Cooking directly on an open fire
- Thread starter jonnno
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not wishing to knock the BBQ enthusiasts but anything cooked over an open fire is carconogenic and should be kept to a minimum for you healths sake, But then I guess the outdoors life is generally unhealthy in any case, living in the damp air surrounded by draughs, insects, fungi, hard beds and questionable water. Why do we do it?
It was good enough for a few thousand years before sanitation and modern build techniques!
I'd much rather have fresh game over a fire than meat from the supermarket on a hob!
Much as I love the fresh air I don't half miss my nice, comfy throne when there's a turtle in the departure lounge!!
not wishing to knock the BBQ enthusiasts but anything cooked over an open fire is carconogenic QUOTE]
I read this as I had a smoke after my sunbed session and I got scared.....not!
Open fires themselves are carcinogenic. Of course, you only really run a significantly elevated risk if you spend your entire life cooking over an open fire in an enclosed space every single day.
Cooking meat directly on a bed of hot coals is less likely to burn the meat than with a grill. It works great and you don't have to lug a grill with you.
Interesting issues raised in this thread.
I cook over an open fire twice a week all year round. However I tend to cook things in large pans and pots over the fire rather than directly on the flame on a grill. It stops charring, I can cook over 'new flame' rather than just 'old ember' without thinking about the toxins released from some woods and onto the surface of the food. I get more 'control' over my cooking meaning I can cook more complex dishes and also avoid the common 'BBQ' complaints of raw on the inside, nuked on the outside. I also can get cooking quicker than waiting for the ember.
I almost exclusively use tripods now. Either tubular metal, cast iron or my favourite - three of the nearest sticks of green wood! From that I have a length of chain that divides into three sub-chains that go to three/four hook points round the edge of a round or square grill (an oven grill shelf, a weber bbq wire grill or whatever). I can happily raise or lower it according to my fire and the heat needed. If I need to hang a dutch oven I can hang it underneath too. But I mostly use is my 24 inch diameter frying pan which does the job nicely
Weight can be an issue. Especially for our ultralight fanatics (I mean buddies). A wire cake cooling rack and some fairly light guage chain and some small hooks do not weigh much and you can source your tripod from the wood around where you camp. Of course you can go the other extreme and have sets of cast iron pots and pans and grillplates and tripods! But the beauty of even the light version of this is you get a simple, robust and infinitely height-variable cooking platform that can take a surprising amount of weight if you decide to pop cast iron cookware onto it.
Whilst the Grilliput is okay you can only have small fires under it as it is not the high off the ground. It weights quite a bit for its diminutive size, its a faff to set up and the wire does warp considerably when exposed to flame (rather than charcoal ember) and weight. Personally, I think its a bit of a gimmick.
In decending price order.......
http://www.weberbbq.co.uk/Accessories/Product.aspx?ProductID=PROD267
http://shop.ukwhitegoods.co.uk/Cook...ELE4718 Universal Cooker Oven Wire Shelf.html
http://www.gardenxl.com/s/weber-bar...product-feed&utm_campaign=google+product feed
http://onesource-international.amazonwebstore.com/FULL-SIZE-WIRE-PAN-GRATE-COOLING/M/B000HLUKFC.htm
I cook over an open fire twice a week all year round. However I tend to cook things in large pans and pots over the fire rather than directly on the flame on a grill. It stops charring, I can cook over 'new flame' rather than just 'old ember' without thinking about the toxins released from some woods and onto the surface of the food. I get more 'control' over my cooking meaning I can cook more complex dishes and also avoid the common 'BBQ' complaints of raw on the inside, nuked on the outside. I also can get cooking quicker than waiting for the ember.
I almost exclusively use tripods now. Either tubular metal, cast iron or my favourite - three of the nearest sticks of green wood! From that I have a length of chain that divides into three sub-chains that go to three/four hook points round the edge of a round or square grill (an oven grill shelf, a weber bbq wire grill or whatever). I can happily raise or lower it according to my fire and the heat needed. If I need to hang a dutch oven I can hang it underneath too. But I mostly use is my 24 inch diameter frying pan which does the job nicely
Weight can be an issue. Especially for our ultralight fanatics (I mean buddies
). A wire cake cooling rack and some fairly light guage chain and some small hooks do not weigh much and you can source your tripod from the wood around where you camp. Of course you can go the other extreme and have sets of cast iron pots and pans and grillplates and tripods! But the beauty of even the light version of this is you get a simple, robust and infinitely height-variable cooking platform that can take a surprising amount of weight if you decide to pop cast iron cookware onto it.Whilst the Grilliput is okay you can only have small fires under it as it is not the high off the ground. It weights quite a bit for its diminutive size, its a faff to set up and the wire does warp considerably when exposed to flame (rather than charcoal ember) and weight. Personally, I think its a bit of a gimmick.
In decending price order.......
http://www.weberbbq.co.uk/Accessories/Product.aspx?ProductID=PROD267
http://shop.ukwhitegoods.co.uk/Cook...ELE4718 Universal Cooker Oven Wire Shelf.html
http://www.gardenxl.com/s/weber-bar...product-feed&utm_campaign=google+product feed
http://onesource-international.amazonwebstore.com/FULL-SIZE-WIRE-PAN-GRATE-COOLING/M/B000HLUKFC.htm
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Whilst this may be true, its strange that mankind cooked this way for about a million years, but yet were still here.
Guess it depends on the type of fuel on your open fire, carrier bags and modernday items such as car tyers, yeah they are carconogenic,
But oak, holly, beech, pine, sycamore..... well nuff said.....
Actually the the smoke and some of the fumes are not good for you.
One of the reasons for using the embers and not before.
the thing to remember is that yes that is how it was done for millions of years but,
a) man has changed physically
b) the life span of a human back then was very low!
Alan
I think this is quite true.
Alan, what's your view of cooking over flame with a large open frying pan? Its not directly in contact with the fumes and flame from the bottom of the dish but its open to the air and the smokey environment when its cooked?
I have a grilliput. My experience is they are not really worth it.
My hobby is tracking deer so I like to travel light as there is a lot of walking. Anything that is extra weight on my back I try to reduce so there is less fatigue. So now I carry a small flask of hot chocolate and a small flask of soup or some pasties and few bits used for tracking.
When cooking in the wilds if I am having a fire I would go for a firepit to bake/steam things or BBQ. This is the less weight, less hassle route.
Grilliputs tend to be too small for frying pans, quite wobbly, fiddly to put together and messy taking apart.
The weight to benefit ratio is too low for me to justify carrying the extra weight so imagination and adapting to the environment is the best way.
My hobby is tracking deer so I like to travel light as there is a lot of walking. Anything that is extra weight on my back I try to reduce so there is less fatigue. So now I carry a small flask of hot chocolate and a small flask of soup or some pasties and few bits used for tracking.
When cooking in the wilds if I am having a fire I would go for a firepit to bake/steam things or BBQ. This is the less weight, less hassle route.
Grilliputs tend to be too small for frying pans, quite wobbly, fiddly to put together and messy taking apart.
The weight to benefit ratio is too low for me to justify carrying the extra weight so imagination and adapting to the environment is the best way.
yeah but so is sunlight, coffee, tea, cheese, bread etc etc its just H & S going nuts i think being outside most of the harmful chemicals will just dissipate into the air.
i din't know about you but i get sick of turning on the news and hearing the latest story 'breaking news scientists find a link between juggling and cancer'
rant over
'breaking news scientists find a link between juggling and cancer'
That made me laugh out loud!!!
The smell of a fire's smoke on your clothes may upset others back in civilisation later on, but that smoke helps keep the midges away.
Grillputs - never used, but those folding heat dissipaters for toasting on an open flame are rubbish and fall apart. Grillputs look similar so not wanted to try them.
I've seen home made BBQ's etc., made with galvanised mesh. Galv mesh is very handy etc, but making galv involves the use of cyanide - DON'T COOk ON IT.
Everytime I cook over an open fire outdoors, what can be done over flame in a cooking vessel (billy can etc) gets done. A cuppa while you settle in etc., then at a later stage you can cook on/over the embers.
Remember children, a log fire's not just for Christmas.
Well they do say that juggling makes your brain get bigger, and if im not mistaken, that happens when you've got a brain tumour too? Could be slightly different though
just been browsing around the interweb and slightly off topic here's a few things i've found that apparently cause cancer.
bread, red meat, bus stations (not even joking), being tall, johnsons baby shampoo, carpets, fur, wool, and last but by no means least the immune system.
THE IMMUNE SYSTEM!
we're all doomed
apologies for the thread hijack
bread, red meat, bus stations (not even joking), being tall, johnsons baby shampoo, carpets, fur, wool, and last but by no means least the immune system.
THE IMMUNE SYSTEM!
we're all doomed
apologies for the thread hijack
Surely that's an oxymoron?
Were we immune when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbour??
Before anyone posts in reply.... my tung ith thirmly sthuck to my tcheek.
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