Contrary to what you might think, cooking over a campfire doesn't mean you're starting a fire with roaring flames and then putting your cast-iron skillet or foil right on top. Instead, you want to light a small fire until you get hot coals. "Hot coals will give your food nice smoky flavor, without blackening it," says Dylan Eyers of Eat Wild. Here, his key steps.
1. Form super-dry twigs into a thick, tight tinder bundle. Hold it upright, light the bottom, and place on ground.
2. Lay two super-dry sticks (1" max in diameter) parallel over the lit tinder. Feed in more sticks parallel as they burn to create surface area for flames to catch.
3. Once you have coals, set up two flat rocks (6"-ish tall)parallel near the fire.Use a stick to shuffle in some coals.
4. Suspend a grate across the rocks—you’re ready to cook! Control temp by adjusting grate's position to coals, or adding more.
