Campfire cooking - Stormhold Surveying Expendition

Recently, at the Stormhold Surveying Expedition, I had the pleasure of assisting Mistress Eleanor Lyttlehales with the food preparation. The joy of the experience, apart from camping in a truly gorgeous setting at Lady Ava's property (Napoleon, VIC) was that we got to cook over an open fire (this was well before the horror of Black Saturday). The good folkes of Abbotsford have a plethora of fine cauldrons, very swish pot hangers, and a proper copper, which made my meagre collection of proper cooking implements look very small, indeed! We did a feast for 60 on both Saturday and Sunday (and lunches), which was great - but by the end my feet and back were a bit sore... (I'm a desk jockey by trade...)

I think we did a very good job, there were a few challenges (like using entire dried out pine logs for firewood) - you picked them up and they were HUGE but very light, burned so quickly that they really didn't leave coals. I also learned a bit about pot nestling in coals (I've always been a pot hanger), and was reminded that cloth is actually flammable (my apron has a lovely burn section).

The recipes were simple, hearty fare that worked well while camping - the cherry pudding was particularly fine, and I like to think I made a contribution by stewing the pears Celsa brought (a fortuitous find from the roadside) in a red wine syrup, and then using the syrup for a mulled wine. I should have parboiled and larded the venison - but instead, spit roasted first, however, there were some 'squidgy' bits which needed a bit more cooking, so I ended up putting it in a red wine and pepper sauce to finish. Not too bad. My other favourite was the spinach - Eleanor added rocket (which I'm not a fan of) but blanched in with the spinach and laden with melted butter, it was a really lovely green (and one which I would definitely do again). The heat was a bit overwhelming for me on Sunday, and I forgot to fry the onion and rabbit before adding to the pot for stew - ah well!

More enjoyable I think than the soiree (well, not my feast, so all care and no responsibility) and it was two days - I really 'got into the groove' of what it must have been like, say, as a king's cook on the road. Cooking over an open fire as opposed to a stove is wonderful - though everything takes that little bit longer, but then, slow food is a pleasure unto itself.