Few campfire treats compare to steaming, golden-edged pocket pies cooked over hot coals. Since I was a kid camping with my family in Minnesota’s North Woods, until today with my own children, clamp-shut pie irons have been a staple culinary tool.
Preparation is easy. Just butter two slices of bread and put them butter-side down in the iron against the metal. Add your filling — from sugar and fruit, to cheese and pizza sauce, to eggs — and then clamp the irons together and closed. Now, find some coals in the fire pit and place the iron in the hottest spot possible.
Growing up, I am not sure what brand we used. But over the past couple years, I have put pie irons from Rome Industries (www.romeindustries.com) to the test. The Peoria, Ill., company has been making camp-ready cooking items for decades. Its pie irons, which come in aluminum and cast-iron builds, as well as in many shapes and sizes, are quality cooking products.
I like Rome’s #1705 model, a square pie-iron style. It is made of cast iron and it easily fits two standard issue slices of bread. The company’s #1605 model, a double-wide cooker, is another favorite. It lets you roast four pieces of bread in quick order with the filling simmering inside.
All the irons come mounted on long metal rods. The heat-absorbing handles at the ends are made of wood. We’ve had pie irons in circulation for 10 years or more. Treat them right and they last a long time.
