Hamburgers over the Fire

Hamburgers over the Fire

At our last campsite we had a wonderful round firepit. There was also a stand alone heavy metal grill. It was in good shape. But, I wanted to cook over the fire pit. I also did not want to have to clean the grill, not that it would have taken much, but I just did not want to do it. I would also have had to move hot coals up to the grill or started a fire/charcoal there. Noway! I had a lovely fire and tons of heat and so I was bound and determined to cook in the fire pit.

I did come prepared for fire pit cooking. We brought a grill plate from our home's gas grill. And I had found a wonderful planter pot holder ($1.00) made of heavy steal. So pairing them up, we had a great place to grill our burgers and anything else we would want.

Of course in any make-do situation, not all the pieces fit perfectly together. The grill has a bar that rests on top of the planter and so it can twirl a bit, but once you know this, you can make sure to keep it straight. I could even wire them together and there would be no more twirling/moving when I go to turn the burgers. However, the one thing that drew me to the planter was the double holes in it. I bet you could put two cooking pots in there and cook up soup and boiling water for corn. Or anything else..........

Also, here is my trusty fire tongs. My kids and Hubby know when I ask for fire tongs, this is what I mean. I had to add a make-do wire to hold them together, I guess the one they came with broke. I can't remember for sure, but I know I made the current wire slidy thing. I also had to wrap wire around the bottom joint as half of the rivet has come out and was lost. We lost the wire when this photo was taken, but I found it later and rewired it. I am going to put a screw in the joint one-of-these-days, then it will even be better.

The other great tool is my stainless pancake turner. I have written about it before, but not in a camping setting. I found it for .50 or .75 cents at the Thrift store and I love it! Easy clean up, heavy duty, strong, longer handle, and on and on and on......

I did grease my grill with my trusty bacon grease, and my pork/turkey burgers did not stick at all. They turned out fabulous. Very little cleanup to be done on the my grill- I have to love that!

The sad thing about this day was the hamburger buns. I had a package in the trailer fridge from our last campout. They looked fine, but boy did they have a smell. They must have soaked up something else's smell because they made the burgers taste/smell weird. I did not realize the buns smelled until I was putting the food away.

My Hubby said to please not make burgers with pork and turkey again, because he didn't like the smell. I was agreeing with him and thought it was the burgers smelled. I know the meat smelled fine when I made them, so I was a bit confused. But as I was cleaning up, I realized it was the smelly bun that he/we did not want to have repeated.

So someday, I will try the same burgers and we will decide then whether I can make them a third time. None of us died from eating the smelly buns, but we tossed them and used the new ones later. I also taught my kids to ask me to check the buns if they noticed a smell.

But as you can guess, they said they didn't notice a smell------------ "really?" I said, "you won't be in trouble......... this is a learning experience.......... are you sure you didn't notice anything?"
"Sure, we are sure mom............ really!" They both chime in. I can't read them, are they fibbing or it is the truth?
"OK, but next time, try to notice if something smells," I admonish.
"Yeah, OK, we'll check," they say.
"Yeah,............. right, OK." I am sure they will next time. It was funny, because neither kid said a thing about the buns. However my little Angel didn't want to eat hers. That day she was feeling vegetarian. Yeah, right................ well she does this once in a while. I think she was loaded up on snacks. That is like her................. 'nuf said.

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