RV Camping Tips

13 Responses to “Campfire Cuisine: Gourmet Recipes for the Great Outdoors”

1. Uta
   July 12th, 2009 at 4:20 am

   This book received high marks from me before I even opened it–it has a compact format and a sturdy paperback cover, perfect for packing in your camping gear without excess weight or bulk. By compact, I am referring only to the cover dimensions; this is a thick recipe-packed book that is well worth the cover price. Campfire Cuisine prefaces the recipes with essential opening chapters on the basic cooking equipment needed (plus some optional upgrades), how to choose a campstove, basic storage and packing rules, fire-starting tips and rules, and menu planning. A novice will glean all they need to know about outdoor cooking in these chapters, but even the most experienced camper/outdoor griller is bound to pick up a few extra tips and tricks. The bulk of the book consists of recipes for condiments, marinades, snacks, breakfasts, light meals, dinner entrees, desserts, and side dishes. Most have streamlined ingredients and directions on how to do as much prep work as possible before embarking on the camping trip. I was struck by how this book can be interpreted at any level. I’m a fairly basic campfire chef who likes to keep her friends happy without too much legwork, and I have picked out dozens of simple but delicious recipes from this collection. If you are a super-chef who wants to entertain and dazzle at the campfire, you can ride this book full-hilt and create awe-inspiring spreads at the campstove. Don’t limit this book just to camping trips! You can dazzle your friends in your backyard with all of these ideas, and in fact, that’s how I envision myself using it most.

2. Tillie
   July 12th, 2009 at 4:39 am

   Many years ago I went on my first camping trip with my husband. We entered beautiful Big Sur with everything we thought we needed; a tent, sleeping bag, camp stove and some propane. I forgot to bring food. I didn’t even have a can opener. If only “Campfire Cuisine” had been available back then. The first two chapters cover all the gear and cooking supplies you need to bring and how to plan meals for the trip. I love to cook. I love camping. This book really brings the two together. The usual camp cookbook recipe ingredients like bisquick, frozen tater-tots and canned mushrooms are completly absent. The author instead relies upon planning, at-home preparation, and careful packing to take the place of processed convenience products. ”Campfire Cuisine” is filled with delicious recipes most of which use a camp stove or grill. (Unfortunately there are no recipes for dutch oven cooking. ) The recipes are fun without being really fussy. The “Fish cooked with curried couscous” (page128) is wonderful without being weird. Even my kids liked it! The whole thing cooks in tin foil on the grill. No clean up! The “grilled flatbread pizza” (page156) calls for lavash bread instead of pizza dough. Of course the next day that same lavash can be used for one of the many varieties of “Aram sandwiches” (page 88). There honestly isn’t a recipe in here that I wouldn’t try. But I do like trendy food and I like to try new things. If you like more basic food then this book might not be for you. As for the book’s design, I can see where someone who has poor eyesight would have a problem reading the book. It’s printed in olive green and orange on white. I think the author wanted the book to be small enough to pack for a camping trip, so the type is really small. The content is so good though that the book is still worthwhile. After fifteen years of looking for a great camping cookbook I finally found it. If you like to cook and want a book that will make the meals on your next camping trip really shine, then this book is for you.

3. Rin
   July 12th, 2009 at 4:42 am

   5.0 out of 5 stars
   Excellent Resource
   Overall, we really liked this little volume of tips for packing for the cooking outdoors we recently did.

4. Macyn
   July 12th, 2009 at 5:27 am

   5.0 out of 5 stars
   camping never tasted this good!
   This book is wonderful–the recipes are enticing and reasonable to prepare. There are plenty of things you can prepare ahead of time to make the actual camping preparations more…

5. Duval
   July 12th, 2009 at 5:42 am

   5.0 out of 5 stars
   Eating well outdoors
   Camping food need not be limited to hot dogs and hamburgers. The recipes in this book are easy, delicious, and a welcome change from boring cookouts.

6. Bindi
   July 12th, 2009 at 7:01 am

   San Francisco, July 3, 11:45 p. m. : Warm with summertime spirit and several pints of ale, I spontaneously invited several people over to my apartment for a Fourth of July BBQ. July 4, 10:45 a. m. : I awoke, panicked and queasy, remembering what I had done. In just three hours and 15 minutes, guests were supposed to be arriving for a party that I had not even begun to plan! Luckily, I owned a new copy of Robin Donovan’s “Campfire Cuisine. ” I hurried to the supermarket and bought the ingredients for Savory Cheese S’Mores, Chipotle Turkey Burgers, Creole Slaw, Grilled Peach and Arugula Salad and a bag of briquettes. In literally less time than I spent in line at the store, I had prepared a delicious and impressive meal. I just lit the bag of charcoal, threw the food on the grill, turned on Johnny Cash “American V,” and I had a fantastic urban holiday meal to share with my friends. . . . simple, creative, delicious and sophisticated. Yeah, I’m sure that Robin Donovans’s recipes are equally if not more delicious when cooked in the great outdoors. But why lose your parking space when you can adapt these wonderful recipes to cook at home?

7. Kyla
   July 12th, 2009 at 8:08 am

   5.0 out of 5 stars
   Awesome book!
   I picked this book up on vacation while killing time in a bookstore. Just one of those random things.. and you know what? This is an AWESOME book!

8. Osmond
   July 12th, 2009 at 10:25 am

   3.0 out of 5 stars
   Not what we expected.
   My wife received this book as a gift from my mother after I recommended it to her. The recipes are much more elaborate that what we were looking for.

9. Damian
   July 12th, 2009 at 11:15 am

   4.0 out of 5 stars
   Serve on your finest plastic campware…
   We gave several copies of this book for Christmas: one to each of our camping buddies. They all loved the book…and we loved it so much we kept a copy for ourselves.

10. Annabel
    July 12th, 2009 at 11:44 am

    1.0 out of 5 stars
    Orange page numbers!
    This is the most onerous cookbook I have ever seen in my 68 years of living! The recipes are interesting and fine, but the design of the book is horrible.

11. Rusty
    July 12th, 2009 at 1:46 pm

    5.0 out of 5 stars
    A Must For Campers Everywhere
    I used this book for the first time this past weekend. Everything was delicious and very easy to make : San Francisco Cioppino, Cheesy Biscuits one night, and pancakes made with…

12. Huey
    July 12th, 2009 at 2:18 pm

    5.0 out of 5 stars
    A Coleman in the kitchen???
    I asked Amazon to send me four copies of this delightful little cookbook, and those books have already moved on to camping friends.

13. Octavio
    July 12th, 2009 at 2:24 pm

    5.0 out of 5 stars
    Campfire Cuisine
    Campfire Cuisine is a great resource for my family, both “out in the wild” and at home. My eleven-year-old made a few of the recipes — they were delicious!