In fact I carry matches to start fires. I have the requisite waterproof match safe with a couple of dozen strike-anywhere matches and I scatter book matches everywhere in my gear that there is a ziplock bag. In this fashion I can get totally wet or lose half my gear and some of my matches will survive. The fire steel and tinder is the ultimate backup because it has no parts to fail and will make sparks for many thousands of fires. Thinking like you, I have tried butane lighters as backup and have found them to be unreliable and easily broken. The sparker is really cheap, fails often and produces insufficiently hot sparks to light any dry tinder if the butane runs out. The butane can leak out or simply fail to come out. It doesn't work when wet or in any wind at all and is easily lost because there is no way to put a lanyard on it. My fire steel lives in a tiny pocket on my knife sheath, so I'll always have it if I have my knife, which is always when I'm in the bush. It is hard to break and with a small red lanyard on it, it is hard to lose and easy to secure. It will work when wet and in the wind as long as the tinder is dry. I carry a few small sealed capsules of high-tech tinder nowadays that will catch easily and burn even when wet. I will never be caught without a knife or the means to make fire. I will not be doomed.
I cArry fire starter when I'm in the bush also. I have a spent 12ga and 20 ga hull. I wipe a few cotton balls in Vaseline and stuff them in the 20 ga hull then slide I inside the 12 ga hull. It will keep dry and the cotton catches a spark quick. The Vaseline will burn for a few minutes allowing time for kindling to catch.
You boys can talk about your "Steak cooking without a grill", playing boy scout, lighting fires with sticks, stones, hulls and how you are all a buncha G.I. Joe Eagle Scouts, but the bottom line is this.......you should only NOT grill a steak when there is not a working grill within 100 miles, it's just better grilled! I've recently discovered steaks grilled over an open Mesquite (spelling?) wood flame......nothing better IMO
Guy that cooked em burned his wood down to coals then put a piece of wet wood on the coals and it made a bunch of smoke, does that count? Flavor was incredible......
Pretty much the same concept. If I had my way about it i'd never eat anything that didn't come off a grill. Most flavorful way to cook imo.
I tell you something else that is great. Take a seasoned cast iron skillet. Place it directly on the coals and get it hot. Take some catfish fillets and season them with Unsalted butter and blacken seasoning. Slap them in the skillet for 2-3 minutes then flip and cook another few minutes. You'll love it. You can do deer and duck the same way.
