Make your own mini-Grill

From LifeHacker comes this simple idea to make your own mini-grill

Use tin snips or heavy duty kitchen shears to cut strips into a can. Fold the strips back (carefully - don't cut yourself on the edges) and line with foil.  Add a few charcoal briquettes and you're cooking!

Fire Starters

"Fire, I'll take you to learn
You're gonna burn, you're gonna burn"
-Fire, by Arthur Brown, #1 for one week in 1968

With warmer days and thoughts of camping, here's an idea for creating your own fire starter. See Instructables.com for more details, photos, and alternative ideas for fire starters.

1. Gather dryer lint, an empty paper egg carton, old candles or wax, dental floss, and scissors.

2. Cut or break the wax into small pieces for faster melting.

3. Melt the wax in a double boiler set-up using a disposable glass jar or can with an opening several inches across. The can or jar will get quite messy. Place the can or jar in boiling water (keep on eye on the water level - too much and the jar will float and perhaps tip over, too little and the pot goes dry) Once the wax is melted, turn down the heat to a simmer (or off) to avoid buring the wax.

4. Stuff the lint into the egg carton compartments. Pack as much as possible for longer burning.

5. Cut apart the egg carton compartments and fold the edges over to cover the top.

6. Tie the lint up inside the closed compartments with dental floss. Leave six or more inches at the end of the knot for you to hold in the next step.

7. Did each package into the wax. Cover completely and let the wax soak inside. Wait for no bubbles rise from the package. Set packages on paper towel to drain.

8. When done pour extra wax over the starters (for extra water proofing). Let the starters dry for an hour or two.

9. To use, light a corner with a match and enjoy for 15 minutes or so.

Bottom Line

The comments on the Instructables website include some variations like pouring the wax directly into the egg carton before cutting the compartments apart, using twine instead of dental floss so it acts as a wick, wrapping the lint in strips of newspaper instead, using a crock pot to melt wax, etc. This is a simple idea with many ways to be creative. Just don't melt the wax over direct heat - you could get a flash fire.

Campfire cooking

"How is it that one careless match can start a forest fire, but it takes a whole box to start a campfire?" ~Author Unknown

The oldest form of cooking known to humanity is by means of a campfire. Yet despite being so old, campfire cooking can be amazingly complex and sophisticated.

1. The first step is gathering wood, building a fire pit, and laying the wood properly.
2. Next you must light it. This is easy if you have matches. If not, here are two with sites with ways to create fire using ancient and modern methods.
3. Now on to the cooking. There's a lot more then hot dogs and s'mores. Campfires can be used to cook food by a number of techniques.

• Roasting - Meat and large vegetables can be cooked on a rotating spit either over the fire or next to it. Roasting also includes hot dogs and marshmallows on a stick.
• Grilling - Food is placed on a wire frame directly over the fire. This method picks up a smoky flavor and allows grease to drip away. Watch out for grease flare ups and burnt food!
• Frying - Food is placed on a flat, hot surface. Typically a an open frying pan, but variations include wood plank cooking and cooking directly upon heated stones.
• Boiling - Food is cooked in boiling water over a fire.
• Dutch ovens and other pots. Pot variants include scouting favorites like cooking inside a scooped out orange, a banana skin, egg shell or paper cup.
• Wrapped food - Food can be wrapped in foil, clay, or leaves and cooked on the coals. A variant of this is putting hot coals or hot stones inside the wrapper with the food. Mongolians would wrap hot stones and food inside an animal hide for cooking away from the fire.
• Directly on coals - potatoes and ash cakes can be cooked directly on the hot embers.

Bottom Line

All cooking is an art and improves with practice. Campfire cooking is no exception. While the recipes may be simple the trick with campfires is finding the right heat and neither undercooking nor burning your food (or even both at the same time with burnt flesh and a raw center!)

To get you started here are some campfire recipes from KOA.