Shoreside Panfish-Baked!!

[Guest]

I was recently reminded of a cool recipe, but of course, there's a little bit of a story....
When I was a kid in Vermont, I watched a show on PBS called "The Hodge-Podge Lodge". It was kind of a nature/craft show with cool woods and nature stuff, hosted by a grandmotherly old hippie-chick. She showed this on the show one day, so I tried it, and it was a hit with me & the rest of our summer Schwinn gang.

-From a clay river bank, catch a panfish - any panfish.
-Build a fire with enough wrist-sized stuff to have a decent coal-bed.
-Gut the fish, also slice r e a l shallow along both sides of the dorsal and put a slice of apple or lemon or whatever in the cavity.
-Tie the cavity closed (more or less) with some kind of metal. We used extra hooks and closed 'em with our pliers.
-Now, get a wad of clay from the bank and work it until it's as dry as say...pottery clay, and pick out the big rocks. Completely encase the fish in the clay, 3/4" to 1" of cover, leaving the tips of the dorsal out, so you know where the dorsal is.
-Put this clayfish into the coals and bake as long as you figure you should. (put a wad of test clay n the coals too, as a timer)
-When it's done, crack it open in two tall halves, and peel the clay off the fish. The skin should come off with the clay. Pull the hooks loose, and eat it.

We thought we were the coolest thing since Grizzly Adams, and I bet yer kids will think so too.

Any body else got any cool "rough it" recipes?

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RobertC