I've only done it once, but I just put it on the grill, if no grill just position some rocks to make a stovetop. Sorry nothing special here.
I like to slice mine in half,and then put butter or olive oil in the center with some onion slices,garlic powder and salt and pepper. I double or triple wrap then in foil and like Homer and Marje I twist the ends to leave a bit of a vent.Then I bury them in the coals. I check them for doneness by squeezing. The sugars caramelize in the process, my favorite car camping food. The second being boiled salt potatoes.
As woodsy says, Bingo! The key is to brush oil, margarine or something else with a similiarly high smoke point on the skin to prevent burning. My preference would be canola or olive oil.Originally Posted by budforester
Another way to prevent burning is based on the phrase we used to uter: "burnt potato tastes like burnt potato but burnt onion tastes MMMM!" slice up a whole bunch of onions and wrap the potato with them before you put the foil around em. Some olive oil, salt and pepper....mmmm!
A real dutch oven is the best solution -- one with a raised lip around the cover to hold hot coals. Such are not readily found these days. I bought mine several decades ago at a yard sale. I think it originally came from LL Bean, but I'm not sure.
Anyway. Get a good fire going, scoop some of the coals out of the way. Place the uncooked, but oiled and salted potatoes in the oven. Set the oven in the coals from the original fire. Placed scooped away coals on the cover. Keep the fire going on top of the oven for a half hour or so. Then let the fire slowly die for an hour.
When ready to eat, scrape away the fire and coals. Lift off the cover. Check potatoes for doneness. If just right -- or over done -- serve proudly. If still underdone, vow silently to have a hotter fire next time. But smile and say, properly baked potatoes require a final visit to the flames. Just toss them in the middle of the fire and fish them out when you think they might be done -- minimum 10 minutes. Maximum 30 minutes. Unless they were totally uncooked in the dutch oven. Then give them at least an hour.
Since, this is not something one does regularly, it can take decades to learn the right combination of wood fires, and hot coals. But don't give up. BTW, freshly harvested potatoes are likely to explode during the process, so it's a good practice to drive a tent stake or two through the potatoes to prevent potato-destroying explosions. Don't leave the stake in the potato. You just need a hole where the steam can escape.
Weary
Roughly alternate 1/2 inch slices of potato with onion, drizzle some olive oil on it, put whatever; garlic, oregano, pepper, etc. wrap this all up in foil and place standing up right near your fire, flip it over after about 25 mins. wait another 20 mins. unwrap and eat.
You hit that one on the head. Thats where I was talking about the caramelized sugar.Onions,mmmmmm
Nothing like food from a Dutch oven!I am wondering if we have a D.O.
cooking thread in here anywhere?I have made a fine peach cobbler as
well as blueberry ones in the D.O.
Oldfivetango
Keep on keeping on.
So we do baked potatoes on the grill-We take whole potatoes poke a dozen holes in them and rub them with olive oil, We then wrap in foil and place on the grill, start it and the potatoes start cooking while the grill is preheating to 500-600 degree. they usually cook in about 35 minutes. They always seem to come out well.
I have always believed that by poking holes in the potatoes, you let steam out and the steam is caught in the tightly wrapped foil, thereby keeping the skins from burning.
So, I poised your question to my father, who, in the UK back in WWII ate their 2 meals a day consisting mostly of baked potatoes while growing up on a farm (he will eat any kind of potato now except baked). He said the key to keeping the skin from burning is to wrap something around it. So when working the sheep, they would wrap the potatoes in green leaves or field grass and after building a small fire, bury them in the coals.
When digging potatoes (endless job) they would wrap them in potato leaves and stalks and bury them in the fire pit in the AM and they would be ready for lunch. Do the same in the afternoon and they would be ready for dinner. He also said it helps to put a bed of plant material down the base of coals near the bottom of the fire pit and then on top of the potatoes before you shovel the coals back on them.
.....Someday, like many others who joined WB in the early years, I may dry up and dissapear....
punch holes in the potato wrap in tinfoil cover in coals raked out to the edge of the fire
There's a guy I know that used to enter D.O. cooking competitions, won one, and wrote an on-line cookbook of beginner (Boy Scouts) D.O. recipes.
He once made ice cream in nested D.O.'s, a big one filled with ice and rock salt and a smaller one inside with the ice cream mix. Didn't win the competition but had fun and got a lot of laughs.
You never turned around to see the frowns
On the jugglers and the clowns
When they all did tricks for you.
cooking potatoes
This is a good idea but to get a better cooked potato I would recommend puting middle finger in center of potato place potato of center of fire and slowly rotate your body and this will cause your arm to rotate and that will give you a better baked potato.
The mountains are calling and I have to go
It can take 45 minutes to an hour or more to bake a potato in a camp fire. If your on the trail you don't really have that kind of time to bake a potato on a camp fire. You have to first collect the wood, build the file and then let it burn down and then keep tending the fire until the potato is done. And there is always the chance that after all that you may over cook the potato.
Panzer
Lodge makes a hell of a cast iron dutch oven, and it's commonly available.
http://www.lodgemfg.com/Logic-camp-dutch-ovens.asp
The one's with the hot coal lid are called "camp dutch ovens". The others are more for inside-your-oven use.
The easiest and lightest way to prepare potatoes on the trail is to place them direct on the coals. turn after about 30 minutes, crack open after 60 and enjoy.
J D Cool
maybe it's just me, but the potato must be done by now
All very good advice, One thing was left out. In scouting we used the aluminum tent pegs as skewers to conduct more heat to the center. And yes you do have time to collect the wood and let it burn down to coals. The secret is "NOT" to collect any stick thicker than your thumb, and gather twice more than you need.
As a Scout, back when, we used to wrap potatoes in mud to bake them. It worked fine.
I love the smell of esbit in the morning!
Very good idea! Like a rotisserie potato, almost.This is a good idea but to get a better cooked potato I would recommend puting middle finger in center of potato place potato of center of fire and slowly rotate your body and this will cause your arm to rotate and that will give you a better baked potato.
Come on. Lets not play jokes with one of the few serious threads in days.This is a good idea but to get a better cooked potato I would recommend puting middle finger in center of potato place potato of center of fire and slowly rotate your body and this will cause your arm to rotate and that will give you a better baked potato.
Weary
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