Cooking those delicious campfire recipes is a lot easier when you have the right campfire layout designed for campfire safety. A good cooking campfire is more than just a flaming pile of wood in a campfire ring. Unless you are just roasting hot dogs on a stick, your campfire recipes will probably call for a combination of open flame direct heat, and the slower heat of a bed of coals.

If you have the choice of laying out your own campfire design, a "key-hole" layout is the best. But even if you are restricted to a contained campfire ring or other pre-made fire enclosure like campfire grills, you can still get the best cooking results with just a little thought about how you construct your fire. It doesn't matter if you build a campfire to cook with a Dutch oven, or a skillet or griddle using a cast iron grill, your secret campfire recipes will turn out best when you design your campfire layout to cook the way you need it to.

The Key-Hole Campfire Layout

If you are not using a propane campfire, this Key-Hole layout gives you the best of everything about campfires. Your main fire is perfect for those cooking needs that require a direct flame heat, and it's also perfect for an after-dinner campfire to just sit around and enjoy while you tell those scary campfire stories. The smaller "hot-coals" area will give you a great place to cook with your cast iron Dutch oven, or skillet and griddle, using a more controlled heat of the glowing coals from your main fire.

Starting with a lot of fuel wood for your main fire will keep you supplied with the coals you need to use your cast iron cookware in the "hot-coals area, which gives you a place to cook with a more controlled heat.

For a camp cook, it's the best of both worlds. They can use their campfire tripod to suspend a stew pot or rotisserie over the main fire, and use the smaller hot-coals area for their skillet or Dutch oven cooking.

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Of course your key-hole layout can be any size you want, but most campfire cooks use one that's about 3' x 5'. That is: the large circular main campfire ring is about 3 feet across, and the protruding "key-hole" part is approx 2 feet long and about eighteen inches wide.

You will build a blazing campfire in the main section of your layout and then, when they are ready, you rake coals from the main fire into the hot-coals section of you layout.

As for the border around your fire, it is very unusual to have all those rocks you see in the illustration just laying around waiting for you to use them, so a better idea is to use large pieces of firewood or logs. Yes, it is a good idea to have a border campfire safety. It will keep crumbling burning coals from rolling out of the fire, and those inattentive toes from stepping a little too close to the flames. Depending on whether or not you are using a cooking grate or cast iron grill over the hot coals, and what kind of grate it is, the log border around the hot-coals section can also act as support for your cooking grate or griddle.

This article is about a good campfire layout to get the best results from your campfire recipes, not about how to build a campfire. But ... just in case ... here's a nice video to show you how.

The "tee-pee" method shown is the easiest method for starting a campfire, so use that. Just remember that you want a big main campfire because you will be pulling hot coals from it for your hot-coals section. Get a really roaring campfire to start, and feed it lots of firewood to quickly get those hot coals you need. As the fire burns down a little and you begin pulling coals from it you will be able to control the size so it works for whatever cooking you want to do.

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Ok, now you know how to layout one of the best cooking campfires known to man. And you've seen a serious documentary on the steps to build the best campfire known to man. Now you're going to need some camp cookware to use on your best campfire known to man laid out in the best campfire layout known to man.

Yes, Cast Iron, that's the best camp cookware known to man. Cast iron cookware: Dutch Ovens, Skillets, and Griddles, have been a part of camp cooking since the pioneers. It worked great for them, it still works great for today's campfire cooks, so it must be the best camp cookware known to man.

There are three primary pieces you will need to have in your kitchen gear:

• The famous Dutch Oven - the Swiss Army knife of camp cookware. from frying to stews, casseroles to bread, this versatile cooking tool will never fail you.
• The Good ol' Cast Iron Skillet - For inexperienced camp cooks their first exposure to the cast iron skillet was when they had mom's fried chicken, but a knarly veteran campfire cook knows a good skillet is the foundation for all their campfire recipes. (ps. they also know it works great for smacking the rump of any curious black bear that wanders into camp)
  
• The Camp Griddle - This one is seen as a necessity for large group cooking, and is usually reversible, flat and smooth on one side for pancakes and eggs, and ribbed on the other side for bacon and steaks. *(ribbed cast iron griddles allow fat and grease to drain away)
  

Seriously, Campfire Safety is Very Important! Fire Safety in general is a serious topic, but because of the natural surroundings of most campfires, Campfire Safety is something that should be foremost in the mind of every camper and campfire cook. Please consider these safety tips whenever you are building a campfire.

• First, if you are camping in a National or State park, or any other structured camping area, make sure open campfires are allowed.
• If there is a man-made campfire ring, BBQ pit, or fire pit in your campsite, use it. It's there so campfire locations can be controlled.
• If possible, always have a shovel and bucket of water near the campfire for emergency firefighting. These should be part of your usual campfire tools.
  
• Always make sure you have a minimum area of six feet cleared around your campfire. (10 feet is recommended, but not always possible) Clear away any flammable stuff like leaves, pine needles, and small twigs.
• Make sure there are no low hanging branches over your campfire.
• Make sure you aren't a fire hazard. No loose flapping clothing to swing into the flames or drag through the coals.

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