Mud Potatoes

[mudbug]

No, they are not named after me. Has anyone else done this?
Pack a bunch of mud around a spud (hey, that rhymes!) and throw into the campfire coals. Wait about 40 minutes or so, then crack those babies open and enjoy very nice baked potatoes.

[choclatechef]

Naw......haven't done that mud! I'll tell you what. You do it first, and report back [if you can] on your findings.

Oh, how terrible of me. Please mud, don't eat the mud potatoes! I like you too much.

[yes I know the heat will sterlize them, it is just the thought]

[mudbug]

Well, silly, you don't eat the mud part - that becomes the bowl when the taters are ready!

[crewsk]

I've never done mud potatoes but I have wrapped sweet potatoes in foil & cooked them in the ashes when my dad was clearing out the woods behind their house. We would bury the potatoes in the first place he was burning & then at lunch time we'd dig them out & eat them with butter mixed with brown sugar & cinnamon.

[PA Baker]

There is nothing better than a sweet potato with butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon!

[GB]

I have wrapped them in foil and put them in the campfire too. When i was little my mom told me about how she used to do that as a kid. She called them "Mickeys".

[Raine]

Mud Potatoes


1 pail of good, clean dirt (no worms)
Eight baking potatoes
Small amount of water
Deep bed of glowing coals

Equipment List:

1 Pail
Tongs
Take the pail of dirt and add just a small amount of water to the bucket of soil and mix until mud becomes a dough-like texture. Pierce each potato a few times with a fork and then complete encase the potato in a thick protective shell of sticky mud.


Using tongs, carefully place each mud-coated potato on the glowing coals. Sit back and enjoy the time at the campfire. The potatoes will be ready in about an hour and a half.


Take the potatoes from the fire and tap gently on a flat rock near the fire. The hard baked mud will crack off clean as a whistle, leaving beautifully steamed potatoes. Top each with a hunk of butter and a sprinkle of salt.

[morgans4]

When my mother was very young she said that the native Americans would steal their chickens, wrap them in mud and cook them in the fire. When they were done, the mud was peeled off, and off would come the feathers. They would then bring 2 or 3 of them to my grandparent's house and "gave" them to them as a "gift", evidently thinking my grandfather hadn't noticed the 12 chickens missing from the coop. I assume they killed the chicken first but don't know that they gutted it before cooking. My mother never said. She did say they were pretty darned good, and there was no dirt residue left on them.

[skyone]

Originally Posted by mudbug

No, they are not named after me. Has anyone else done this?
Pack a bunch of mud around a spud (hey, that rhymes!) and throw into the campfire coals. Wait about 40 minutes or so, then crack those babies open and enjoy very nice baked potatoes.

When in Boy Scouts we learned to cook without utensils. Burger or steak on coals, mud wrapped baked potato, sweet potatoe or carrots. Also fish in a twig grill, egg cooked in an orange rind, etc. Those were the days. I had also learned to make fire by friction as a Fire Crafter.

I earned, Eagle and God and Country.
I am also a Fire Crafter. xxx

[Piccolina]

Originally Posted by skyone

When in Boy Scouts we learned to cook without utensils. Burger or steak on coals, mud wrapped baked potato, sweet potatoe or carrots. Also fish in a twig grill, egg cooked in an orange rind, etc. Those were the days. I had also learned to make fire by friction as a Fire Crafter.

I was in Girl Guides for years and I learnt oodles of wonderful campfire techniques and methods. Though I have never baked spuds in mud, like others mentioned spuds in foil amongst the ashes was a TNT classic. We'd bring slices of processed or American cheese and drape them over the piping hot potatoes with sprinkles of dried chives and salt. Post spud fest it would be banana boats in the coals or baked apples/peaches (I grew up around in an are with tones of orchards so peaches were abundant, even at camp ).

Another nifty camp invention was the "buddy burner", essentially a large empty coffee can that you placed a candle under and cooked things on its surfce. I was always a little leery though as everything we cooked on them (grilled cheese, pancakes, etc) had a sort of funky metalic taste But I suppose that was just part of the whole GG camping experience