Site assembled brick oven

Wouldn't camping with a thousand of your closest friends be more fun with an on-site assembled oven? Of course it would, as I found out last weekend.

The design is based off directions for a backyard pizza oven found on You Tube, with added angle iron structure for more stability. Wonderboard is placed on saw horses for the base. Then one layer of 12 fire bricks make up the bed of the oven. Then courses of ordinary red clay bricks, not cement brick , are built up with angle irons to hold everything in place.

Courses across the top are supported by angle irons. Extra pieces of wonderboard serve as wind screens, a top, and a door.

Lemon curdled cheese over the fire

Over the Fourth of July weekend, I had two opportunities to make cheese over the fire. In the first attempt I used whole milk (pictured here).

In the second I used half half and half and half whole (or 1/4 cream, 3/4 whole milk). This produced a very creamy cheese. In both cases I used lemon juice to curdle the cheese.

Start with cold milk in a cold pipkin.

Cover and set in the fire pit without too much direct heat. Ease the heat in as the pot becomes warm to the touch. 

Meanwhile set up a colander in a bowl to catch the whey. Have your curdling agent on hand. My favorite is lemon juice. 

Once the milk reaches 190 degrees add enough curdling agent to get a "clean break". Give it a stir. Then pour through a lint free tea towel (what they call "Cheese Cloth" is way to loose a weave).

Twist up the towel or put a weight on it and let the whey continue to drain out for as long as you can stand to wait.

Flavor as desired, perhaps add a pinch of salt and serve. It goes great on salad. Use the whey in baked goods, or I hear you can add a little rose water and it makes a nice beverage.