country cooking

Outdoor Country Cooking

Home is where the hearth is. If outdoor country cooking is fun and heart warming, it is because of its simplicity and down-to-earth methods of cooking. The tradition of country cooking is associated with nomadic tribes and early settlers of North America. Over the years these have been refined and modern techniques have simplified the way we cook, but the spirit of country cooking is different from cooking in kitchens.

The Freshness of Country Cooking

The basic difference in country cooking and kitchens is the freshness of the ingredients used in cooking. All food is cooked from scratch and from what is available. In kitchens we pull out pre-cooked food from refrigerators lying in cold storage for weeks and flavor food with packaged and ready-to –use ingredients. Country cooking requires much more ingenuity and creativity.

Country cooking is more of a community activity rather than a single family-based activity. Different people do different things to prepare the meal. The first thing to be done is to get the fire burning which is done outdoors, weather permitting, on stones and wood collected from the forests. Country cooking makes use of wild vegetables, fruits, fish and wild game from the wilderness. On bad days, it is not unusual for the community to be partially or totally vegetarian.

Country cooking is often high in fat and carbohydrates as the community is usually involved in hard manual work. The easiest way of cooking meat is roasting on skewers over the flames. Roasting is preferred to grilling as the oil that drips from the meat can be collected in a pan and reused. Most country cooked dishes have flavors of the smoke on which it is cooked. It takes time to get used to this smoky taste, but the freshness of food surpasses all smell and taste.

In the earlier days, utensils used in country cooking were mainly of clay/earthen pots and wooden spoons. The common way of cooking in country kitchens is a simple covered pit with fire under it. Another common method is wrapping food in clay and leaf wrapping. Banana leaves are extensively used as it does not burn easily over a flame. One very down-to-earth method is placing food on heated stones or dropping a heated stone into a pot. Modern day country cooking now uses solar cookers.

The outdoor country cooking activity unifies a community that works together, cooks together and eats together. The helping, giving and sharing creates lasting bonds of friendship and love.