There are lots of ways to cook outdoors! We usually think of the big four (grilling, dutch oven, barbecue, campfire), but I can think of a bunch more. And there are lot's of variations on each of the big four. Let's see how many we can name.

Barbecuing

Low and slow. That's the motto of barbecue. Low heat and cook it slow. This is often done with smoke to give added flavor to the meat that you are cooking

Grilling

Usually involves higher heats and cooking things faster. Done with propane or natural gas, charcoal, fire, even electric.

Dutch oven Cooking

Using a cast iron pot over coals to cook almost anything. There are dutch oven recipes for just about everything that you could cook indoors.

Campfire Cooking

A general category for all sorts of cooking. I usually associate it with camping. it can be done in a variety of ways, including a dutch oven on a campfire, holding a hot dog on a stick over the fire, or cooking right on the coals. There are also a bunch of other ways that are listed below that also involve a campfire.

Foil Cooking

This method involves wrapping a dish into aluminum foil and cooking in the coals of a campfire. Could include the typical foil dinner, but can also include vegetables like corn on the cob, or desserts, like banana boats or foil apples.

Deep-Pit Barbecue

A variation of barbecue, but is cooked underground in a way that allows it to be left unattended without danger of fire spreading. Was often used by pioneers to cook hundreds of pounds of meat at a time. Hunters or campers may use in our day to allow them to have a hot meal ready for them when they return from a day of activities.

Wood Plank Cooking

Roasting food on wood planks that have been soaked in a liquid. The wood protects the food from the direct flames of the fire, but permeates the food with a wonderful smoky flavor. Can be done on the campfire or on the grill. This is a favorite way to cook salmon or other fish, but works well with all types of meat, including beef, chicken, sausage, lamb and can be used with vegetables as well.

Stone Slab Cooking

This is definitely a primitive method! You can use stones found in the outdoors, or get your own from a masonry supplier. The stone is heated on the fire, and the food is cooked right on the stone. You can cooks lots of different types of food on a stone. A pizza stone is what is used to cook great pizzas. Imagine cooking that pizza on a real stone right over the fire!

Spit Cooking

Food is attached to wooden or metal shafts which are suspended over a fire and slowly turned. Everything from small pieces of meat on a rotisserie to whole animals on a 4 x 6 foot bed of coals with a motorized spit can be cooked in this way.

Reflector Oven Cooking

These ovens are pad of sheets of metal in such a way that the indirect heat from the flames of a fire are reflected down onto the food. You can cook cakes, rolls, pizza, fish, and much more with a good reflector oven.

Steam Pit Cooking

Popular in beach areas, this method of cooking is done by digging a fire pit, lining it with stones, and building the fire directly on the stones to heat them up. Then wet grass, leaves, seaweed, are placed on the hot rocks and food is placed on top. Another layer of wet grass, leaves, or seaweed is placed on top of the food and then the whole pile is covered with soil or sand to insulate it and keep the steam in. Lobsters, clams, fish, vegetables are ideal for this type of cooking. The food is essentially steamed. You've heard of a clam bake? That's done with a steam pit!

Fireless Cooking

This is a bit of a misnomer, as it does require heat to get the whole thing going. This is essentially the outdoor cooking crock pot method. Get the food started and hot, and then place the pot in some type of insulated container and allow it to finish cooking very slowly over a long period of time. Ideal for having food ready to eat when you come back from a day's activities while camping.

Stone Boiling Cooking

I saw this on a show the other night. You can cook food by dropping a heated rock into a pot of water with the food. The heated rock will get the water boiling and cook the food. As it cools you can return the rock to the fire and replace it with another rock that has been heating.

Solar Cooking

Cooking by the sun. There are several ways to do this but the most successful ways seems to be a method that concentrates the suns rays onto a container that contains the food to be cooked.

Box Oven Cooking

Lining a cardboard box with tin foil, starting charcoal briquettes which are placed in the bottom of the box. A wire rack is suspended above the coals and the box closed to keep the heat in. It takes a longer to cook this way, but you can do rolls, cakes, pizza, pies, and many other dishes that you would normally cook in the oven at home this way.

Tin Can Cooking

Layer your dish (meat, vegetables, etc.) in a tin can (like a number #10 can), cover with foil, and cook in the fire.

Pie Iron Cooking

Pie iron cooking is done with double sided cast iron cookers that can hold a variety of different types of food for cooking over the fire. You can cook hot sandwiches, hamburgers, pastries, meat pies, omelets, and many other dishes this way.

Clay Cooking

If you live where there is lots of clay, you can wrap your food in clay to cook in the fire. You can cook baked potatoes with this method.

Well, this is just a start. There are lots more ways!

For a book that gives details and recipes for many of these, see Cooking Backyard to Backcountry.

P.S. What other ways can you share with me? Leave them in the comments below.