If you’re looking for ways to enhance your campfire cooking, then we’ve found a great cookbook to add to your camp kitchen shelf: Gone Bush: Easy Campfire Recipes by Tom Forrest (better known online as Outback Tom) and his Grandad, Steve Forrest — landing in bookstores today!
There’s something to be said about classic campfire meals — simple recipes with only a few basic tools required yet pack a punch in terms of flavour. That’s what this book is all about.
Over 240 pages, Tom and his Grandad share some of their best campfire recipes and tips for campfire cooking. There are six recipe chapters with step-by-step instructions, including: Magic Baking (recipes with only two or three ingredients), Eggs and All-Day Brekky, Burgers and BBQ Favourites, One Pot or Pan and Something Sweet.
Some recipes that stood out include things such as a classic tomato relish, two-ingredient naan, golden syrup dumplings, brekky in a can, beef massaman curry, chilli mussels and camp-oven apple crumble.
Meet the makers behind Gone Bush
There are plenty of full-colour pictures throughout the book — not just of the recipes but also of Tom and his Grandad’s life in the outback, their history and the adventures that brought this — their first cookbook — about.
In the opening pages, Tom walks readers through the journey, from growing up in Kununurra in the East Kimberley region of Western Australia and his love for the land, its people and stories, to exploring Australia with his van and his journey to eastern Victoria to reconnect with his heritage as a Yorta Yorta man.
Now living back in Western Australia in Wyndham, Tom has become something of a social media star, showcasing the best of authentic outback living on social media as
@outbacktom.
“But I’m only part of this story,” Tom writes. “Let me introduce you to my Grandad! Also known as Steve, Grandad remembers a time when you couldn’t get TV or even radio in the Kimberley. He managed the local port for over 30 years and now spends his time woodworking, riding his quad bike and being the real star of @outbacktom.”
Grandad Steve shares many of his stories and campfire cooking tips throughout the book
Cooking smart with Gone Bush: Easy Campfire Recipes
Throughout the book you get a real feel for Tom and his Grandad’s love of bush cooking, with handy tips and tricks, and guides for making your own bush cooking ‘appliances’, like creating a bush stove using a hollow log, flat stones and dry grass or a bush oven out of an old drum.
These guides show just how little you need in terms of gadgets and cooking gear — most of the recipes will only use a single heat source: fire, usually with a bush oven or stove (although Tom does note these can be swapped out for a barbecue or regular oven or stove if needed).
“Keeping it simple doesn’t mean you won’t find a range of cuisines represented in bush cooking,” Tom explains. “One of the best parts of growing up in the Kimberley was that it was a real melting pot, and many people I grew up with have mixed Indigenous, Chinese, Japanese, Malaysian and other heritage. That unique blend of cultures is showcased in the food we love cooking.”
A delicious stew cooked over the fire
Gone Bush includes many recipes already shared on @outbacktom, but there are also more than 30 new ones specifically created for this cookbook.
With its focus on simple, flavour-packed bush cooking meshed with an authentic outback lifestyle and insights, Gone Bush is a worthy addition to any caravan kitchen.
Gone Bush: Easy Campfire Recipes is flexibound — so it looks sleek but has the flexibility and light weight of a paper back. It’s available at all good bookstores and has a recommended retail price of $36.99.
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