150 Best Recipes for Cooking in Foil
Ovens – BBQ – Camping
Review by Adrianne Morrison and Linda Kissam
Summer is here! One of the signatures of summer cooking includes easy recipes and lots of tin foil. Who doesn’t love using shiny tin foil? But, is it your go-to tool for everyday cooking? It could be. Author Marilyn Haugen provides us with the perfect cookbook for one meal foil packet meals in her cookbook 150 Best Recipes for Cooking in Foil. In fact, once you are comfortable using foil packets in your kitchen, you can easily take your skills to your backyard and on the road.
In her many cookbooks and at her website, www.foodthymes.com, Ms. Haugen introduces us to a variety of great recipes and techniques for home cooks. So, grab your heavy-duty foil and have some fun! You’ll find you don’t need pots and pans to make “Curry Coconut with Zucchini and Carrots” or “Hoisin-Glazed Country-Style Ribs with Green Beans and Crispy Leeks” in the oven.
Each recipe in the book takes exactly ONE piece of tinfoil and a can of nonstick cooking spray. Yup, really. All home cooks need to get started is a roll of an 18-inch or 12 inch wide heavy duty. It can’t get much easier than that. Tin foil is a universal, portable cooking tool. It’s a bowl. It’s a pan. It’s a pot. What more could you ask for?
Adrianne and Linda give this cookbook four out of five stars. The instructions are brief and super easy. The recipes have up to 15 ingredients, most less. The fifth star is lacking due to few photos. Those that are included are beautiful, we just like knowing what most –if not all- the dishes should look like when finished.
This makes a cool hostess gift or wedding present. Just package the book up with tinfoil and cooking spray and you have a complete cooking system.
Enjoy our reviews and the yummy recipe at the end.
Adrianne
Long ago, I fell in love with Girl Scout campfire S’mores, so loving these foil packet recipes is a natural for me. But, if S’mores is the only foil packet delight you know of, get this cookbook and expand your thinking. This cooking technique is simple, fun, and, well, cool! Gift this cookbook to aspiring cooks with a box of heavy-duty foil and see what happens! You’ll find basic, from-your-pantry kid-friendly weekday recipes to those for entertaining—all delicious. I’m definitely making the “Basil and Garlic Chicken with Braised Pears and Fennel” soon as I get back from the grocery store.
Yes, once a Brownie, always a Girl Scout. The Girl Scout motto is “Be prepared.” In the 1947 Girl Scout Handbook, the motto was explained this way: “A Girl Scout is ready to help out wherever she is needed. Willingness to serve is not enough; you must know how to do the job well, even in an emergency.” I assert that knowing how to cook with foil will earn you a badge on your cook’s apron for both: doing the job (cooking) well, and in an emergency (hungry, gas off, no electricity—you get the idea 🙂 Be prepared. This cookbook is not available electronically, so order it on Amazon, have it in 2 days, and start earning your badges!
Boys, too! Your sons and brothers need to know how to prepare good eats wherever they find themselves, and the idea of foil, fire, food… well, it’s manly, isn’t it? Grub with your hands. I mean, if you’re outside, why not?
My favorite dishes in this cookbook are those designed specifically for the BBQ grill and camping—think tailgating, parties, picnics, and fun eating options at home if you’re not into camping.
Get your kids involved—they’ll enjoy helping to assemble the foil packets, or surprise them with what’s inside your foil wraps like “Pineapple Upside-Down Cakes” or “Stuffed Banana Boats.” That’s right: banana, marshmallows, chocolate chips all melty and warm. Plus, your kids and guests can make their own banana split versions by adding their favorite jam and chopped nuts. And, did I mention you get to eat your concoctions right out of the peel? How? Get this cookbook!
By the way, did you know “Actual tin foil was superseded after World War II by cheaper and more durable[1] aluminium foil, which is referred to as “tinfoil” in many regions.” (From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia).
Linda
I have to say when I first received this book from the publisher, I thought, “Now, how can tin foil and cooking spray produce a quality product?” Yet, here I am on my summer residence (a 42’ Grand Banks boat) tin foiling up a storm. The recipes are diverse in taste. They are super easy to put together and quick to cook. I really can’t ask much more of that from a summer recipe cookbook. Love, love, love the no cleanup aspect of this type of cooking. Pretty much if you can gather ingredients, dump them onto the foil and fold, you’re going to be an expert summer cook. 
Some of my favorites are the Ready to Go Breakfast Tacos on page 25, the Portuguese Clam Bake with Corn on the Cob on page 87, and the Lemon Dill Rainbow Trout on page 86.
And in case you were wondering, “… the possibility that aluminum is a carcinogen: It’s not classified as one by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ National Toxicology Program. Ted Gansler, M.D., director of medical content for the American Cancer Society, says, “From the perspective of cancer risk, I don’t see a single reason to be concerned about aluminum foil.”
Recipe
These make-ahead breakfast tacos are full of flavor and provide a hearty meal to start the day. They’re so good, you’ll want to have them on hand for daily breakfasts at home, too.
Makes 6 servings
- 6 double sheets heavy-duty foil, top sheets sprayed with nonstick cooking spray
Make Ahead
6 cooked pork sausage links, cut into 1⁄2-inch (1 cm) pieces 6
2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and thinly sliced 2
2 red bell peppers, thinly sliced 2
1 small red onion, thinly sliced 1
1 can (14 oz/398 mL) black beans, drained (11⁄2 cups/375 mL) 1
1 cup frozen corn, thawed 250 mL
1⁄2 cup salsa 125 mL
2 tbsp olive oil 30 mL
1 tsp kosher salt 5 mL
1 tsp ground coriander 5 mL
1⁄2 tsp freshly ground black pepper 2 mL
At the Campsite
6 large eggs 6
Salt and ground black pepper
1⁄2 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese 125 mL
12 taco-size (8-inch/20 cm) flour tortillas (see Tips) 12
Make Ahead
- In a large bowl, combine sausages, jalapeños, red peppers, onion, beans, corn, salsa, oil, salt, coriander and pepper.
- Divide sausage mixture evenly among prepared foil sheets. Fold foil into tent-style packets and seal edges tightly. Refrigerate for up to 2 days or freeze for up to 1 month.
At the Campsite
- Prepare campfire coals. Place packets on hot coals and cook for 7 to 10 minutes, moving packets occasionally, until sausage mixture is very hot.
- Transfer packs to a flat surface and open with caution, allowing steam to escape. Crack 1 egg into the center of each packet. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Reseal packet, return to coals and cook for 4 to 6 minutes or until eggs are done to your liking. Serve sprinkled with cheese, with 2 tortillas per packet.
Tips
Defrost your corn in the refrigerator or cooler, not at room temperature.
For warm tortillas, spray 1 large foil sheet with cooking spray. Stack tortillas 2 at a time, separating each pair with a sheet of parchment paper. Fold foil into a flat packet and seal edges tightly. Heat on coals for 5 to 7 minutes, turning packets over once, until warm.
Store the packets in a cooler at 40F (4C) until ready to cook. Thaw frozen tacos in the cooler (or refrigerator) before cooking.
Courtesy of 150 Best Recipes for Cooking in Foil by Marilyn Haugen © 2016 www.robertrose.ca Reprinted with publisher permission. Available where books are sold.
Image credit: Tango Photography / robertrose.ca
