An old favourite and an easy one to learn to cook on an open fire.
The Stew
Put onions, beef and a tin of chopped tomatoes into the camp oven and place over the fire. Throw in diced carrots and peas or whatever veges you like. Add seasoning to taste. I like lots of black pepper! Half a cup of red wine is nice too. If you like extra gravy, add a little water or stock and some gravy powder just before putting the dumplings in, but remember the dumplings will help to thicken it as well.
The Fire
A good cooking fire has lots of red coals and only a little bit of flame. If you need to add more wood during cooking, just add a little at a time so the temperature stays fairly consistent.
The Dumplings
Make the dumplings while it cooks and add them to the stew, when the meat is just done. Don’t over cook the meat at this stage, because it will cook some more while the dumplings are cooking.
To make dumplings; put four scoops of SR flour, one scoop of cream and one scoop of water into a bowl and mix. Knead lightly and roll into dumplings. Add dumplings to the meat and cover until cooked. (About 20 minutes)
Serve around the fire and enjoy.
Hint
It can be tricky to gauge the temperature when cooking over an open fire, but if you put a spare pot of water over the fire and watch how it boils it will help you work out if your fire is too hot or just right. If the water simmers or boils very gently, that will be good for slow cooking a stew. But if it boils vigorously, then the fire will great for cooking a steak, but too hot for slow cooking. You can either raise the pot up higher, spread the coals out slightly or move it to the side of the fire until the water just simmers.
