[Sca-cooks] cooking times over an open fire

[Terry Decker]

I've never had any trouble boiling water over coals.  I prefer coals for
most open fire cooking, because the heat is more intense and even than fires
with leaping flames.  As a point of fact, I've boiled water in paper bags
and paper cups (it's a stunt to impress the Scouts) and that can only be
done over coals.

Large pots of water (usually for doing the dishes) can be a problem because
it takes a lot of heat to bring them to a boil, so starting them early while
you are building the bed of coals and keeping them on until you are ready to
put out the fire is fairly standard practice.

Bear

>I think this may be one of those "this can only be learnt by practice"
>topics- my sweetie (who taught boy scouts for years) claims you cannot
>boil water over just coals, you must have flames. Fortunately flames
>happen right after you light the fire and while you are making/prepping
>the coals to roast things over.
>Betsy (aka Pyro- two guesses why...)