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Survival Cooking: How to Cook with Sticks -- Continued
Submitted by: Backcountry Press Outdoor News
Posted on: 05/22/19
Disclaimer: The views expressed on this site are that of the authors and not necessarily that of TBC Press
Article # A19-2127
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If you think you can only find a great meal in civilization, think again. No pots, pans, or metal grill? No problem. Here’s everything you need to know about cooking over an open fire using items only found in the woods. Primitive cooking may not be easy at first, and there’s a lot that can go wrong, but once you get the hang of it, you’ll wonder why you didn’t master it sooner.
There’s something so satisfying to the process of skewering wild game meat on a stick and watching it roast over a crackling fire. It is likely the same way that the majority of our ancestors prepared their food since ancient times. Whether fire-kissed meat is inherently tasty or we have been bred to enjoy its flavor, you cannot deny that it is delicious. Keep in mind though, that delicious doesn’t happen by accident.
Build a Green-Wood Grill
For a real wilderness feast, the green-wood grill is a great approach. This cooking method consists of a rack of fresh live sticks or branches, set up with a fire underneath.
It acts very much like a metal cooking grill, and you may be able to use it several times before the sticks begin to burn.
These sticks can be supported in different ways, and you can build the grill in any size or shape that you like. Square, rectangular, and triangular shapes are popular, and these can range in size from tiny to huge. I have built several massive grills over the years, the largest of which held enough food for 70 people.
Typically, I start my grills with four yard-long stakes, each with a forking branch at one end. Carve a point on the end that doesn’t fork, and drive these into the ground about 8 inches. Set two stout, green-wood poles in the forks, and lay a rack of green sticks perpendicular to them. Maintain a nice bed of coals and low flames to grill your meats and vegetables to perfection. I love roasting sweet corn this way, just as people have done here in America for centuries.
Tie a Tripod
There are a few different ways to lash together a tripod, but for cooking, I usually lay three poles side-by-side and perform a tripod lashing. Tie a clove hitch or square knot to the end of one of the poles, and wrap the line around all of the poles five or six times.
Wrap the line between the poles twice between each one, working back toward the original clove hitch. Finish by tying the free end of the line to the free end from the knot that started this whole thing. Spread the legs, and your tripod is done.
Use a chain and hooks to hang your cooking pot, or lash in some grill sticks to make a very stable green wood grill. For this, lash three cross pieces to the outside of the tripod and then lay your green-wood rack on top of the cross members.
Use vines, rawhide strips, or leather thongs to lash the cross pieces since there will be a fire nearby. Synthetic rope may melt, and natural fiber rope may burn this close to the fire, and your rack and food could drop into the flames.
Set Up a Skewer
If you’ve roasted marshmallows over a campfire, then you’ve used a skewer. This pointy stick can give you many more options than just placing food directly on a bed of coals. You can easily make a wooden skewer by carving or breaking a point into a straight branch of live, non-toxic wood. To be more conservative, you can use wood that is dead, just know that it is more likely to light on fire, especially if grease starts running down the stick. For quick-cooking foods, impale them on the sharp end and hold the skewer over the flames by hand. For something that takes longer, set up the skewer like a dingle stick, or prop it up against a handy hearth rock.
Build a Cooking Crane
Hundreds of years ago, people cooked their meals in fireplaces at home, and swinging pot cranes allowed them to move heavy pots in and out of the fire safely. We can adopt this technique for our camp by building simple cooking cranes. Here’s how to carve a “three-stick” crane. Select three sticks: a long stick, a forked stick, and a hooked stick. Carve points on the ends of the hooked and forked sticks and stake them into the ground. The fork should be right side up, and the hook should be turned upside down. Make sure the upward fork is closer to the fire, and the downward hook farther away. Lay the long, straight stick on the fork with one end over the fire, and put the other end under the hook. Put a pot on the end in the fire, and leverage will hold it in place. This setup is good for small pots, but not sturdy enough for bigger vessels.
Article and Images courtesy of Tim MacWelch - Outdoor Life
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