Personalize your campfire cornbread with spices, corn kernels or jalapenos.
The smell of fire, meat and just-cooked bread rising above your campfire can transform any camping meal into a memorable feast. When cooking over an open fire, simple recipes work well, and cornbread pairs well with chili and other hearty meat dishes. Measure your ingredients before you go, or use a cornbread kit for convenience in the field. Let your sense of smell and sight help you know when the food is done as you get back to basics with open-flame cooking.
Instructions
1. Make a small campfire using wood, kindling and matches. Watch the fire develop coals, the red-hot chunks of wood. You need to put the cornbread near the coals to bake, rather than right on the fire. Manage the fire using a poker or a long stick, to create space near the coals where you can put your cornbread.
2. Gather your ingredients and your pan. For fire cooking, use a cast-iron skillet, enamel baking pan or other hardy container. Find a piece of clothing or a small towel to use as an oven mitt.
3. Mix your dry ingredients together in a bowl. Add eggs, oil and water to the dry ingredients, using the proportions from your recipe. Stir together to mix until the is smooth.
4. Pour the cornbread into your skillet or pan. Place the skillet beside or directly on the fire coals.
5. Watch the cornbread. The batter will rise slightly and start to solidify. The bread should color slightly, but not too much. If the cornbread gets too brown, it's cooking too quickly. Move it away from the fire with your makeshift .
6. Pull the cornbread off the fire when the batter has grown hard in the center and lightly brown. Test for doneness by sticking a knife into the pan. If the out dry -- with a few crumbs sticking to it -- the cornbread is finished. If the knife comes out wet, you need to give the bread more time.
Tags: your ingredients, cornbread batter, knife comes, near coals, oven mitt, your campfire