Gone Bush: Easy recipes for your next campfire feast
Words Amelia Mansell Pics Supplied
If campfire cooking is your thing — or something you’re keen to try — Gone Bush: Easy Campfire Recipes by Tom Forrest (better known as Outback Tom) and his Grandad Steve Forrest is a brilliant addition to your camp kitchen.
There’s a charm in cooking over a fire: simple recipes, minimal equipment, easy cleanup and big flavours. And that’s exactly what this new cookbook delivers.Across more than 240 pages, Tom and his Grandad share a collection of their favourite recipes. And alongside the great food there are also practical tips for cooking in the bush using traditional methods or repurposing materials you might have laying around.
The makers of Gone Bush
While Gone Bush is undeniably a cookbook, it can easily double as a coffee table book or a road trip companion, showcasing outback life as much as campfire cuisine. Full-colour photos show the cooking process and capture Tom and his Grandad’s adventures, history and the outback landscapes that inspired their first cookbook.
In the opening pages, Tom shares his journey — from growing up in Kununurra in the East Kimberley of Western Australia and his connection to the land and its people, to travelling around Australia in his van and heading to eastern Victoria to reconnect with his heritage as a Yorta Yorta man.
Now based in Wyndham, WA, Tom has built a strong following online, sharing authentic outback life and bush cooking under the handle @outbacktom.
“But I’m only part of this story,” Tom writes. “Let me introduce you to my Grandad! Also known as Steve, Grandad remembers a time when you couldn’t get TV or even radio in the Kimberley. He managed the local port for over 30 years and now spends his time woodworking, riding his quad bike and being the real star of @outbacktom.”
While many recipes have featured on @outbacktom, the book also introduces more than 30 new dishes created just for this cookbook.
What's in the book
Gone Bush is split into six recipe chapters, each with clear step-by-step instructions: Magic Baking (just two or three ingredients), Eggs and All Day Brekky, Burgers and BBQ Favourites, One Pot or Pan and Something Sweet. And many of the recipes rely on just pantry staples with a few other ingredients thrown in.
Flicking through the pages, some recipes that looked particularly enticing were a classic tomato relish, two-ingredient naan, golden syrup dumplings, brekky in a can, classic damper, beef massaman curry, chilli mussels and camp-oven apple crumble.
The book gives a real sense of the duo’s love of bush cooking. There are plenty of handy tips, plus guides for making simple outdoor cooking appliances, such as a stove from a hollow log, flat stones and dry grass, or a bush oven fashioned from an old drum.
It’s a reminder of just how little you need in terms of gadgets. Most recipes rely on a single heat source: a fire, often with a bush oven or stove. Tom notes, though, that these can easily be swapped out for a barbecue or conventional oven if preferred or you’re at home.
“Keeping it simple doesn’t mean you won’t find a range of cuisines represented in bush cooking,” Tom explains. “One of the best parts of growing up in the Kimberley was that it was a real melting pot, and many people I grew up with have mixed Indigenous, Chinese, Japanese, Malaysian and other heritage. That unique blend of cultures is showcased in the food we love cooking.”
Where to get Gone Bush: Easy Campfire Recipes
With its focus on simple, flavour-packed meals and a genuine outback perspective, Gone Bush is a great cookbook for any camping trip.
The book is flexibound, which means it has the sleek look of a hardback but with the light weight of a paperback, and is available at all good bookstores for RRP $36.99.
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