I hope this isn't old news for everyone here...if so, forgive me.

Years ago I read in a survival book how to cook eggs without a pan (or flat rock). It works well and you can cook them from a poached state all the way through hard-boiled. My daughter and I have been practicing this alot lately (Why? I really don;t know. It's pretty cool and maybe sometime it'll be useful).

You build a small fire about the size of the palm of your hand and keep feeding it to build a small coal bed...or... pull some coals away from a larger fire. Using the tip of a knife or sharp rock, gently crack the top of the egg to make a small hole - about 1/8" to 3/16" diameter. The top of the egg is the smaller diameter end... or the more pointed end of the egg.

Just set the egg in the coals and turn it every few minutes. You can pull in a few more small coals as time goes by. Depending on the fire or coal heat, it takes approximately 15 to twenty minutes to cook. We're still experimenting with cooking time so we can more-or-less judge the cooking time to get poached, soft-boiled, medium-boiled, or whatever.

Ok. I'm excited to be here and just wanted to type that for whatever it's worth. Now I'm second-guessing this post and thinking maybe it doesn;t belong in this particular forum. Well, let me know if it doesn;t.

Foraging for eggs in a survival situation is a classic tactic. But nobody has ever discussed cooking the things. Having partaken in a filipino balut without understanding what was inside this is good to know.

Welcome to the group. I, for one, never have come across this trick. But I will give it a try soon. Thanks for the tip.

Some of you might be wondering what balut is. Wonder no longer:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balut

<img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Ye flipping gods! I'll never complain about McDonalds again.

-Blast

Thank you Chris and Cedfire for the info on "balut". Funny thing is, we have 11 ducks! (Used to be 15, but Dad got hungry and put some in the freezer.) My little girl loves duck eggs but we haven't taken any out to try in the fire. And we certainly haven't waited for them to become "balut"!

I'm pretty sure I could eat one though....maybe with a little Tabasco. <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

Best consumed with large quantities of San Miguel Green...

Balut = BLEECH!!!

Have you ever noticed that when anything is extremely yucky or intensely destructive, they call it an aphrodesiac?

Sue

And If balut isn't your cup of tea, here are a couple of others:

Lumpia (like a spring roll) and Pancit (noodle dish) are two of my favorites:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lumpia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pancit

While the balut is certainly not as appetizing, to me anyway, I bet it is healthier!

But I pass.

Pancit and lumpia on the other hand...

Old Scout trick I've taught to dozens of leaders-
- whittle a green stick (2' long) down to the size of a kitchen match (or a little larger) for about 4"
- sharpen the end
- poke a hole as you describe
- keep pushing the stick through the length of the egg and out the other end (BE CAREFUL!)
- if done carefully you can now "roast" the egg over a small fire like a marshmallow!

It works!

This is a really cool idea. Especially to add to my bag of tricks. I'm not a huge fan of eggs, but I've found that many, many foods I'm not really too fond of suddenly taste so much better when cooked over a wood fire. And, most of the nice flat rocks I've ever seen that would be suitable to fry an egg upon are usually wet. And we all know what can happen with wet rocks and fire, right?

Any other tasty ideas that are field expedient?
-Kyle

OldScout: Thanks for the "roasting" tip. I'm skeptical I'll convert, but I will definitely try it! I know my daughter will demand to try it when she hears this.

Packman: Yes maybe this one, but I'll bet two dollars you're familiar with it. Potatos! The first time my daughter and I were going to cook potatos, she said she had two scrubbed. I reminded her to wrap them in aluminum foil...but she got sidetracked. When we got to our site (about a mile from home) we realized...no tin foil! You can't really toss unwrapped potatos in the fire, so we buried the taters under the firepit covered by about 1/2" to 3/4" of dirt. After about 45 minutes of a medium sized fire (about 10" - 12" in diam.) we dug them out. Couldn;t really eat the skins, so we used the skins as a "bowl". I agree... everything tastes better "outside".

Next trip, she brought the taters scrubbed and wrapped in foil. Now, I know about cooking wrapped taters in the fire, so I have no excuse as to why I did this (except maybe age-related mental retardation or, ARMR). We buried the alum. wrapped potatos under 1/2" of dirt and let a medium fire cook them for 45 minutes to an hour. Or so we thought. When we dug them up, we realized the foil kept the taters from cooking!!! So dumb..... Don;t you know you've got to put wrapped potatos right in the coals (or on the edge)?

The eggs: if you cook them too long (or too quickly with hotter than necessary coals), the egg white at the bottom will become rubbery. My little girl loves this, but I don't. Cook them slowly and turn often is my motto. Also, anything past medium-boiled is way too done for me.

Next trip: balut!

Ahh, yes. Potatos. I've never tried burying them, I'll have to test that out. I have tried it with tinfoil though. <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> I'll bet you've probably tried it too, but corn and carrots are good. Cook the corn in the husk, and get the husk wet so it won't burn. The carrots, I'll admit I'm not positive what was done with those, I didn't cook them myself. It was my Uncle, but they were really good too. <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

I'm betting, Packman, that he wrapped them in foil or another protectant. One camping trip my wife did some carrots in foil with onions, jalapeno, celery, AND tomato slices. That was pretty good, albeit different. It's all good over the fire though, right? I think so.
We've done corn in the husk, but when foil's available, I use it. Spolied I suppose. By the way, I know you can make cordage from corn husks. I just need to try it sometime to prove I can do it.

You're right, he did use foil. That sounds pretty neat with tomatoes. Not something you'd think to use for such methods. I'll add that to the list.... <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> Y'know, all this sounds good, but I'm starting to get a hankering for a good old fashioned s'more! <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />
-Kyle

All of this cooking is makin' wax nostalgic (and hungry also). But, I remember back when I was in scouting we made "zip-packs". I don't remember the exact cooking times, but I do remember it was build your own from a number of ingredients. Potatoes, carrots, and burger patties (with a little salt and pepper) were my choices. There were onions, tomatoes and other things that I can't remember right now.

On the camping trip, it was the best darn meal of the weekend.

Sits uncomforatbly close to Susan, rolls eyes with a smile like the late Marty Feldman and offers chocolate. <img src="/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" />

With a good fire and a roll of aluminum foil, you can cook anything. Boil, broil, bake, stew or fry. It's all just a mater of technique.

We called 'em hobo dinners. You're right, they were the best. Now I've got to make one tonight.... <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />