Outdoor Cooking Project: Box Ovens

Some of you may know, I am a Recreation Management Major.

and it is one of the best decisions I have ever made.

This semester I am taking a fly fishing course and an outdoor cooking course

I will get to the fly fishing one later :)

One of the projects for my outdoor coking class was to make a meal out of a cardboard box

all it has is aluminum foil glued to the inside of it

In order to cook in it you put 4 cans as corners of a rectangle or square

and add hot coals between and around the cans

(soda cans work but bean/corn/soup cans are more sturdy)

then you place whatever you want to cook on the cans and the box over everything

get your fire going early so the coals can get hot!

We made mini pizzas, zucchini, and brownies 

one slightly rainy evening

 

For those campers who want the how to:

Preparation

                  To prepare for cooking we made sure we had two box ovens on hand for cooking. We started a fire in our fire pit and let all of the coals get hot for about 30 minutes. While the coals were heating up we set up our food to be prepared. We mixed the brownies, made all of our pizzas, and prepared the zucchini. Then we laid out aluminum foil on the ground and placed on cans in a square formation. Once the coals were ready we brought them over and placed them evenly on the aluminum foil. Then we placed our baking sheets on top of the cans and placed our box oven over it. We placed our hands next to the vents on our ovens and made sure the temperature was at 350 degrees Fahrenheit. We added coals after 5 to ten minutes in order to keep our food cooking at the appropriate temperature. While the food was cooking we cleaned up everything from preparing the food and were ready to eat when the food was done. After we finished eating we made sure that the fire was out before we left and everything was cleaned up.

Mini Pizza’s

                  English muffins

                  Jar of Alfredo sauce

                  Jar of Spaghetti sauce

                  Jar of Pesto sauce

                  Mozzarella cheese

                  Cheddar cheese

                  Parmesan cheese

                  Pepperoni

                  Garlic Salt

                  Red pepper flakes

Instructions:  Take one English muffin and split it in half. One each muffin place whatever ingredients you love on top of it. We did a layer of sauce, then some cheese, and then pepperonis with another layer of cheese on top. You can combine whatever ingredients you want on top of your mini pizzas. For variety we had some red sauce, some white sauce and some with pesto. They all turned out delicious! Place the mini pizzas on a baking sheet or pan and place them on top of you cans in your oven. Place the box oven over them and make sure the temperature is around 350 degree Fahrenheit. Check on your mini pizzas every 5 minutes and after 15 minutes they should be golden brown and ready to enjoy!

Substitutions and Suggestions: One idea for a substitution to this recipe is to use bagels instead of English muffins. The bagel could be used if you want a little bit heavier of a meal and will taste just as great. One suggestion for improvement is to make sure you use the right sauce to toppings ratio. If you do not like a lot of sauce on your pizza then make sure to use more toppings. You can never have too many.

Baked Zucchini

                  Zucchini

                  Salt

                  Pepper                 

                  Garlic salt

                  Parmesan

Instructions: Slice the zucchini into thin slices. Cover your baking sheet with aluminum foil and spray some Pam on it so the zucchini does not stick to it. Next spread out the zucchini on top of a sheet of aluminum foil. Then add all of the seasons on top of the zucchini. Flavor to taste. Place on top of your cans and cover with your box oven. Cook on a high temperature, around 450 degrees Fahrenheit for about 10 minutes.

Substitutions and Suggestions: One way you could modify this dish depends on your preferred taste. If you like your zucchini soft then cook it for only 5 minutes. If you like it crunchy then make sure you add a few minutes to your cooking time. One suggestion that we have is to make sure not to use too much oil on your zucchini. If you cover the zucchini in too much oil then it makes softer and you will not be able to make them as crunchy.  Our zucchini wasn’t cooking fast enough so we put the zucchini on tinfoil right on top of the coals.

                 

Brownies

                  1 Box of Duncan Hines Chewy Brownies

                  2 eggs

                  ¼ cup of water

                  ¾ cup of vegetable oil

                  ½ cup of semi- sweet chocolate chips

Instructions:  In a large bowl, mix all of brownies mix, eggs, water, and vegetable oil. Next, add the chocolate chips in and mix until they are evenly distributed. Spray the bottom of your pan with Pam or use a small amount of vegetable oil and spread it on the bottom of the pan so the brownies will not stick. Evenly distribute your hot coals in a small area and use 4 cans to hold up your pan. Place the brownies on top of the 4 cans and place your box oven on top. Make sure the temperature inside your box oven is around 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Check every 5 minutes to make sure the brownies are cooking evenly and that the temperature is still ok. Cook for about 20 minutes, or until you can stick a fork in them and it comes out clean.

Substitutions and Suggestions: We added chocolate chips to the recipe to give it a little bit sweeter taste and also to give it a nice warm finish. Feel free to substitute Reese’s chocolate chips, marshmallows, nuts, or anything else that sounds delicious to you. One suggestion to making the cooking experience easier is to use 4 cans from corn or green beans or beans to hold your pans up instead of 4 soda cans. The cans with vegetables and beans in them are a lot sturdier and a little bigger than soda cans.