Best Campfire Food: The Jaffle

Who am I to argue with that headline? Brie Cadman at the literary lifestyle website Divine Caroline tells of her experience with the Jaffle Iron and offers up this delicious savory frittata recipe.

The Savory Jaffle

One loaf of sliced bread
Scrambled eggs
Grated or sliced cheese
Turkey, ham, pepperoni slices
Bacon
Pizza sauce
Sliced tomatoes
Grilled mushrooms
Grilled peppers
Onions
Butter or oil

Directions
Line a slice of bread with ingredients of your choice. Top with other slice.
Coat the inside of the jaffle iron with butter or oil. Squeeze sandwich into jaffle iron and close, hooking latch at end of wooden handles.
Place in fire over coals, cooking for about two minutes each side. Undo the jaffle iron and cut into quarters or halves.

Read the full article

Dangerous Book For Boys - the pie iron chapter?

For the past few weeks I've been talking about how excited I am about the Dangerous Book For Boys (see the promo clip here) which is a real training manual for getting kids out and playing the way I remember doing it. Building tree forts, rock collecting and just generally being adventurous. So what a surpise it was to receive a letter from Brad Shane the other day that was totally in spirit with the book. In the letter he recounts his boyhood wanderings and how pie irons played a part.

"We lived in Ashville NC when I was a boy. In the summer my pals and I would had off into the woods with our good old 22's in hand ready to live off the land like Davy Crockett or Dan Boone.

Sad to say you can't do that anymore today. We'd take a pie iron - can't say if it was one of your's but it was something big like your panini. It was a big one! We'd always take some cornmeal or biscuit mix with us and have us some feast if we'd get a rabbit. Sometimes we'd only get birds but we'd take him, gut and pluck him, chop off the head and feets. Throw in a little lard and bake it on the fire. Not much better life for a boy. And I feel sorry for the ones who can't even think back to those days."

Marshmallow Tree On The Food Network

Be sure to check out the new Rome product that has been the talk around the campfire. The new Marshmallow Tree will be featured this saturday night on the Food Network's program, "Gotta Get It." This is part of a weekend grill out special for the network and we're thrilled to be a part of the fun.

About the Marshmallow Tree:
Simply stated, it's a 40" long metal roaster that curves and bends like a tree branch. The tree easily cooks up 10 marshmallows at a time and is a true conversation piece.

If you're familiar with Rome, you already know that we make a huge variety of forks. Seriously - look at our collection and you may wonder - is there room for another fork in the product line? Well I don't know - I'd say there's plenty of room for new forks if we stick to the fun category. Obviously a fork needs to be utilitarian, but when I developed the Marshmallow Tree I stepped back and thought - Ok let's do something really fun this time and not even think about price point and how much space it takes up on a store shelf. Pretty much just forget about the business side of the equation and just develop it from the hip. So here we have it - The Marshmallow Tree is out and people really seem to responding to it.

You can find the Marshmallow Tree in national retailers such as Gander Mountain, Dunham's Sports, Bass Pro Shops as well as a wide variety of independent retailers. A listing of stocking dealers and mail order sources is available here.

Rome's Marshmallow Tree on Gotta Get It Schedule
The Food Network
June 02, 2007 10:00 PM ET/PT
(repeat) June 03, 2007 1:00 AM ET/PT
(repeat) June 09, 2007 5:00 PM ET/PT
(repeat) June 10, 2007 6:00 PM ET/PT

Read more about the Marshmallow Tree in the Salt Lake City Weekly.

* photo source fromt he Problem Solvers catalog

Pie Iron Fusion

When my old buddy Joe told me that he was going camping over the weekend and that he'd be cooking up some pies in the double cast iron, I knew it wasn't going to be cherry pie filling. Creative, adventurous and willing to mix styles - that's Joe. I told him, "make sure you take some pictures as I'm curious to see what you cook up for the Kelly & the kids." He did not disappoint and in classic mash-up style, he presented his hit of the weekend. Here's the recipe in his own words -

The Crazy Girlfriend Panini Sandwich. "Hot , sweet, and a little cheesy."

Rye or whole wheat buttered on pan side. (Dude, honestly, I often use Pam cooking spray on the pie iron -is this a sin?)

Spread mango chutney on open side of bread and layer with sliced chicken or turkey, a slice of your favorite type of cheese, and a square quarter sheet of sushi nori (seaweed).

Cook in Pie Iron until bread is toasted and cheese is melted

Joe looking very serious as he does the assembly work


Daughter Brooke gets the cooking honors

Scout Cookout

Here's a series of photos sent in by an Ohio Girl Scout troop who had a great time learning about and making pies. Not sure if there's some kind of badge for pie irons yet. Maybe it's time to start lobbying for one :)


We've got a full assembly line going here


You can hold them over the fire....

or if you get tired, just lay 'em in the coals & kick back

Hobo Pie - the man, the band

As this blog is a much more efficient way to post your pics, tips, recipes and such I've taken down the "Your Input" section of pieiron.com.

This post on Ray Frick, The Hobo Pie Man is from that original page. Since I first posted this a few years ago, I haven't heard from Ray, but from this link it looks like he's still playing music as Hobo Pie. Hey Ray - get in touch!

-------------------------------------
For over 12 years, Ray and his wife have been using serving up pies made with our round cast iron design at the Appalachian Stringband Festival in Clifftop, WV. In this time, they've made over 12,000 pies!!

Here's Ray in his own words -

"I have been making 'pies' for as long as I can remember. Each year at the Appalachian String Band Festival in Clifftop, WV we make literally hundreds of pies for our fellow campers and musicians.

We've come to be known as the 'Hobo Pie People' and the name of the band I'm in is also Hobo Pie. I'm in the process of writing an illustrated children's book, 'The Legend Of The Hobo Pie People', which I will self-publish. After I'm gone... I want there to be a record of what we did at the festival. We've almost achieved folk hero status there. We could not have done it without the Rome Pie Irons and
I tell everyone that asks about your wonderful product and how to get
in touch with you. Last year we went through close to 70 loaves of bread
making pies for our friends over the 10 days we were at the festival.
Your pie irons have provided my wife and me with the opportunity to meet some of the most wonderful friends."

Traditional Philly Cheeseteak Pie
by Ray the Hobo Pie Man from Ambler, PA

A few ounces of precooked Steakum sandwich steak
A good portion of shredded cheese (we use a blend of mozzarella and provolone)
Some finely chopped fried onions and peppers
A gentle squeeze of pizza sauce in squeeze bottle
We use some Italian bread sliced fairly thin.
We always use Pam or some other nonstick spray and only spray maybe once every 15 pies or so....It's as close to a Philly CheeseSteak as you'll find out in the woods.