|
Post by brittonfaith on Aug 17, 2010 11:54:39 GMT 12.75
Weather is about to break and that means it's time to get the cookfire lit up for the season. Mike, Phil....I said the DRY wood. Heck, just get out of the way and let me get the dang thing lit before the meat spoils! Campfire cookin' is more than just what we do in deer camp. I know that here on the hill I often rely on it when the power goes out for God only knows how many weeks. Anybody plan to try a new menu creation this season? Got a new piece of iron? What's your favorite wood to burn? I'm gearing up to do another couple trash can turkeys in the coming months. Just can't get over how fast you can fully cook a big gobbler using that method! Nobody believes me when we tell them our first Thanksgiving here on the hill was a 25 pounder roasted to perfection in under 3 hours.
|
|
|
Post by Paws on Aug 17, 2010 12:02:07 GMT 12.75
I just bought two chords of cut firewood. Need to move and stack it. I'm sure looking forward to a fifty degree evening!
|
|
|
Post by brittonfaith on Aug 17, 2010 12:09:31 GMT 12.75
So's Athens County been listed for emerald ash borer yet? We just got on the list a couple months ago.
Tip for out-of-staters coming to Ohio for camping/hunting. Ohio asks that you please don't bring firewood with you. Wait until you get to the area you are going to set up and get it there. Huge problem with Emerald ash borer migration in Ohio.
|
|
|
Post by brittonfaith on Aug 22, 2010 10:38:26 GMT 12.75
OK. So my setup ain't near as primitive as Phil's. But I'm proud of it anyways. When we made our grill, we had to take some things into consideration. First we live on a few acres in a national forest where more rustic grilling is the norm. The grill also had to be portable, durable, compact (for hauling and storage) and preferrably multi-functional. What we came up with was this. I bought the materials and had a neighbor weld it to our specs. It's a 26x40 sheet of expanded steel welded to angle iron with iron supports welded cross ways to support the cooking surface. We can strap all of our coolers, camping/hunting gear, clothes ect. right to the grill top and two people can load the whole thing to using handles welded to each end. The grill and legs alone weigh not quite 20 lbs. Unloading goes the same way - just pick it up and go. Sure beats having to make several trips from where we park to our trail camp! Once we've set up camp, we just set the legs, light a fire, and place the grill on. The legs are just some steel landscape stakes driven into the ground. Grill height can be adjusted either by how far the stakes are driven in the ground or by a series of holes which were pre-drilled in the stakes and some hex keys or bushings inserted in the holes. We've even used the legs for stakes for a pick-up game of horse shoes between meals. It'll easily handle a half a hog or a couple small goats. I'm using the grill here...(Thanks Phil for taking the picture. Yes..We know who does the cooking when we all get together.) We can grill directly on the surface, pull out the pots and pans to cook/bake and have camp ovens set around the fire below the gill to add even more cooking area. Depending on what and how much food is being made, we can either set up numerous heat zones at one time or set the entire area up as a large zone. Mike and I are thinking about making another one big enough for large functions or a whole beef. We have an idea for using a set of bed frames in place of the angle iron and take the casters off and use pipe to set the bed frame legs in. It won't be quite as portablem and we don't know if it'll even work, but it's worth a try. If we used a king-size bed frame, we could roast half an elephant!!
|
|
|
Post by Paws on Aug 22, 2010 13:32:35 GMT 12.75
That gizmo has turned out some great grub. It almost makes up flor the ivey , chiggers, and ticks!
|
|
|
Post by brittonfaith on Aug 22, 2010 14:39:05 GMT 12.75
Only thing it's missing to be complete is a hand turned rotisserie.
The chickens really thinned out the tick population. Moose and Lynn have cleared out nearly all the ivy, and the chiggers have moved up closer to their pen. We'll both be coughing up our toe nails. But we won't be able to tell if it's from the smoke, emphysema, or the pneumonia. After a gallon of good stuff and a few PBRs it won't matter no how. Sooooo.........Now you ain't got no excuses for not coming over when you're called.
|
|