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Campfire Cooking with Charcoal Briquettes

© Steven C. Karoly

Several weeks ago a new reader to Camp and Outdoor Cooking asked a series of Dutch oven questions. Sheila, who is also known as Indian Summer, asked if she could use charcoal briquettes to cook meals at an upcoming Indian pow-wow in Florida.

She has found that the Dutch oven is an ideal piece of camp cookware because it solves a few "camp cooking problems." You can still cook in a Dutch oven, says Sheila, after summer campfire restrictions are in place. The Dutch oven helps her avoid "hot dogs, red meat and a lot of processed foods" by allowing her to create "one-pot meals."

Sheila plans to attend the pow-wow on Thanksgiving Day. According to Sheila, "People camp primitive in a large field. There's a limited number of fire/cooking areas, and they are usually up front where it's more crowded. I usually camp out in the back field where I've yet to see a fire pit."

Sheila's questions

Sheila camps because it takes her mind off some of her ailments. Since she often doesn't have the energy to build a campfire, Sheila is looking to charcoal briquettes to cook her meals. "A lot of times I go camping because I'm not feeling well and making a fire, especially learning by trial and error," says Sheila, " is exhausting and time consuming." Sheila continues: "Last time I went camping, I started a wood fire using some instant light coals."

Here's her dilemma: "I found that the charcoal briquettes sank into the soft ashes in the fire pit that state park provides. I'm thinking that next time I'll put the briquettes into an aluminum cake pain and cook from there. I'm going out to the Indian pow-wow on Thanksgiving, and there are no fire sites in the backfield."

Sheila believes that charcoal briquettes "might be a good way to cook up dinner." She asked:

"Can people perk up coffee on charcoal briquettes?

"I have an old lightweight aluminum coffee pot and wonder if that will work?

"Can you cook pancakes or eggs on a cast iron griddle just using charcoal briquettes?

"What kinds of pots (enamel?) are good on charcoal briquettes besides cast iron?"

She concludes: "I'd like to try some cast iron Dutch oven and other types of charcoal briquette cooking using what I have and see if I like it first before getting any special equipment. I was just checking to see if I got some of the beginner's rules correct."