I have discovered a combination of two ingredients which are almost irresistible to 90% of the population they go together like bacon and eggs, roast lamb and mint sauce and popcorn and butter. The two I am referring to are Banana and Nutella. A killer combination if there is ever to be one, on fresh bread, toast or flatbreads these two ingredients fit like a hand in a glove to satisfy every sweet desire a human could have. Combine them with a bit of spring roll pastry, and you get Choc-Banana spring rolls!

This recipe is going to take your dessert repertoire to a level off this planet and your family and friends are going to worship you and crown you King or Queen of the camp kitchen next time you are out bush. The really awesome thing about this recipe is it can be made on a stovetop so can be devoured any time of the year even when there are fire bans in place in the middle of summer and they can be made at home when camping is the furthest thing from your mind.

Ingredients:

• Bananas, depending on how many you intend to make each serve has a half a banana so 4 bananas for 8 serves etc.
• 1 jar of Nutella or chocolate spread
• 1 pack of 20, 215x215mm spring roll pastries
• 3-4 cm of vegetable oil in a high sided heavy base pan for frying.
• Paper towel to drain

Method

• Defrost the spring roll pastry making sure you keep it under a damp towel so it doesn’t dry out.
• Peel and halve the bananas.
• Gently peel off one spring roll pastry and lay on a flat surface.
• Just up from the bottom right-hand corner place a good-sized smudge of chocolate spread, place 1 piece of banana on top and then roll the corner over till the banana is encased, fold in the top right-hand corner and the bottom left-hand corner to the middle then tightly roll the rest until the top left-hand corner is underneath the spring roll.
• Heat the oil until a small piece of pastry bubbles and floats to the surface when dropped in.
• Cook 4-6 at a time; make sure to not overload the pan, and cook only long enough for the pastry to be a light golden brown, no more than a few minutes.
• These little morsels are so delicious they will be eaten straight away so the contents don’t need to be really hot.
• Remove from the hot oil and allow them to drain for a couple of minutes if you can wait that long, and serve with cream or ice cream.
• Substitute a tablespoon of cold stewed apple with cinnamon and sugar for something different. Or maybe frozen berries and chocolate spread? Now it’s your turn to see what other delicious fillings can be added to create your own taste sensation.

The post Lazy Gourmet: Choc-Banana Spring Rolls appeared first on Pat Callinan's 4X4 Adventures.

Words and images by Gary Tischer

I admit to being a skeptic when it came to using charcoal. I’ve been around long enough to see a lot of fads come and go, and this seemed to be just another one. What was wrong with using a traditional wood fire to cook and then sit by it to warm the bones while telling stories into the night? So let’s talk about wood vs charcoal for cooking.

Not being one to stick my head in the sand, a mate and I had a cook-off against each other using the different fire methods. As it turns out, charcoal emerged from the coals to be the winner in many areas. That’s not to say a traditional fire doesn’t have its place.

So, what is charcoal? Charcoal can be made of many different materials but for this comparison we are using lump charcoal. Basically, lump charcoal is wood without the water and other volatile components, and is created by heating wood in the absence of oxygen. By doing this, charcoal will burn to higher temperatures than wood and has very little smoke or residue. Not all charcoal is the same though, as different types of wood can be used.

Time

Wood requires starting a fire to burn down so coals can be used to cook on. This will require thicker pieces of wood and preferably hardwood to give good cooking coals. This took around 45 minutes in the cook-off.

Charcoal has already been prepared prior to purchase so it only takes around 10 to 15 minutes before the coals are ready to use for cooking.

The ability to vary the heat

Wood has a lot of dependencies, including the type of wood, how many coals, if it’s wet and how big the fire is. These will all effect the amount of heat available.

Charcoal is simple as the charcoal is a known factor, so you can decide how many coals and vary the height above the coals to control heat.

Availability of your cooking fuel

Wood grows on trees so is pretty easy to get, right? Not necessarily. If you are in a national park you will not be able to collect firewood so you will have to bring your own from somewhere else. You may be able to collect it from the side of the road depending on where you are, but not always. You can always buy some at Bunnings or numerous other places and take it with you.

Charcoal won’t be available everywhere so you have to plan ahead. Bunnings and other places that sell BBQs will sell it, as well as many good camping stores.

Weight and bulk

Wood can be quite heavy, particularly hardwood, which is better for cooking. If collecting from the side of the road, you will need to cut it into pieces to fit on the roof or wood rack. Wood will be quite bulky and heavy whichever way you go.

Charcoal is very light and doesn’t take up nearly as much space as wood for a given energy requirement.

But how much?

Wood is free, right? If you collect your own, yes, it is. If you get it from Bunnings, it’s not free. It will cost around $15 per 20kg bag

Charcoal has to be bought so will cost you. Good quality charcoal will cost around $26 for an 8kg bag but you will need less than the equivalent weight in wood to cook a meal.

Cooking equipment

Wood doesn’t require any fancy equipment. You could just throw the food into the fire and you’re done. It’s worked in Australia for 50,000 years so I can’t argue with that. Most people will, however, use a BBQ plate at least, but they are cheap (the BBQ plates, not the people).

Charcoal requires some special equipment to get it started and to cook on it (like the Uniflame charcoal starter from Drifta pictured). I have seen meat thrown on the burning charcoal but this is not for everyone. Like most things, there is a large range, from cheap and nasty to expensive and very nice. In the videos, we are using Snow Peak grills and fire-pit, which are at the expensive end of the market, but well worth it.

Taste

Wood will add flavour to the food, depending on what wood is used. This flavour will get into the food via the smoke that is produced.

Charcoal will not add much flavour on its own as it produces very little smoke. Different types of wood chips may be added to give additional flavour.

So, how do you add the flavour?

Wood is pretty easy. Get some wood with flavour by using different types of wood. Many of the woods recommended for getting flavour are North American, which are hard to get in log form here. Some good local woods include ironbark for red meats, fruit woods such as apple or cherry for pork, chicken and sausages. Avoid pine and cypress. Eucalypts are so varied that it would be hard to recommend or identify one from another. Some are quite smokey. If you don’t like the smell of the smoke, you probably won’t like the taste it adds.

Charcoal creates no real smoke of its own so wood chips are the best way to add a smokey flavour. Local and imported wood chips are easily purchased from many BBQ stores and will be labelled. Hickory is a go-to for pork but also will be good for chicken or beef. Mesquite is perfect for beef. Fruitwoods like apple, cherry and even peach will add a more subtle flavour to fish and chicken. It will be best to soak wood chips for at least 30 minutes before adding to the charcoal otherwise they burn too quickly.

Then there’s the socialising (distantly of course!)

Wood is great in a fire to sit around and chew the fat (so to speak), but someone will invariably get smoke in their eyes.

Charcoal is more social while you sit around the grill and all cook together rather than everyone going to their camps to cook on gas and return to the fire later.

National Parks rules

But how about the ruling for wood vs charcoal? Wood fires are often not allowed in national parks or have to be in provided BBQs or fire rings. When fires are allowed people will often create their own fireplace a few metres away from an existing one … grrrrr! This is a good way to get fires banned altogether.

Charcoal is normally used in specific equipment such as the Snow Peak fire-pit. This will mean that it is normally off the ground and will be allowed to be used as it may be classed as a fuel stove rather than a wood fire. Best check your local authorities on this as it may differ from state to state.

Verdict

For wood vs charcoal, I am a convert to charcoal. Even when travelling alone, I have used the charcoal and fire-pit to cook on then sit around watching the stars. It is easier to set up, cook on and pack away than a traditional fire, or a combination of fire and gas stove. And there is less washing up.

The post Wood vs Charcoal: Which is best for cooking in the bush? appeared first on Pat Callinan's 4X4 Adventures.