Cooking aboard or outdoors

[daiquiri]

Originally Posted by michael pierzga

It simply nevers rains inside a taverna when feasting on calimari or Peka

Now, that was foul playing... I'm so hungry now. A fish peka:





Buy the way, I'm here proudly claiming to be a black belt in cooking these.

[hoytedow]

That looks delicious.

The pekawhich looks like a dutch oven yet different and should work about the same.
Peka recipe

http://www.croatia-expert.com/dalmat...atian-recipes/

[daiquiri]

Originally Posted by hoytedow

That looks delicious.

It is. Once you start eating it, it takes quite a lots of self-discipline to say "enough" at some point.

Originally Posted by hoytedow

Peka recipe
http://www.croatia-expert.com/dalmat...atian-recipes/

Ok for the recipe, the ingredients are pretty much correct. Just few additional points:
1) I always add 3-4 laurel leafs on top of everything, it gives a particular taste and perfume to the meal.
2) Put some few shallots too, beside the onion.
3) Vegetables have to be cut in differently-sized pieces, according to their consistency and cooking time.
4) Meat has to be cut in not-too-big pieces prior to cooking. Otherwise you risk to have it semi raw when vegetables are ready, or to have vegetables carbonized when meat is ready.
5) Salt has to be added only when meat is about 3/4 cooked. In that way the meat will be more jicy and softer.
6) From time to time I like to take it out of fire or oven and stir (mix) up everything. Occasionally I would add some water too, if necessary. In that way all the ingredients will be cooked evenly and will be very soft and juicy.

Cheers and enjoy your meal!

[hoytedow]

Grazie!

[daiquiri]

Originally Posted by hoytedow

Grazie!

Prego.
Isn't it interesting how a thread can drift into something completely off-topic yet remain informative and yummy?

[troy2000]

Those pekas do look like a distant cousin to my dutch oven cooking.

One of my stand-byes in outdoor cooking is to layer carrots, onions, potatoes, pasilla chiles and anything else handy in my dutch oven. Atop that I lay a cut-up chicken with a good, spicy dry rub on it.

I put a ring of charcoal briquettes underneath and another ring on top of the lid, with a few extra in the middle next to the lid handle, and let it cook for about an hour and a half. Normally the charcoal lasts that long; if it doesn't I fire up a few more in my chimney starter and add them.

The seasoned juices from the chicken mingle with the juices from the vegetables, making almost a stew. It's good....

Someone should start a cooking thread -- oriented towards cooking aboard or on the beach, but not strictly limited to that.

[michael pierzga]

I guess its a dutch oven...Bell goes overtop a platefull of grub...then hot coals are piled on top of the bell. Cant do a peka on a boat..hard to find a stone flat enough onshore for a Peka bed.

[daiquiri]

There are differences in form between a peka and a dutch oven but, after all, a coal is a coal all over the world so I guess many other cultures have developed similar methods of cooking. The beauty of this type of cooking imho lays also in the surprise factor. During the preparation you see just shades of grey:



But at the end, when you uncover the bell... Ta-daaah! There comes a surprise in multicolor (plus the explosion of delicious perfumes)!!



Folks, I'm seriously hungry now... Leaving the BD.net and heading towards the kitchen.

Cheers!

[troy2000]

Originally Posted by michael pierzga

I guess its a dutch oven...Bell goes overtop a platefull of grub...then hot coals are piled on top of the bell. Cant do a peka on a boat..hard to find a stone flat enough onshore for a Peka bed.

In case anyone isn't sure what Americans call a dutch oven, here's the one I cook in most of the time. Looks like the main difference is that it's cast iron. You'll notice the lid is flat and also has legs; it can be turned over and used as a frying pan.If I don't waant to build an open fire and don't have a fireplace handy, I have a metal table with detachable legs and a detachable folding windscreen, that I can throw it in the bed of a pickup or the bottom of a boat.

[troy2000]

Here's the same make of table I have. But it's hard to imagine anyone ever actually stacking 3 dutch ovens on it. I'm sure it's sturdy enough to survive it, but I don't know anyone who's that crazy ambitious as an outdoor cook.

It has short legs welded to the top, so it can be set on top of a regular table. The long legs slip over the short ones, and are tightened with thumbscrews. Since the stubby legs are welded, the whole setup is much more rigid than it looks.

[Boston]

nice Troy, I've got one of those as well but its camp sized. Holds about four birds or a leg of something. Also a skillet you could stand in but its way to big for practical use hell its hard to even lift the stuff. Its about all thats left of my hunt camp days. That and I used it some doing fishing trips to Yellowstone but the smoke oven was a lot more popular, folks like to see there catch cooking,.

I don't have to any pictures of them, but every once in a while I'll snap a shot before serve it up at home



thats fresh salmon sushi with both chili sauce and soy sauce in the two small dishes as well as some of the hot stuff.



Looks like jumbo shrimp on top of black rice and mixed veggies, probably in brandy sauce, not sure. Thats an old picture.

[troy2000]

Hey Jeff,

any chance we could get these last few posts switched over to a thread called "Cooking aboard or outdoors"?

I think we've hijacked Will's thread long enough...

[Boston]

second that

and oops

[troy2000]

Originally Posted by daiquiri

There are differences in form between a peka and a dutch oven but, after all, a coal is a coal all over the world so I guess many other cultures have developed similar methods of cooking. The beauty of this type of cooking imho lays also in the surprise factor. During the preparation you see just shades of grey:

But at the end, when you uncover the bell... Ta-daaah! Here comes the surprise in multicolor (plus the explosion of delicious perfumes)!!

Folks, I'm seriously hungry now... Leaving the BD.net and heading towards the kitchen.

Cheers!

"You must spread some reputation around before..." etc.

I'll have to look into getting one of those for situations where my cast iron is too heavy to mess with.

Boston, I also have a large dutch oven that will hold three or four chickens. I very rarely use it, but occasionally it's a godsend.

[daiquiri]

Originally Posted by troy2000

Hey Jeff,

any chance we could get these last few posts switched over to a thread called "Cooking aboard or outdoors"?

I think we've hijacked Will's thread long enough...

I agree, any decent forum about boating should have a thread about international on-board and on-shore recipes.