for and hour and a half on Sunday
A bag of pottery clay will give masses of scope for making little dishes and models. They won't fire properly on a camp fire but they do dry out and they are at least as good as salt dough.
The clay dishes will hold a stuffed apple together while it toasts at the fireside (oven gloves are a *good thing* as are the tongs sold for barbecues. If you can make something that will panasse a fishy then it will also hold a pitta bread, filled with creamed chicken for the carnivores or a thick mixture of roasted vegetables for the rest, it can be a substantial supper.

Cheers,
Toddy

 

[falling rain]

Sounds good Nick
I reckon you'll have to sort out some decent recipies for them. What age are they?

Cheers

Mark

Between 8 and 11. There'll be some parents there too so probably around 10 - 12 people altogether. I'll probably let them do kebabs and they can whittle their own sticks for those and I'll show them how to make a prop/holder to use instead of sitting there holding the kebabs. I like the different ideas with the baked fruits and chocolate etc and I'll let them light their own fire for cooking on. I'll let you know how it goes but it's not till beginning of November so plenty of time to plan recipes. Cheers again for the ideas.

 

[Big John]

followed next year by a 'survival weekend camp'


Should be interesting...

We're doing 'survival camp' in a couple of weeks with our explorer scouts, it's always very popular. I'll post the programme here once we get it typed up if anyone's interested - I'll stick it in a new thread so look out for it over the next few days.

Food-wise, for the main meals we're doing rabbit stew, fish & rice saturday night (plus marshmallows, pop-corn, cookie dough in a pan) and pigeon for sunday lunch.

 

[Buckshot]

Great thanks John

 

[falling rain]

I was running a couple of events for the Family Learning week for Oxfordshire County Council this weekend just gone and thought I'd try the apples and bananas idea out. It went really well but like Buckshot I found more people wanted the chocolate banana's than the apples. I used cooking apples raisens cinamon and a drizzle of honey and they were lovely, and for the banana's plain chocolate. I also did the kebabs and they all collected and whittled their own kebab stick from thin bits of Hazel and scraped off the bark. We had salami, tomatoes, mushrooms and Bockwurst (German type sausage a bit like hotdogs)
Excellent stuff. Thanks for the ideas

 

[Womble]

Sounds great Jon, let us know how it goes and what you do.
It will give me some ideas...

the Explorers spent the first night under ponchos tied between trees, and built shelters during the saturday that they slept in overnight. There were some interesting designs on show, and they all had their strong points. I gave them some basic pointers, and took groups of them out for observation excercises and stalking games.

meals of note:

Saturday lunch - fillits of salmon skewered and cooked over an open fire

Saturday evening - Sweet potatos cooked in the embers, cured sausage kebabs with cherry tomatoes and red & yellow peppers, mince packages with carrot, potato and bacon (cooked in foil on the fire) and baked apples stuffed with sultanas soaked in spiced honey & port (leaders only)

 

[Buckshot]

Wow. Sounds great
I'm hungry already - and I only had breakfast an hour ago !!!

Thanks for sharing and giving me some ideas :You_Rock_

Cheers

Mark

 

[andyn]

found this today, thought the recipies may be of some use to some of you guys:

http://www.usscouts.org/cooking/cook_03.html

 

[Scout]

i was at a scout camp in hexam a couple of months back and came across thi

you put a couple of scuares of chocolate on top of a rich tea and then place near embers. as the choclate begins to melt pick up the biscuit and place a marshmallow on top of the melted chocolate. then just eat it