Winter Campfire Cooking on a Firebox: Western-style Bacon, Potato & Egg Fry-Up

Snow blankets the woods as a few white flakes drift down from above. Deeper into the woods an ideal spot for a winter camp is located near a partially frozen brook.

Wood selection gets underway, locating dead-standing trees and the remnants of a trunk of once might tree. A Gransfors Bruks Small Forest axe facilitates wood processing as does a classic Mora knife #3.

Once the wood is in chopped down and split to shape and size, feather-stick carving begins in earnest. Then, with few sparks cast from the spine of an Opinel saw and ferro rod, a feather stick catches. The cold and dampness is a challenge for the tiny flame which grows steadily stronger as it is placed in the 5” Firebox along with several of the feather sticks.

The fire alight, the kettle is set atop the flame to boil.

Soon bacon is sizzling in the carbon steel pan and, once cooked, set aside on the grill-turned-warming shelf. To the howling of coyotes in the woods behind us, a potato is sliced and begins to fry. Next onion, peppers, spinach, and eggs are added to the pan, one element at a time and cooked into the mix. The last ingredient is a little cheese which melts into the fry-up hash and our meal is ready to enjoy.

A kettle of balsam tea rounds out the meal as we sit and enjoy the silence of the dark woods and the quiet crackle of the nighttime fire in the Firebox.