Are you ready for an exciting summer? Do you love scrumptious food when you are away? If yes then read on because we have looked into the ingenious method of fire pit cooking. But first let’s just check if you are ready to go! Many of you will have booked all the sites you wish to visit this season and most will have at least started to check that their ‘home away from home’ hasn’t suffered any winter or storage damage. If not it’s definitely time to get dusting down your caravans, campervans or tents……give them a good airing and spruce them up for the fun and adventures ahead. Before you depart on any fun family activities or adventures, make sure nothing is broken or leaking to ensure you get to have the most relaxing time you can when away. If you’ve been preoccupied with more boring daily affairs, now is the time to put that all to one side and start planning………use Campsitechatter to find exactly the right campsite for you,
Camping Sites in England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland, UK. Also use Campsitechatter’s blog section to find great ideas to help you to have the most peaceful, yet exciting time possible! For example if you are travelling with your children or grandchildren you will find,
Family Camping Games and Camping Activities very useful as many Campsitechatter users have commented on how these have brightened up their holidays and brought them closer together as a family, inviting much laughter, love and fun!
So if you are a ‘foodie’ do you have ingenious ways you cook when you are away in your campervan, caravan or tent? The up and coming season is the perfect time for you to relax and sit outside late into the evening with a glass of wine! Nothing makes that more enjoyable than the cheeriness and warmth of a fire. Understandably most sites do not allow open fires, but have you thought about using a portable fire pit, also known as a fire bowl? With these you cannot only party on when the night gets chilly but you can cook on them too and most have been designed so they are effective as a BBQ, especially with all the fire pit accessories that are now available. Fire pits are also great because they are large and lots of people can stand or sit around the fire pit and enjoy the warmth and great aromas. There is also no damage to the ground like there is with an open bonfire. Some are very simple designs that are effectively a big fireproof bowl for burning real wood, but these are still great for roasting marshmallows, baking potatoes or other simple cooking methods. Others are fuelled by propane, natural gas or clean-burning fuel and still create a great ambience. If your food tastes require you to be a little more ambitious you can get fire bowls complete with a stand and grill, which can easily be removed to allow you to use the fire bowl as a stunning fire feature that’s so lovely to sit around. Some have BBQ racks that cover just under half the pit so that the fire can be easily controlled as well as giving a great large cooking area. A rotisserie is a style of roasting where meat is skewed on a spit which is a long solid rod used to hold food while it is being turned and cooked over the fire. This is a great way of cooking large joints of meat. A rotisserie really helps you to grow your fire pit recipe repertoire. A tripod is a three poled cooking structure that usually packs flat for easy storage and has an adjustable solid steel chain with a hook hanging from the top. This means you can easily adjust the height or cooking speed of your Dutch oven, boiling kettle or cooking pot - basically anything that has a handle can be hooked and hung above your fire pit.
Of course you need to check with the organisers of the event you are visiting or site you are staying at that Fire Bowls are allowed to be used. Once you know that, here are a few tips to keep you safe and out of trouble………..it is important to ensure an area of around 6 feet around your fire pit is free from flammable equipment, foliage and branches. Think about whether it is too windy as burning embers can easily be blown from the fire bowl. Some of the designs have sides around a large part of the perimeter which obviously protects the fire from wind. Also decide to place your fire pit in a protected area if possible, especially if you are using wood as your fuel. The fire bowls are freestanding making them ideal to take in your campervan, caravan or motorhome as they are easily portable, but just remember that metal gets very hot and moving the bowl or handling the cover before it has had a chance to cool down can easily be done, especially after a glass of wine or two!
So with a few fire pit accessories and some ingenuity, the food guru in you can come out to amaze your friends with great creative dishes! One definite benefit it has over a barbecue is that you can burn either wood or charcoal on a fire pit to create the heat needed. Most standard BBQs do not have the size to fit fire wood. So what can you cook on your fire pit? If you are using the grill above your fire pit, the food is best to have a bold flavour that can hold its own against the inevitable smoky flavours you get from wood or charcoal. Seafoods seem to naturally lend themselves to grilling on a fire pit as smokey flavours of the grill add to the savory richness of the seafood. If you and your friends aren’t too squeamish about fish eyes then try cooking whole grilled fish. Choose lovely quality fish and simply leave the skin as this acts as a protecting barrier so that the fish flesh is kept from being torn or burnt. A lovely way to make your dish that little bit different is to stuff the fish with garlic, fennel or herbs, seasonings or lemon. Alternatively you can put fish in parcels made from leaves………grape, cabbage or banana plant leaves work nicely. This creates a steaming parcel to keep your fish deliciously moist. If you want to be more technical your fish can be cooked this way in a skillet or in a fish grilling basket, but simply directly on the grill works just fine! An ideal fish for all the above methods is sea bass and banana leaves are often a favourite as they are great at preventing the fragile fish from sticking to the grill grates and they add a mellow smoky, sweet flavour to the fish.
Dutch oven cooking using a large pot and tripod is a great way to expand your fire pit cooking. It enables you to make soups, stews and braises…….things you could never cook on a grill. Not only does it allow you to be a lot more adventurous, it really is a lot of fun to think up creative new dutch oven recipes………………….ratatouille, Steamed Mussels with Tomato and Chorizo Broth, rabbit stew, chicken with mushrooms in white wine sauce, Garlic Roast Chicken with Pan Gravy, Greek-Style Vegetable Casserole, Italian Pasta and Bean Stew, Roasted Tomato and Bacon Soup, One Pot Chicken Risotto………there could be an endless mouth-watering list! Just look up a few recipes before your next adventure, pack the ingredients and you will be the cooking guru you always dreamed of!
Get away from the hectic, tiring duties and routines of everyday life and get back to basics this summer. Don’t forget to take photos of your BBQ and Fire pit dinner concoctions, along with snaps of all your friends and family fun and adventures and upload them onto Campsitechatter’s pinboards,
Community Pinboards. You can also write about your adventures in
Caravan and Camping stories to share your exploits and amusing ideas with other campers and caravan owners.
