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Camp Kitchens
Camp Pit-Fires, Bean Holes - Cow-Boy Fire-Hole - Chinook Cooking Fire-Hole - Barbecue-Pits - The Gold 
Digger's Oven - The Ferguson Camp Stove - The Adobe Oven - The Altar Campfire Place - Camp Kitchen 
For Hikers, Scouts, Explorers, Surveyors And Hunters - How To Cook Meat, Fish And Bread Without 
Pots, Pans Or Stoves - Dressing Small Animals - How To Barbecue Large Animals 

REAL camp kitchens are naught but well arranged fireplaces with rustic cranes and pot-hooks as already described,
but in deforested countries, or on the plains and prairies, pit-fires are much in vogue. The pit itself shelters the fire
on the windswept plain, which is doubly necessary because of the unprotected nature of such camping places, and 
because of the kind of fuel used. Buffalo-chips were formerly used on the Western plains, but they are now 
superseded by cattle chips. The buffalo-chip fire was the cooking fire of the Buckskin-clad long-haired plainsmen 
and the equally picturesque cowboy; but the buffalo herds have long since hit the trail over the Great Divide where 
all tracks point one way, the sound of the thunder of their feet has died away forever, as has also the whoop of the 
painted Indians. The romantic and picturesque plainsmen and the wild and rollicking cowboys have followed the 
herds of buffalo and the long lines of prairie schooners are a thing of the past, but the pit-fires of the hunters are 
still in use.

THE MOST SIMPLE PIT-FIRE
Is a shallow trench dug in the ground, on each side of which two logs are placed ; in the pit between the logs a fire is
built (Fig. 105), but probably the most celebrated pit-fire is the fireless cooker of the camp, known and loved by all 
under the name of ...

THE BEAN HOLE
Fig. 106 shows a half section of a bean hole lined with stones. The bean hole may, however, be lined with clay or
simply the damp earth left in its natural state. This pit-fire place is used differently from the preceding one, for in the
bean hole the fire is built and burns until the sides are heated good and hot, then the fire is removed and the bean 
pot put in place, after which the whole thing is covered up with ashes and earth and allowed to cook at its leisure.

THE COWBOY PIT-FIRE
The cowboy pit-fire is simply a trench dug in the earth (Fig. 107), with a basin-shaped hole at the beginning. When
obtainable, sticks are laid across the trench and sods laid upon the top of the sticks. Fig. 107 shows a section of 
view of the pit-fire and trench chimney, and Fig. 108 shows the top view of the same.

In removing the sod one should be careful not to break them, then even though there be no sticks one may be able
to cover the draught chimney with the sods themselves by allowing them to bridge the trench. At the end of the 
trench the sods are built up, making a short smokestack.

THE CHINOOK FIRE-PIT
The Chinook fire-pit is one which is used in the northwestern part of the United States, and seems to be a 
combination of the ordinary camp fire-dogs with cross logs and the cowboy fire-pit. Fig. 109 shows a perspective 
view of this lay. Fig. 110 shows the top view of plan of the lay. Fig. 111 shows a steeper perspective view than that 
of Fig. 109, and Fig. 112 shows a sectional view. By examining the sectional view and also the deeper perspective 
view, as well as the plan, you will note that the two logs are placed across the fire-dogs with space between. The 
back-log is placed upon the top of another back-log A and B (Fig. 112). The fire-dogs have their ends shoved 
against the bottom back-logs B, the two back-logs are kept in place by the stakes C, C. Between the two top logs D 
and A (Figs. 112 and 110), the smaller fuel or split wood is placed.

As the fire burns the hot coals drop into the pit, and when sufficient quantity of embers are there they may be raked
forward and the frying pan placed on top of them (Fig. 112). The Chinook fire is good for baking, frying, broiling, 
toasting, and is an excellent all-around kitchen camp stove.

THE HOBO
Is carelessly built, a fire-place usually surrounding a shallow pit, the sides built up with sods or stones. The hobo
answers for a hasty fire over which to boil the kettle (Fig. 113) . At the old-fashioned barbecue where our ancestors
roasted whole oxen, the ox was placed on a huge spit, which was turned with a crank handle, very similar to the old
fashioned well handle as used with a rope or chain and bucket.

THE BARBECUE-PIT
Is used at those feasts (Fig. 114), where they broil or roast a whole sheep, deer or pig. At a late meet of the 
Camp-fire Club of America they thus barbecued a pig.

The fire-pit is about four feet wide and four feet deep and is long enough (Fig. 114) to allow a fire to be built at each
end of the pit, there being no fire under the meat itself for the very good reason that the melted fat would drop into
the fire, cause it to blaze up, smoke and spoil the meat. The late Homer Davenport (the old-time and famous
cartoonist) some years ago gave a barbecue at his wild animal farm in New Jersey. When Davenport was not 
drawing cartoons he was raising wild animals. At the Davenport barbecue there was a fire-pit dug in the side of the 
bank (Fig. 115) ; such an arrangement is known as ...

THE BANK-PIT
In the diagram it will be seen that the carcass is fastened to a spit of green wood, which runs thru a hole in a cross 
log and fits in the socket D in the bottom log; the spit is turned by handles arranged like A, B or C. The pit is lined 
with either stones or bricks, which are heated by a roaring big fire until hot enough to bake the meat.

THE GOLD DIGGER
Is another bank pit, and one that I have seen used in Montana by Japanese railroad hands. It is made by digging a 
hole in the bank and using shelves either made of stones or old pieces of iron. Fig. 116 shows the cross section of 
the Gold Digger with the stone door in place. Fig. 117 shows a perspective view of the gold digger with the stone 
door resting at one side.

We next come to the ovens, the first of which is known as ...

THE FERGUSON CAMP STOVE
It is made by building a rounded hut of stones or sod (Fig. 118), and covering the same with branches over which
sod, or clay, or dirt is heaped (Fig. 119). The oven is heated by building the fire inside of it, and when it is very hot 
and the fire has burned down, the food is placed inside and the opening stopped up so as to retain the heat and 
thus cook the food.

THE ADOBE
Is one that the soldiers in Civil War days taught the author to build. The boys in blue generally used an old barrel 
with the two heads knocked out (Fig. 121). This they either set in the bank or covered with clay (Fig. 120), and in it 
they built their fires which consumed the barrel but left the baked clay for the sides of the oven. The head of the 
barrel (Fig. 121A) was saved and used to stop up the front of the oven when baking was being done; a stone or sod
was used to cover up the chimney hole. Figs. 122, 123, 124 and 125 show how to make an Adobe by braiding 
green sticks together and then covering the same with clay, after which it is used in the same manner as the 
preceding barrel oven.

THE MATASISO
Is a camp stove or fire-place, and a form of the so-called Altar Fire-place, the object of which is to save one's back 
while cooking. The matasiso is built up of stones or sods (Fig. 126) and used like any other campfire.

THE BANK LICK
Is a camp stove which the boys of the troop of Boone Scouts, who frequented Bank Lick in old Kentucky, were wont 
to build and on it to cook the big channel catfish, or little pond bass or other food. The Bank Lick is made of flat 
stones and is one or two stories high (Figs. 127 and 128). The Boone Scouts flourished in Kenton County, 
Kentucky, fifty odd years ago.

THE ALTAR FIRE-PLACE
Is built of logs (Fig. 132) , of stones, of sod, or of logs filled with sods or stone (Fig. 131), and topped with clay 
(Figs. 130 and 132). The clay top being wider at one end than the other, on the plan of the well-known campfire 
(Fig. 129), is made with stones and sometimes used when clay is unobtainable.

The advantage of the altar fire and the matasiso is that the cook does not have to get the backache over the fire
while he cooks. All of these ovens and fire-places are suitable for more or less permanent camps, but it is not worth
while to build these ovens and altar fire-places for quick and short camps.

COOKING WITHOUT POTS, PANS OR STOVES
It is proper and right in treating camp cooking that we should begin with the most primitive methods. For when one
has no cooking utensils except those fashioned from the material at hand, he must, in order to prepare appetizing
food, display a real knowledge of woodcraft.

Therefore, start by spearing the meat on a green twig of sweet birch, or some similar wood, and toast it before the
fire or pinch the meat between the split ends of a twig (Fig. 133) or better still ...

FORK IT
In order to do this select a wand with a fork to it, trim off the prongs of the forks, leaving them rather long (Fig. 134), 
then sharpen the ends of the prongs and weave them in and out near the edges of the meat (Fig. 135), which is 
done by drawing the prongs slightly together before impaling the meat on the second prong. The natural spring and 
elasticity of the branches will stretch the meat nice and flat (Fig. 135), ready to toast in front of the flames, not over 
the flame.

A very thick steak of moose meat or beef may be cooked in this manner. Remember to have fire-dogs and a good
back log; there will then be hot coals under the front log and flame against the back log to furnish heat for the meat 
in front. Turn the meat every few minutes and do not salt it until it is about done. Any sort of meat can be thus 
cooked; it is a favorite way of toasting bacon among the sportsmen, and I have seen chickens beautifully broiled 
with no cooking implements but the forked stick. This was done by splitting the chicken open and running the forks 
through the legs and sides of the fowl.

PULLED FIREBREAD OR TWIST
Twist is a Boy Scout's name for this sort of bread. The twist is made of dough and rolled between the palms of the
hands until it becomes a long thick rope (Fig. 138), then it is wrapped spirally around a dry stick (Fig. 139), or one 
with bark on it (Fig. 137) . The coils should be close together but without touching each other. The stick is now 
rested in the forks of two uprights, or on two stones in front of the roasting fire (Figs. 140 and 141), or over the hot 
coals of a pitfire. The long end of the stick on which the twist is coiled is used for a handle to turn the twist so that it 
may be nicely browned on all sides, or it may be set upright in front of the flames (Fig. 142).

A HOE CAKE
May be cooked in the same manner that one planks a shad: that is, by plastering it on the flat face of a puncheon 
or board, split from the trunk of a tree (Fig. 145), or flat clean stone, and propping it up in front of the fire as one 
would when cooking in a reflecting oven (Fig. 146) . When the cake is cooked on one side it can be turned over by 
using a hunting knife or a little paddle whittled out of a stick for that purpose, and then cooked upon the opposite 
side. Or a flat stone may be placed over the fire and used as a frying pan (Figs. 116 and 128). I have cooked a 
large channel catfish in this manner and found that it was unnecessary to skin the fish because, there being no 
grease, the skin adhered firmly to the hot stone, leaving the white meat flaky and delicate, all ready to be picked out
with a jack-knife or with chopsticks, whittled out of twigs.

MEAT HOOKS
May be made of forked branches (Figs. 151, 152, 153, 154 and 155) . Upon this hook meat may be suspended 
before the fire (Fig. 153) by a piece of twine made from the twisted green bark of a milkweed or some other fibrous 
plant stalk or tree bark, or a wet string will do if you have one.

How TO DRESS SMALL ANIMALS
Dressing in this case really means undressing, taking their coats off and removing their insides. In order to prepare
for broiling or baking any of the small fur-bearing animals, make yourself a skinning stick, using for the purpose a 
forked branch; the forks being about an inch in diameter, make the length of the stick to suit your convenience, that 
is, long enough to reach between the knees whether you are sitting on a camp stool or squatting on the ground, 
sharpen the lower end of the stick and thrust it into the ground, then take your coon, possum, squirrel or muskrat, 
and punch the pointed ends of the forked stick thru the thin place at the point which corresponds to your own heel, 
just as the stick in Fig. 155 is punched through the thin place behind the heels of the small animals there sketched. 
Thus hung the animal may be dressed with comfort to the workmen. If one is squatting, the nose of the animal 
should just clear the ground. First take off the fur coat. To do this you split the skin with a sharp knife, beginning at 
the center of the throat and cut to the base of the tail, being careful not to cut deep enough to penetrate the inside 
skin or sack which contains the intestines; when the base of the tail is reached, use your fingers to roll back the 
skin. If skinning for the pelt, follow directions given later, but do not destroy any skin as the hide is useful for many 
purposes around camp.

After the coat is removed and all the internal organs taken out, remove the scent glands from such animals as have 
them, and make a cut in the forearms and the meaty parts of the thigh, and cut out the little white things which look 
like nerves, to be found there. This will prevent the flesh from having a strong or musky taste when it is cooked.

How TO BARBECUE A DEER, OR SHEEP
First dress the carcass and then stretch it on a framework of black birch sticks, for this sweet wood imparts no 
disagreeable odor or taste to the meat.

Next build a big fire at each end of the pit (Fig. 114), not right under the body of the animal, but so arranged that 
when the melted fat drops from the carcass it will not fall on the hot coals to blaze up and spoil your barbecue. Build
big fires with plenty of small sticks so as to make good red hot coals before you put the meat on to cook.

First bake the inside of the barbecued beast, then turn it over and bake the outside. To be well done, an animal the
size of a sheep should be cooking at least seven or eight hours over a charcoal fire. Baste the meat with melted 
bacon fat mixed with any sauce you may have or no sauce at all, for bacon fat itself is good enough for anyone, or 
use hot salt water.

Of course, it is much better to use charcoal for this purpose, but charcoal is not always handy. One can, however, ...

MAKE ONE'S OWN CHARCOAL
A day or two ahead of the barbecue day, by building big fires of wood about the thickness of one's wrist. After the
fire has been burning briskly for a while, it should be covered up with ashes or dirt and allowed to smoulder all 
night, and turn the wood into charcoal in place of consuming it.

How TO MAKE DOUGH
Roll the top of your flour bag back (Fig. 136), then build a cone of flour in the middle of the bag and make a crater
in the top of the flour mountain.

In the crater dump a heaping teaspoon or, to use Mr. Vreeland's expression, put in "one and a half heaping 
teaspoonfuls of baking powder," to which add a half spoonful of salt; mix these together with the dry flour, and when
this is thoroughly done begin to pour water into the crater, a little at a time, mixing the dough as you work by stirring 
it around inside your miniature volcano. Gradually the flour will slide from the sides into the lava of the center, as the
water is poured in and care taken to avoid lumps.

Make the dough as soft as may be, not batter but very soft dough, stiff enough, however, to roll between your well
floured hands.

BAKED POTATOES
Put the potatoes with their skins on them on a bed of hot embers two or three inches thick, then cover the potatoes
with more hot coals. If this is done properly the spuds will cook slowly, even with the fire burning above them. Don't
be a chump and throw the potatoes in the fire where the outer rind will burn to charcoal while the inside remains raw.

MUD COOKING
In preparing a small and tender fish, where possible, the point under the head, where the gills meet, is cut, fingers
thrust in and the entrails drawn through this opening; the fish is then washed, cleaned and wrapped in a coating of 
paper or fallen leaves, before the clay is applied. Place the fish upon a pancake of stiff clay (Fig. 147), fold the clay 
over the fish (Fig. 148), press the edges together, thus making a clay dumpling (Fig. 149); cook by burying the 
dumpling in the embers of an ordinary surface fire, or in the embers in a pitfire (Fig. 150).

A brace of partridges may be beheaded, drawn, washed out thoroughly and stuffed with fine scraps of chopped 
bacon or pork, mixed with bread crumbs, generously seasoned with salt, pepper and sage, if you have any of the 
latter. The birds with the feathers on them are then plastered over with clean clay made soft enough to stick to the 
feathers, the outside is wrapped with stiffer clay and the whole molded into a ball, which is buried deep in the 
glowing cinders and allowed to remain there for an hour, and at the end of that time the clay will often be almost as 
hard as pottery and must be broken open with a stick. When the outside clay comes off the feathers will come with 
it, leaving the dainty white meat of the bird all ready to be devoured.

Woodchucks, raccoons, opossums, porcupines, rabbits had better be barbecued (see Figs. 114, 115 and 155), but
squirrels and small creatures may be baked by first removing the insides of the creatures, cleaning them, filling the 
hollow with bread crumbs, chopped bacon and onions, then closing the opening and plastering the bodies over with 
stiff clay and baking them in the embers. This seals the meat inside of the mud wrapper and when it is cooked and
the brick-like clay broken off, the skin comes off with the broken clay, leaving the juicy meat exposed to view.

To PLANK A FISH
Cut off the head of the fish and clean by splitting it through the back, in place of the usual way of splitting up the 
belly. To salt red meat before you cook it is to make it dry and tough, but the fish should be salted while it is damp
with its own juices.

Heat the plank in front of the fire and then spread your fish out flat on the hot puncheon or plank, and with your
hunting knife press upon it, make slit holes through the fish (Fig. 145) with the grain of the wood; tack your fish on 
with wooden pegs cut wedge shape and driven in the slits made by your knife blade (Figs. 143 and 144) . Prop the 
puncheon up in front of a fire which has a good back-log and plenty of hot coals to send out heat (Fig. 146).*

	*The best plank is made from the oaks grown on the hammocks of Southern Florida and the peculiar flavor this plank 
	gives to shad has made Planked Shad famous.

HEATING WATER
Water may be boiled in a birch bark vessel made by folding up a more or less square piece of bark, bending in the
corner (Fig. 157) folds and holding them in place by thorns or slivers (Fig. 156). Or the stomach of a large animal or
piece of green hide may be filled with water and the latter made hot by throwing in it hot stones (Fig. 158) . Dig a 
hole in the ground, fit the rawhide in the hole, bringing the edges up so as to overlap the sod, weigh down the 
edges with stones, fill the hide with water and heat with hot stones. Figs. 159 and 160 show how to make tongs with 
which to handle the stones.

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