How to Cooking Over a Fire
Normally, if you want to cook over a fire, you need a metal grill rack. The grill rack is propped over the fire above the flames and provides a base for your cook pots and pans. If you are going backpacking though, you probably don’t want to bring a grill rack with you. First off, the grill rack would add a lot of weight to your pack. It would also complicate things since the rack takes a while to cool down before you can move it, and also gets really dirty after each use. You can still Cooking Over A Fire while backpacking. Just use one of these methods instead.
Why Cook Over a fire?
Aside from the fact that it is fun, fire cooking will save you fuel for your fire stove. That means you won’t have to bring as much fuel with you, thus further lightening your load.
Tips for fire Cooking
Smaller is better. You don’t need a giant fire to cook your meals. It will be easier to control the heat and flame if you build a small fire. After you are done cooking, you can always build it up more. Coat your camp pots with dish soap. This is a cool trick that I learned a while back. Normally, when you cook over a fire, your camp pots get a black film all over them which is hard to wash off. If you coat the bottom with a thin layer of dish soap, the black will rub off really easily.
The Method of Cooking Over A Fire
Cranes: If you have a camp cook pot which has a handle, then this is the best method for fire cooking. It is known as a cooking crane. There are various ways to set up a cooking crane over a fire.
Trench: With this method, you need to dig a small pit. You make your fire in the pit. Then you can put some thick branches over the pit and use these to prop your cook pot on. Alternatively, you can prop the pot on the rim of the pit.
Propped On Rocks: This is how a lot of people in developing countries cook over a fire. It works just as well when backpacking though just find some big rocks to prop your cook pot on. Again, the key here is to make a small fire between the rocks.
On Top of a Hot Rock: I’ve never tried this one, and I bet it would take a really long time to heat the rock up enough to get water boiling. I’m usually too hungry to wait that long! But it is still a good option to know about, and would be a decent fire cooking option for when it rains because the rock would block water from getting into the fire pyramid of firewood.