Fire cooking

 Trip to the Forest with My Class

Through my work as a schoolteacher, I make a point of taking my classes out into the forest from time to time. I’m fortunate to be able to borrow a scout cabin, shelter site, and forest area from the Yellow Scouts. It’s healthy for the kids to spend a day outdoors—making a fire, chopping wood, and preparing their meals over the fire.

Usually, there’s plenty of time for bushcraft or carving, but last time it ended up being just cooking. And that’s perfectly fine.

Gear

The pack was fairly heavy for just a couple of days in the woods. But I was also carrying extra axes and plenty of carving kits for lending out.

The food bag has good capacity, and one bag can easily hold enough food for a single-day trip. There’s tea and coffee, bread mix, risotto, Parma ham, soups, spices, and a box of butter.

Biscuits

I’ve been experimenting with making dry dough mixes at home that can be kneaded in a bag and used for flatbreads or buns. A mix where you only need to add water.

250 g flour, 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp sugar, 2 tsp milk powder, 1 tsp baking powder.

From the first attempt (where I made a double batch), I learned that it produces far too much dough. The amount above is just right—it makes two good buns.

You really have to be careful not to add too much water. Add a little at a time, knead it, add a bit more, and continue until the dough holds together but is still slightly on the dry side.

The first attempt had too much water, resulting in very sticky dough—quite unpleasant to work with.

The second time, I got the water just right, but then tried kneading butter into the dough like proper biscuits—and that turned into a greasy, annoying mess. Better to just use extra butter (or palm fat) in the pan.

Both attempts were baked on a cast iron pan. The second attempt used foil over the buns (which made a huge difference).

It’s really great having a dough that makes two solid breakfast buns and can be cooked on a hot stone, pan, pot, or similar. I’ll keep experimenting, but the recipe is getting close.

The photos are what they are… but the buns tasted really good.

Risotto with Cheese

Rema 1000 often sells risotto mixes for around 10–15 kroner. They taste really good, are easy to cook over a fire, and are simple to improve with a few additions. This time I made a cheese risotto and just added some Parma ham. It turned into a pretty nice, carbonara-like dish.

There was more than enough food for me (easily enough for two people), and I had only brought half a risotto mix. So it’s really cheap trail food that tastes good and is very filling.

Æbleflæsk (Pork with Apples)

On the second day, I made æbleflæsk—a fantastic dish that can be prepared in countless ways. My version focused on keeping it cheap. I had pork rind in the freezer, saved from a roast I had cut into chops.

The rind was first boiled in the frying pan, then sliced into smaller pieces and fried until crispy. After removing it from the heat, I fried apples and onions in the fat left in the pan. Finally, I added the pork back in. Everything was seasoned with salt and pepper.

A really good and inexpensive campfire meal. Pork rind (leftovers), two apples, and one onion.