GUD BLOG: SINGLE POST
Campfire Cooking
There is a general belief that human civilization developed with the control of fire. Fire protected early hominids from predators, allowing them to sleep on the ground instead of trees, and possibly caused the lengthening of legs and flattening of feet, thus allowing upright walking. The fire was also a gathering place, where cooperation and tolerance might have been learned and language evolved, all of these important to the creation of society. Perhaps most significantly, fire allowed food to be cooked.
Though you might not suspect it based on reality television programming, humans have enormous brains. With respect to calories, these organs are costly to maintain. Food cooked over a fire is easier to chew and digest. With fire, the energy value of food is much greater, allowing the early hominids that hung out by a campfire the luxury of big brain growth.
So it was with this reverence for our ancestors and fire that a small collection of folks from Gourmet Underground braved the elements for a weekend of campfire cooking in the north woods of Michigan at Rifle River Recreation Area.
Our earliest relatives would have merely thrown hunks of raw meat into the fire but we modern humans use what tools that we can either fabricate onsite or order online with free shipping. Because the heat of a campfire is a bit difficult to control, thick cast iron cookware is a good medium. Once our tents were pitched and camp organized, we cracked a few more beers and whipped up some toasted cheeseburger appetizers in the hobo pie maker and a full-size batch of chili.
Based on the Lodge recipe for camp chili, the key components here were a pound of bacon and the comfortable heat of fire-roasted Poblano peppers. The chili was hearty and delicious, with a hint of smoke from the campfire.
A refreshingly tart berry flavored bottle of Chateau d’Oupia Les Hérétiques Mediterranean French red wine was uncorked for a nightcap. Then we fell to sleep among the wail of coyotes and the spectral vocalizations of a nearby barred owl.
Early autumn in northern Michigan can only be described as exquisite. Leaves are just beginning to turn and the cool, damp woods are aromatic with decay. Saturday morning we hiked a few hours with guns. Bracken, curled and brown fell crisp across our shins. We flushed a covey of ruffed grouse and then returned to camp for gut-warming leftover chili and to begin the night’s meal.
Number 13, a suckling pig from local J & M Farm and purchased at Detroit’s historic Eastern Market, was stuffed with apples and onions and placed on the rotisserie. With frequent applications of apple cider, it turned over hardwood coals as the sun set pink over Rifle River.
Only in recent human history have so many of us lost track of where our food comes from. Not only was it common to look the animal you were preparing to eat in the face, it was necessity. There were few wasted calories in the days when head cheese and blood sausage were familiar fare.
And so it was with Number 13. Fueled by hunger after a day in the woods, many cups of beer and perhaps a snort of whiskey or two, we pulled her off the fire and squatted around the cooking grate. We drew her succulent flesh off the bone with our fingers and ate, all of us, communal, a portrait of the very soul of humanity.
With most of the meat consumed we leaned over the raging fire and tossed what was left of Number 13 into the flames. The vision of animal bones glowing red in the heat echoed our own transience and afforded us all a rare contemplative moment of our extraordinary origins in the din of an express new world. This was real campfire cooking.
2010.09.22 Todd Abrams at 12:21 am
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6 Responses to Campfire Cooking
Such a beautiful description of a beautiful night. But what of the children frolicking like little demons in the woods?
Thanks, John! I've already mostly forgotten about those kids. There was just too much cool stuff going on.
Damn dude, I could smell hardwood charring the skins of poblano peppers while reading that. Nice Post.
Which of the 2 fest biers did you like better? Personally i'm much more a fan of Paulaner's amber Marzen style. I consider Hoffbrau more of a typical German liter-lager, which is of course not bad at all.
Thanks! Actually, the Hofbrau was pretty weak regardless of style. I figured the Paulaner would be more solid (and it was) so we drained it first. Everybody was indifferent to the Hofbrau and we left with half a mini-keg.
Cool stuff indeed. I've done my share of camping, and that was without question the coolest meal I've ever had in the great outdoors. My sincere thanks to you for setting it up.
Thanks again, John. Noah was a big part of it though. He actually purchased the grill and rotisserie for the purpose.
We're thinking of doing a leg of lamb next time.