Aluminum Foil
Aluminum foil is one of the most versatile tools to have in the kitchen or at the campfire.
Individual Meal Packets
Cooking in foil is so simple it is almost beyond belief. Tear off a square of foil from the package. Lay it down on the table, dull (non stick) side up, and pile your meat and/or veggies and seasonings in the center. Bring up the sides and fold over. Bring up the edges and fold over. Place in your oven, on the grill, or even right into hot embers. Your food cooks inside the foil packet.
Kraft Kitchens has an excellent video showing how simple it is to cook in foil packets:
You can cook almost anything in a foil packet. There are dozens of websites with creative, succulent foil packet recipes. Here are a few to get you started. Click to go to the link:
Reynolds Wrap Recipes and Hints
Recipe Gold Mine Foil Packet Recipes
Peace and Carrots Foil Packet Meals
Camping Packet Recipes
Cooks.com Foil Packet Recipes
Recipes To Go Foil Packet Recipes
Foil Boats
Aluminum foil boats are simply open top hand shaped pans, formed to the size and shape of the item you are cooking. To make a foil boat lay several sheets of aluminum foil down on a table, place the item you are cooking inside the foil, and crumple the excess foil on the edges to form a 1" lip around your food. Make sure the edge goes all the way around. Put the foil boat in the oven, on the grill, or under the broiler. This method is especially good for baking soft, delicate foods with a crispy topping such as stuffed fish, baked macaroni, or open topped garlic bread.
Ember Cooking
Wrap whatever you want to cook in aluminum foil, and bury it in the burning embers of your charcoal grill or campfire. This is wonderful for steaming fresh vegetables, and roasting root veggies such as potatoes, yams, carrots, and onions. You don't have to peel the potatoes and yams. Just wash well, and wipe a little oil or butter on the outside, then wrap in foil. Roasted yams are one of my favorite foods - especially with a big dollop of cinnamon butter. Whenever I cook on my charcoal grill, I wrap whole heads of garlic in foil. After I finish cooking my meal I place the foil wrapped garlic into the embers to let the garlic roast. The cloves will cook down and you can squeeze the heavenly roasted garlic right out.
Bread
Aluminum foil is excellent for reheating frozen bread and baking garlic bread.
Bread comes out of the freezer in very much the same condition as when you put it in. Since it takes the same amount of energy to cook two loaves of bread in my oven as one loaf, I always make extra and freeze what I don't plan to use that day. As soon as the bread cools I wrap it tightly in aluminum foil, and place it right into my deep freeze. When I am ready to use it, I take the bread out and put it in my oven or on the grill with the lid closed. I am not cooking the bread, just reheating it, so I only need to bake it until the center is soft and warm.
Aluminum foil is the way to go when making garlic bread. Split a long loaf of italian bread in half lengthwise, and spread both sides with garlic butter and, if you like, cheese. You can cook it face up in a foil boat, lightly toasting the top and letting the cheese melt and bubble up, or for a more tender loaf, put both sides back together again and wrap the whole thing in aluminum foil, then bake in your oven or heat on the grill.
Baking Cookies
Use aluminum foil in place of parchment paper on your cookie sheet. Place the foil dull side up. Spray with a non-stick spray or lightly grease with Crisco. When you take the pan out of the oven, carefully slide the aluminum foil off the hot pan and onto your counter, and your cookies will not continue to cook on the bottom as they cool. You can wipe the aluminum foil off and cook another batch. If you have more cookies than pans to cook them, layer several sheets of aluminum foil together for a makeshift cookie pan.
Easy Cleanup
One of the nice things about aluminum foil is the ease of cleanup. When you cook in foil packets instead of a pan, you save water, detergent, and time when it comes to cleanup. If you line your grill with aluminum foil before starting a fire, when you are finished you can pick up the foil and the ashes and dispose of the entire thing, leaving your grill nice and clean.
