[Sca-cooks] cooking times over an open fire

[UlfR]

jenne at fiedlerfamily.net <jenne at fiedlerfamily.net> [2003.12.15] wrote:
> Ok, for a discussion (about 'instant stews' in fantasy) on another list,
> I'm wondering how long it would take to cook 2 rabbits, either roasted or
> cut up and cooked in boiling water, over an open fire. Anybody have a good
> guess? 

Cut up which way? Into bite-sized pieces, I would guess perhaps 20-30
minutes, perhaps even less (do you want it well cooked, or just "cooked
all the way through", or even just "warm"?).

Of course, depending on your setting you may use this time to get the
rest of the camp set up, thus making the food "instantly" ready; start
fire, toss finely mauled thumper into pot with water and whatever, keep
half an eye on it while prepping camp (adding firewood, perhps adjusting
pot position, etc as needed), and sit down to eat when camp is made. The
fire even provides illumination if you are making camp after nightfall.

> Also, how long would it take from the point you start the fire to
> the point you could start cooking?

This all depends on your open fire cooking style. If you use small
sticks, continually added, you can cook from the moment the fire has
caught (say 1-3 minutes under anything resembling optimal conditions).
If you think anything smaller than a bonfire log is a waste of time...

UlfR

-- 
UlfR Ketilson                               ulfr at hunter-gatherer.org
Don't drop dead. Do, please, drop seriously, painfully, disablingly,
repulsively, incurably, but _not_ fatally ill.
		-- Mike Andrews