In her Monthly column, The Survivalist Jessie Krebs shares her tips on how to stay alive in backcountry situations. Krebs is the owner and former Air Force S.E.R.E instructor. O.W.L.S. Skills.
Many campers fantasize about the romantic images of food cooked on an open fire. Then they do it. The result is often bread with a gooey middle, crunchy rice, charcoal in the pancakes, ash in the cocoa, burnt eggs—heck, burnt Everything is better with a little help. Open-fire cooking isn’t advanced mathematics, but it is certainly different from cooking at home, especially if you’re someone with a talent for “burning water.” Here are some pointers to get you started.
Flame is your enemy. Its temperature is well above “high” on a typical stove, and trying to get a pot at just the right height above it is tricky, since a fire fluctuates dramatically depending on when and how you add wood. A thick bed coals provides even heat lasting for at least an hour. The coals are more forgiving of a novice fire chef. My strategy involves building a fire. I then burn some fuel of wrist-diameter size or larger for about an hour. Then, I split it in two, creating a bed coals and a small fire.
