I'm teaching an Intro to SCA Camping tomorrow. Since it's been a while since I made a foil meal, I figured I should fire up the grill and test-drive my recipes for the class. I unexpectedly also learned more about charcoal cooking.
I don't usually do outdoor cooking in all weather. Sure, wind and rain makes things harder, but... Matchlight charcoal, yeah? How hard can it be? I got my first set of coals lit, put the lid on the grill (yes, with the air holes open) and wandered off to chop vegetables.
And when I came back, instead of nicely ashed coals, I had half-started coals. Apparently, lid on, holes open isn't enough air to catch the charcoal? Or else some of my initial coals went out. I did find that I had to use 2-3 matches to get it going instead of just one. So I learned more about charcoal grills today!
Foil Meals: I bought thin-sliced chicken breasts and put them along with thin slices of potatoes, carrots, and onions into a two-layer foil packet with Italian dressing, just like old times. I know you're supposed to have more coals on the top than the bottom, but I think I had roughly equal amounts - but I planned to flip it halfway through anyhow, so it should have minimized any difficulties. 10 minutes chicken-side down, then 7 minutes potato-side down, and it was nicely done. A few potatoes were a little underdone, but they were edible.
Bread: I left myself good notes from the last time, so this was more like a review than a pathfinder. Used King Arthur bread flour, about 12-15 coals under and about 20 over, for 50 min covered the whole time. Beautiful-looking loaf, first slice tastes okay although I'm not sure if I'm still smelling raw flour. Maybe should let cook for a full hour.
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