Let’s start with the basics. Likely the first thing that you will or have cooked over an open flame is a marshmallow or a hot dog. These are two classics in the world of camping cuisine, but surprisingly hard to master. Inevitably you will end up with a flaming sugar torch or badly burned wiener at some point. These things happen. You can always start over, scrape off the black stuff and move forward with life, or just eat it as-is. Some people like that kind of thing…In fact my younger sister used to intentionally burn her marshmallows, eat the charred exterior, and burn it again until there was nothing left. I prefer the toasted, golden-brown marshmallow with the perfectly melted center. This level of perfection takes patience, and is good practice for moving on to more complicated live-fire cooking.

To cook pretty much anything over the fire you have to start with a good base of coals. Regardless of where you stand on the great log cabin or teepee fire-building debate, you should start your fire well before you want to start roasting anything over it. It seems counter intuitive, but you want the coals to do the cooking, not the flame of the fire. Cooking over coals provides a more even heat source, plus the flames can produce a sooty flavor in foods while they quickly char the outside, leaving the inside cold.

While you wait for the base of coals to develop, start thinking about your roasting implement. I used to be a stickler for, well, sticks. I would spend a fair amount of time scouring the forest floor for the perfect roasting stick and would carefully whittle away at it until I had formed the perfect point, or points, depending on the use (I prefer a two-prong roasting stick for anything heavier than a marshmallow…so, most things). While I still do this now and again for the nostalgia factor, I now prefer to use our telescoping forks. We picked up a pair of Rolla Roasters years ago and have never looked back! We even had them stolen once and replaced them with a sub-par knock off. That was a mistake. If you’re going to get them…spring for the original. You won’t regret it. (Note: you can easily buy your own pair of Rolla Roasters at your local outdoor store or on Amazon.com)

With your cooking fork ready to go and your bed of coals good and hot try to find a nice access point for your dog. It’s ok to move the logs around with a poking stick (not to be confused with your roasting stick) to expose more of the nice, hot coals if you need to. Slowly roast your dog so that it is several inches away from the coals, but close enough that you can hear it sizzle after a bit. Check your progress early and often, and make sure to rotate that puppy for a nice even cook. You want it to take about 5 minutes or so in order to get the inside nice and hot without burning the outside. You’ll slowly see the dog plump up and blister. The first sign of an impending burst is right about when it’s done. 

Make note of how that all went and enjoy your tasty dinner. Then get ready for more roasting fun. You’ll use the same roasting techniques for your marshmallow, but there is a little less room for error as the sugary goodness has a tendency to spontaneously burst into a flaming fireball. But we’re getting ahead of ourselves. The first step in making s’mores is not roasting the marshmallow, it’s setting up your chocolate and graham cracker stack in a way that lets the chocolate pre-melt a little bit. 

Grab yourself a graham cracker, break it in half, and grab a piece of chocolate. If you are going with the true original, this is three small rectangles of Hershey’s milk chocolate. You can pretty much do any chocolate you like, experimenting with these variations is half the fun! I will tell you though that my absolute favorite is a Reeces peanut butter cup. So good!

Once you have your two graham cracker halves and chocolate of choice in hand stack them up, with the chocolate on top, and carefully place them at the outer edge of the grill grate or nearby the campfire in a warm spot. This helps warm up the chocolate so that it is easily melted by the hot marshmallow. If you haven’t done this before it’s a real game changer, and makes all the difference between a good s’more and a great one.

NOW you’re ready to roast that marshmallow. To get the perfect ooey-gooey center with a golden crust you have to roast that beauty slowly. Use the same techniques you did with the hot dog, checking and rotating often. This is where the Rolla Roasters really shine. They make constant marshmallow rotation a breeze and really aid in creating a perfect golden crust. No matter how careful you are, there will be a time that out of nowhere that nearly perfect puff will turn on you and burst into flames. If this does happen, resist the urge to fling the roasting stick back and forth to “blow” it out. Although it seems like a no-brainer, I’ve seen it happen in a moment of panic. Just extinguish the outburst with a quick, but full, blow of air., like you would a candle. 

Once you have yourself a s’more-worthy marshmallow, carefully add it to your graham cracker-chocolate stack, moving the bottom cracker to the top and using it to pull the marshmallow from the stick, sandwiching the gooey goodness in next to the chocolate. There is nothing left to do at this point other than to enjoy the heck out of that well-deserved dessert.