My local butcher had some very lean looking steak on offer at the Weekend so I thought I would have a go at making some jerky
.. anyway once I had trimmed the fatty bits away and any bits of meat that where not suitable I had a small pile of beef off-cuts with no use, so I thought I would show you one of the cooking techniques I teach my Scout Troop.
This technique is quick, simple and involves a minimum of food handling, it also demonstrates how little wood you actually need to cook!
Firstly I used a small fire box for this fire as it was just outside my backdoor! Though it would be just as good on an open fire.
For the wood I used a section of Silver Birch trunk about 6 in diameter and 12 long I firstly split this log using my knife into different sized sections, from the thickness of a match to the thickness of my thumb.
With one of the thicker sections I shaved a small handful of paper thin shavings to use as tinder
These shavings where placed in the bottom of the fire box, and lit from below with a single match
As the flames build up through the wood progressively larger pieces can be added
Once the fire is going strongly you can turn your attention to the food as we need to wait for the fire to die down to embers..
Lay out a large piece of foil, add the beef to the centre of the foil, add chopped peppers, onions and salt, pepper, soy sauce and a splash of water (This is important as the food is going to steam!)
Loosely fold the foil over the meat to form a parcel (This is best to be air tight)
By now the fire should be burnt down to embers so you can add your parcel directly to the fire.
After 10 mins (Yes 10 mins) you can carefully remove the parcel from the fire
Open the parcel up and enjoy
You can obviously add just about anything to these parcels but potatoes ect should be sliced very finely. Fish is also very good cooked like this..
Sorry if this is teaching you to suck eggs but thought I would put it up anyhow!
This technique is quick, simple and involves a minimum of food handling, it also demonstrates how little wood you actually need to cook!
Firstly I used a small fire box for this fire as it was just outside my backdoor! Though it would be just as good on an open fire.
For the wood I used a section of Silver Birch trunk about 6 in diameter and 12 long I firstly split this log using my knife into different sized sections, from the thickness of a match to the thickness of my thumb.
With one of the thicker sections I shaved a small handful of paper thin shavings to use as tinder
These shavings where placed in the bottom of the fire box, and lit from below with a single match
As the flames build up through the wood progressively larger pieces can be added
Once the fire is going strongly you can turn your attention to the food as we need to wait for the fire to die down to embers..
Lay out a large piece of foil, add the beef to the centre of the foil, add chopped peppers, onions and salt, pepper, soy sauce and a splash of water (This is important as the food is going to steam!)
Loosely fold the foil over the meat to form a parcel (This is best to be air tight)
By now the fire should be burnt down to embers so you can add your parcel directly to the fire.
After 10 mins (Yes 10 mins) you can carefully remove the parcel from the fire
Open the parcel up and enjoy
You can obviously add just about anything to these parcels but potatoes ect should be sliced very finely. Fish is also very good cooked like this..
Sorry if this is teaching you to suck eggs but thought I would put it up anyhow!
