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Feast by Firelight: Simple Recipes for Camping, Cabins, and the Great Outdoors
A transporting, lushly photographed book with easy-to-prepare recipes for gatherings at campgrounds and cabins alike.
Feast by Firelight offers solution-oriented recipes that make cooking outdoors feel effortless and downright fun and it shows how to utilize clever cooking methods, prep food at home, and pack smart. The book includes recipes for camp cooking as well as detailed menus, shopping and equipment lists, and tips showing how to prepare before you leave. Featuring 70 accessible recipes, it is the first of its kind in the outdoor-cooking niche to pair useful information with evocative photography of finished dishes and useful illustrations (such as how to pack a cooler and how to build a fire), setting a new standard for camping cookbooks.
Feast by Firelight offers solution-oriented recipes that make cooking outdoors feel effortless and downright fun and it shows how to utilize clever cooking methods, prep food at home, and pack smart. The book includes recipes for camp cooking as well as detailed menus, shopping and equipment lists, and tips showing how to prepare before you leave. Featuring 70 accessible recipes, it is the first of its kind in the outdoor-cooking niche to pair useful information with evocative photography of finished dishes and useful illustrations (such as how to pack a cooler and how to build a fire), setting a new standard for camping cookbooks.
208 pages, Hardcover
First published April 10, 2018
54 people are currently reading
334 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 37 reviews
July 22, 2018
Unfortunately, this book just didn't meet my expectations. I enjoyed a few of the recipes, but many of them had too many ingredients or required too many spices which complicates things when you're camping away from the kitchen. Some of the recipes I thought were good were the British baked beans, Amma's fruit salad (without the cognac), Best veggie burger, Apple harvest crisp, and the Skillet home fries. There were a few I'd never attempt that included ingredients such as anchovies, and a few granola-type recipes I'd probably make ahead of time to take on the trip.
I also felt the book could use more photos, but overall, there are a lot of recipes here and certainly you can find a few to enjoy.
3.5 stars
I also felt the book could use more photos, but overall, there are a lot of recipes here and certainly you can find a few to enjoy.
3.5 stars
dnf
February 10, 2022I can't give this a rating because I'm not even close to the right reader for it.
This appears to be for someone who wants to cater their own glamping trip. For example there is a recipe for "campfire puff pastry" to make pigs in a blanket. And for s'mores, there are recipes for homemade graham crackers and homemade marshmallows.
Compare this to The New Camp Cookbook: Gourmet Grub for Campers, Road Trippers, and Adventurers, which has six (tasty) variations on s'mores, including almond butter and raspberry jam. Similarly, this book has one straightforward recipe for grilled Mexican street corn, while The New Camp Cookbook has four variations.
This appears to be for someone who wants to cater their own glamping trip. For example there is a recipe for "campfire puff pastry" to make pigs in a blanket. And for s'mores, there are recipes for homemade graham crackers and homemade marshmallows.
Compare this to The New Camp Cookbook: Gourmet Grub for Campers, Road Trippers, and Adventurers, which has six (tasty) variations on s'mores, including almond butter and raspberry jam. Similarly, this book has one straightforward recipe for grilled Mexican street corn, while The New Camp Cookbook has four variations.
December 12, 2018
This cookbook resource provides a variety of recipes from ordinary to gourmet. It uses ingredients easily purchased and transportable. Emma Frisch also goes over other aspects of camping, such as how to act and behave responsibly outdoors. The pictures are gorgeous and would be nice as a coffee table book, as well! Great gift to others or self.
March 27, 2022
Borrowed from the library and read concurrently with a similar book, The Campout Cookbook: Inspired Recipes for Cooking Around the Fire and Under the Stars. Both books include various camping tips (supplies, campsites, safety, etc). Leaving unrated because I don’t rate unless I’ve actually prepared food from the recipes, which I haven’t yet. **Until I did! See bottom of review.
…and I probably won’t because most of the food listed here didn’t catch my eye. I mean, the food sounds good, don’t get me wrong. It just didn’t set me drooling. Anyway, it kind of lost me when the upscale pigs-in-a-blanket recipe came with instructions for scratch-made puff pastry, which no, didn't look difficult, but still, really? I also got a chuckle at “guacamole in its shell” (i.e. an avocado half sprinkled with some salt and dressing) because I had recently seen an internet post of someone complaining about the $9 “guacamole” they got at some restaurant that was…an avocado half with salt mashed in!
I also sometimes had flashbacks to Graze: Inspiration for Small Plates and Meandering Meals with some of the recipe anecdote blurbs — sometimes they’re pretty innocuous, but sometimes they felt, in aggregate, slightly braggy. The author has traveled to and lived in many countries from childhood on, which is nice for her, but damn. Being a “penniless college student” is kinda offset by the “in Prague” part, which is where she discovered gluhwein. She discovered Turkish coffee in Istanbul, praline bacon in NOLA, attended a cooking school in Vietnam, childhood hikes in the Dolomites… and apparently her mother, introduced charmingly with a tale of embarrassing the kids by pulling to the side of the road to harvest flowers for picnic decor, was a featured cook (that is cook and not chef, just to be clear) in Bon Appetit back in the day. 🤷🏻♀️ Makes the other intro anecdote about other campers being drawn in by Mom's ol' humble skirt steak recipe hit different. Call it sour grapes, maybe, or pettiness, but there's a point where I stop caring. I can't decide if she'd seem fun and interesting to know in person, versus mildly insufferable.
However, I appreciated the notes for adapting to cooking the recipe at home in normal ovens and stoves. At the end of the book, there are some menus compiled for different types of camp trips, which was a nice touch. However, since I read another almost-identical book at the same time that I enjoyed much more on every level...
**Rated because I did indeed pick out some things to make.
- Coal-roasted russet potatoes = delicious (but also it's just..roasted potatoes in foil with oil, salt, pepper, so it's not like it was opening any new culinary doors here.)
- The aforementioned mom's skirt steak's salsa verde. Full disclosure, it turns out I didn't have any anchovies, so I sub'd miso paste into the recipe. The end result was very salty and I felt didn't add anything to my steak.
- The apple crisp was tasty, though (But how hard is an apple crisp recipe to come up with?). This one included almond flour in the topping, for which I had to substitute pecan meal (and I correspondingly did pecans instead of almonds/walnuts to match flavor profiles). I remain not a fan of nut flours -- weird texture. There was also "corn flour" called for, which isn't a common ingredient; I sub'd corn meal -- HEAR ME OUT -- because the recipe's intro mentioned her friend's apple crisp with corn meal topping. Was corn "flour" a typo or misunderstanding on the author's part? Or an attempt to make a recipe distinct from the friends? Don't know. There were also poppy seeds which I can't tell added much. So while it was good, I'm not sure that the unusual additions really made it that much better (or even healthier) than a standard crisp recipe, though I did enjoy the zing of the lemon zest and juice (presumably added to keep the apples from browning so much before being cooked on site).
I also sometimes had flashbacks to Graze: Inspiration for Small Plates and Meandering Meals with some of the recipe anecdote blurbs — sometimes they’re pretty innocuous, but sometimes they felt, in aggregate, slightly braggy. The author has traveled to and lived in many countries from childhood on, which is nice for her, but damn. Being a “penniless college student” is kinda offset by the “in Prague” part, which is where she discovered gluhwein. She discovered Turkish coffee in Istanbul, praline bacon in NOLA, attended a cooking school in Vietnam, childhood hikes in the Dolomites… and apparently her mother, introduced charmingly with a tale of embarrassing the kids by pulling to the side of the road to harvest flowers for picnic decor, was a featured cook (that is cook and not chef, just to be clear) in Bon Appetit back in the day. 🤷🏻♀️ Makes the other intro anecdote about other campers being drawn in by Mom's ol' humble skirt steak recipe hit different. Call it sour grapes, maybe, or pettiness, but there's a point where I stop caring. I can't decide if she'd seem fun and interesting to know in person, versus mildly insufferable.
However, I appreciated the notes for adapting to cooking the recipe at home in normal ovens and stoves. At the end of the book, there are some menus compiled for different types of camp trips, which was a nice touch. However, since I read another almost-identical book at the same time that I enjoyed much more on every level...
**Rated because I did indeed pick out some things to make.
- Coal-roasted russet potatoes = delicious (but also it's just..roasted potatoes in foil with oil, salt, pepper, so it's not like it was opening any new culinary doors here.)
- The aforementioned mom's skirt steak's salsa verde. Full disclosure, it turns out I didn't have any anchovies, so I sub'd miso paste into the recipe. The end result was very salty and I felt didn't add anything to my steak.
- The apple crisp was tasty, though (But how hard is an apple crisp recipe to come up with?). This one included almond flour in the topping, for which I had to substitute pecan meal (and I correspondingly did pecans instead of almonds/walnuts to match flavor profiles). I remain not a fan of nut flours -- weird texture. There was also "corn flour" called for, which isn't a common ingredient; I sub'd corn meal -- HEAR ME OUT -- because the recipe's intro mentioned her friend's apple crisp with corn meal topping. Was corn "flour" a typo or misunderstanding on the author's part? Or an attempt to make a recipe distinct from the friends? Don't know. There were also poppy seeds which I can't tell added much. So while it was good, I'm not sure that the unusual additions really made it that much better (or even healthier) than a standard crisp recipe, though I did enjoy the zing of the lemon zest and juice (presumably added to keep the apples from browning so much before being cooked on site).
December 30, 2024
I do not see myself making these dishes for an actual camping trip, however, this is the perfect menu for a week at a relatively remote cabin with my family. Especially since one person has some gluten intolerance. I’ve created a meal plan using most of these recipes and with a mixture of prep and onsite assembly.
April 16, 2021
Beautiful pictures and inspiring, but overall not that practical for camping unless you absolutely love doing quite a bit of prep work on top of all the prep work that goes into camping already. Tried a few of the recipes, all were fantastic, so I'm treating this as a regular cookbook with some outdoor inspo.
Read
January 30, 2022I had very mixed feelings about this book. Initially, it seemed promising. There's plenty of introductory and reference information, such as how to pack and stock your "outdoor kitchen", how to pack your cooler, how to leave no trace, campfire and firewood information, etc. There are chapters for all the main things: "before you go" (snacks, condiments, etc. to make ahead of time and pack), breakfast, sandwiches and salads, happy hour, sides, main events, and sweet endings. It covers all the basics and topics. I especially like that this book included a sandwich guide, with sample sandwich constructions and lists of different kinds of breads, spreads, spices, and stuffings, with accompanying recipe page numbers. In a similar vein, there is also a guide for setting up a nice spread for a grazing table, and at the end of the book, there's some sample menus of varying lengths for longer or shorter camping trips. I love when a cookbook helps you organize your thoughts and its recipes into practice.
However, many of these recipes require preparation before you go, and/or there's a long list of ingredients and spices. Don't get me wrong-- it all sounds delicious! But it doesn't sound practical for camping. At the beginning of the book, when the author talked about spicing up camping food so it's more than canned baked beans and Cliff bars, it sounded great! But many of the recipes went too far in the other direction.
I think the most disappointing part for me is how confused I was about the goal of this book. I grew up with people who have a much simpler view on camping, but also a much more "meat and potatoes" view. I now eat more variety (and vegetables!) than I ever did growing up, so I can see how the food choices in this book might suit some people and not others. But my issue isn't the global flavors-- it's how the cover of the book boldly states, "simple recipes for camping, cabins, and the great outdoors" and while some recipes fit this description, many don't.
As I said earlier, many recipes aren't what I'd call "simple", but in addition, many recipes don't feel "camping". Beyond the introduction, the recipes hardly contained practical information for cooking outdoors. It didn't talk about how to adjust for cooking on a campfire as opposed to indoors on a controlled stove top or in an oven. Sure, you're often cooking in cast iron in this book, but other than telling me to lick my plate clean and maybe scrub it with "good old-fashioned dirt, a natural abrasive sponge" (p. 13), it doesn't feel like an outdoorsy book. The author regularly calls for honey and maple syrup instead of refined sugar, specifies aluminum-free baking powder and nitrite-free bacon, and practically apologizes for using corn syrup in her marshmallow recipe (p. 47), and while I'd say that suits the "natural" and "nature" crowd, that doesn't necessarily mean *camping*.
Not every single recipe has a picture, which is the case for some cookbooks. I wanted more pictures overall, but since some of the pictures were just general outdoorsy and camping pictures, it made me feel like the book was more about the vibe than the actual food. I think a cookbook *can* have the gorgeous appeal of a book that sits on your coffee table, but it still needs to hold up in practicality, and the recipes need to fit the description of the book-- some pictures of you camping aren't enough to convince me that I should make a complicated dish while camping food in the woods.
I'm biased because I personally get the most out of cookbooks that focus on the *whys* of the food, the testing, the food science, etc. But many cookbooks *are* just people's life stories, told through food. Some cookbooks are more practical and down-to-earth, some are more lofty, some are mostly memoir, and that's just to name a few. Whatever this book was, it just wasn't for me. I didn't get the usefulness out of this book that the cover and title told me I would, and I didn't like the author's vibe. I didn't care to hear about her many family vacations as a child and her globe-trotting, backpacking adventures. Pair that with talk about ancient Egyptian healing foods, Navajo rituals, Aztec superfood, and adding spice to rice and bean tacos-- not because of a passion for flavor, but because of Ayurvedic healing-- and put all together I guess it all just rubbed me wrong.
Again, I can see that this book would totally work for some people. But I am not those people.
However, many of these recipes require preparation before you go, and/or there's a long list of ingredients and spices. Don't get me wrong-- it all sounds delicious! But it doesn't sound practical for camping. At the beginning of the book, when the author talked about spicing up camping food so it's more than canned baked beans and Cliff bars, it sounded great! But many of the recipes went too far in the other direction.
I think the most disappointing part for me is how confused I was about the goal of this book. I grew up with people who have a much simpler view on camping, but also a much more "meat and potatoes" view. I now eat more variety (and vegetables!) than I ever did growing up, so I can see how the food choices in this book might suit some people and not others. But my issue isn't the global flavors-- it's how the cover of the book boldly states, "simple recipes for camping, cabins, and the great outdoors" and while some recipes fit this description, many don't.
As I said earlier, many recipes aren't what I'd call "simple", but in addition, many recipes don't feel "camping". Beyond the introduction, the recipes hardly contained practical information for cooking outdoors. It didn't talk about how to adjust for cooking on a campfire as opposed to indoors on a controlled stove top or in an oven. Sure, you're often cooking in cast iron in this book, but other than telling me to lick my plate clean and maybe scrub it with "good old-fashioned dirt, a natural abrasive sponge" (p. 13), it doesn't feel like an outdoorsy book. The author regularly calls for honey and maple syrup instead of refined sugar, specifies aluminum-free baking powder and nitrite-free bacon, and practically apologizes for using corn syrup in her marshmallow recipe (p. 47), and while I'd say that suits the "natural" and "nature" crowd, that doesn't necessarily mean *camping*.
Not every single recipe has a picture, which is the case for some cookbooks. I wanted more pictures overall, but since some of the pictures were just general outdoorsy and camping pictures, it made me feel like the book was more about the vibe than the actual food. I think a cookbook *can* have the gorgeous appeal of a book that sits on your coffee table, but it still needs to hold up in practicality, and the recipes need to fit the description of the book-- some pictures of you camping aren't enough to convince me that I should make a complicated dish while camping food in the woods.
I'm biased because I personally get the most out of cookbooks that focus on the *whys* of the food, the testing, the food science, etc. But many cookbooks *are* just people's life stories, told through food. Some cookbooks are more practical and down-to-earth, some are more lofty, some are mostly memoir, and that's just to name a few. Whatever this book was, it just wasn't for me. I didn't get the usefulness out of this book that the cover and title told me I would, and I didn't like the author's vibe. I didn't care to hear about her many family vacations as a child and her globe-trotting, backpacking adventures. Pair that with talk about ancient Egyptian healing foods, Navajo rituals, Aztec superfood, and adding spice to rice and bean tacos-- not because of a passion for flavor, but because of Ayurvedic healing-- and put all together I guess it all just rubbed me wrong.
Again, I can see that this book would totally work for some people. But I am not those people.
June 21, 2018
Not my kind of recipes. I wanted more pictures.
April 14, 2020
I wasn't crazy about this book. The tone just put me off somehow - it came across kind of elitist. Lots of stories about traveling the world, some name dropping, a lot of expectations about equipment, discussion of her glamping resort... I don't know. Maybe I'm overreacting, but between that and the recipes I wasn't really inspired by anything I saw. Recipes for salads and cocktails that could be made anywhere didn't really strike me as belonging in a book about campfire cooking, and a lot of the recipes just seemed unduly fussy for working outdoors or had a ton of at-home prep, or both. There were definitely a few recipes that seemed to take advantage of the unique requirements and possibilities of cooking outdoors, but overall, I found this book to be kind of disappointing.
May 16, 2018
Fun to read and great pictures. Looking forward to trying some recipes...
cookbooks
December 6, 2018Too much "cook ahead and bring with you" for my liking.
Read
May 23, 2021Feast by Firelight is a collection of recipes and tips for folks who want to cook their meals outdoors. The book is divided into eight main sections: the essential outdoor kitchen, recipes to make before you go, breakfast, sandwiches & salads, happy hour, sides, main events, and sweet endings. She also includes some suggested menus for different excursions ranging from backcountry hikes to romantic campfires. Among the recipes, there are atmospheric stories, rustic food photography, and spreads featuring beautiful natural scenery.
I scooped up this book, hoping to find some simple recipes to elevate my car camping experience. Like the author mentions, outdoor cooking often ends up being the antithesis to environmentalism, relying largely on pre-packed foods, freeze-dried packets, or snacks wrapped in plastic. While I found this book incredibly pretty, the ingredient lists were a little lengthy unless you prepped much of it at home. When I am prepping my meals on a picnic table after hiking all day, I want to use a single cutting board and the fewest tools possible, as we often find ourselves cleaning our dishes in a foldable sink. One of the recommended backcountry recipes involved frozen shrimp, canned tomatoes, and chicken broth for Day 2. Not only would that be impossible on Day 2, packing out shrimp tails in my backpack would be unbearable. The book has lovely recipes, but very few of them are truly practical for the constraints of camping.
I scooped up this book, hoping to find some simple recipes to elevate my car camping experience. Like the author mentions, outdoor cooking often ends up being the antithesis to environmentalism, relying largely on pre-packed foods, freeze-dried packets, or snacks wrapped in plastic. While I found this book incredibly pretty, the ingredient lists were a little lengthy unless you prepped much of it at home. When I am prepping my meals on a picnic table after hiking all day, I want to use a single cutting board and the fewest tools possible, as we often find ourselves cleaning our dishes in a foldable sink. One of the recommended backcountry recipes involved frozen shrimp, canned tomatoes, and chicken broth for Day 2. Not only would that be impossible on Day 2, packing out shrimp tails in my backpack would be unbearable. The book has lovely recipes, but very few of them are truly practical for the constraints of camping.
April 12, 2022
I reached for Feast by Firelight when I started planning a camping birthday celebration. Knowing that I wanted to make the trip a bit fancier than the typical hot dogs, foil wrapped veggies, and six-pack, I started flipping through the pages searching for inspiration. The recipes range from the complete novice to more complex. I typically don’t do much cooking the requires a candy thermometer, but I was able to follow her instructions and made perfectly pillowy marshmallows that we roasted over our camp fire. There were recipes to prep ahead at home, like homemade graham crackers, but also recipes that could be easily completed at camp. I found the sample menus and do ahead tips very helpful when planning for the trip. Every recipe that we tried (about 10) were a success. We now keep a jar of the Maple-Rosemary Roasted Almond Mix on hand all the time for a quick snack because we loved snacking on it during or hikes. This book made the birthday celebration a special and memorable occasion and I would highly recommend if your looking for inspiration for your next camp out.
March 1, 2021
This is a lovely book with beautiful photos. I enjoyed reading the author’s backstory and her recipe headnotes.
Unfortunately the recipes didn’t meet my expectations. I enjoy eating and cooking good food, but I’m new to camp cooking. I’m looking for simple recipes that are easy and tasty, with plenty of instructions specific to camp cooking. This book was not that. A lot of the recipes sounded tasty, but were too complex or included too many/fussy ingredients.
I haven’t made any of the recipes, so I can’t speak to the quality of the recipe-writing.
Unfortunately the recipes didn’t meet my expectations. I enjoy eating and cooking good food, but I’m new to camp cooking. I’m looking for simple recipes that are easy and tasty, with plenty of instructions specific to camp cooking. This book was not that. A lot of the recipes sounded tasty, but were too complex or included too many/fussy ingredients.
I haven’t made any of the recipes, so I can’t speak to the quality of the recipe-writing.
August 27, 2018
I anticipated reading this book as the subject of campfire cooking is a topic I’m interested in, to improve my campfire culinary game. Depressingly, many of the recipes are complex, featuring multiple (and some exotic) ingredients—simply impractical for tailgating or “roughing” it. Upon reading the prologue, the author explains that she is involved with a “glamping” resort. Red Flag. My fear confirmed soon thereafter, I had checked out a hipster’s cookbook.
May 9, 2018
First of all, why am I not eating "Charred Bread" every second of every day? Second, how have I never thought to combine my top two breakfasts into one super breakfast a la "Bird In A Nest With Honeyed Avo"?! I mean c'mon people! It's avocado toast ON TOP OF egg in the middle of the toast!!! I have found my soulmate...and yes...it is this dish.
September 24, 2021
It is often difficult to find grilling recipes that can be done over an open campfire. This book has many recipes designed specifically for campfires, some for grills, and some for the stove. They range from simple ingredients to a little more complex depending on what you typically stock in your pantry or refrigerator. I can't wait for next year's camping trip to try some out,
December 29, 2019
This was a gift. It is a thorough guide to foodie camping in which you make everything you and your family eat from scratch for the duration of your trip. There are no shortcuts in this gourmet lifestyle!
May 8, 2021
As someone who does a fair amount of outdoor eating, backyard, hiking and car camping mostly, this book offered some good advice and recipes. How to plan for your outing were precious pages and helped me organize my somewhat random approach. recommended.
June 10, 2021
Interesting stories with recipes, great detail... but not recipes that I would take camping or desire to eat any time. Was interested for ideas for camping and she has a great packing list, and how-to. Recipes come with camping and home cooking version. Nice pictures.
July 6, 2022
I was looking for “diy dehydrated backpacking meals” and this book was more “campfire tiramisu French toast with fresh strawberries and homemade whipped cream.” There was a homemade jiffy pop recipe that looks promising. I guess I’m just not a homemade ketchup and mustard camper.
July 5, 2018
Really needed more pictures because the ones it had were gorgeous. Good recipes but not camping simple. A great deal of pre-camp prep. Wonderful for that kind of camper.
July 12, 2018
I tend to get stuck in the same recipes when it comes to camping, so this book really gave me some good ideas. I like that she had recipes for camping in all seasons.
July 29, 2018
Some very solid tips for cooking while camping, and some very modern recipes.
September 12, 2018
Another one of those cookbooks purporting to be about cooking while camping. But is actually, here's a recipe for cookies that you can bake at home and bring on your camping trip.
April 29, 2019
This is a book of recipes for camping.
June 14, 2020
some more inspired camping food - the love of food and the outdoors is so evident in this book.
September 26, 2020
Elevated ingredients and cool recipes. Sad that this book is no longer a how-to or even aspirational, but just a dream of what we might have done before the fires and Covid. :'(
March 4, 2021
I wish I could camp like this. Beautiful recipes, not exactly practical, though.
April 21, 2021
Practical tips for portable cooking, but not the most exciting for home cooking.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 37 reviews