_camp Creations Recipes

_CAMP KITCHENS

Steps:

• Look around just about any place or any time and you will see people making certain difficult tasks look easy. Camp cooking falls in that category. Like any job or profession, having the proper equipment, and being well organized, makes the difference in how happy the campers are after supper. It doesn't matter whether you're car camping, back packing, horse packing or rafting down a river, if you put the right stuff in your kitchen, the cooking part of the camp chores will be much easier. Basically, your camp kitchen should have everything you would use to prepare the same meal at home. Once your menu is planned, then figure out what pots, pans, bowls, and serving utensils you need. Always include extra serving utensils in case the game warden or some other unexpected guest shows up. Once the meal is over, don't forget a couple of wash basins for doing the dishes. It would be easy to list everything I think one should have in a good camp kitchen, but everyone who reads this would probably add something they just can't do without. If you do much camp cookin', your kitchen will be a reflection of you. To some people who will here remain nameless, that might be a can opener and a Boy Scout camp kit. One time on a stakeout the other officer I was with didn't even have a can opener. This adventure started about 2:00 am. one spring morning when I came home from a part time job. Another officer needed help on a stakeout and asked me to meet him at the Salmon office by 4:00 a.m. Some surplus adult steelhead had been planted in a spawning stream where they would be very vulnerable to illegal harvest. The logistics were complicated by the fact we had to drive by the houses of some individuals we suspected might try to take the fish. So, I took a shower, changed clothes and headed for Salmon. Joe, the other officer, told me not to worry about grub, he would take care of it! Now I classify that comment right along with "The check is in the mail"! Anyway, we left the office and headed out a little after 4:00 am. We arrived and found a concealed observation point in a little patch of timber. By the time we arrived, I had been up for almost twenty-four hours. We shot the bull and drank coffee until noon. There had been no activity at all. I asked Joe what he had for lunch. He got out of the truck and rustled around in his duffle box and came up with two cans of beef stew, some crackers, and a little one burner stove to heat the stew over. I dropped the tail gate and fired up the stove, then asked Joe where he kept his can opener? "Damn" he said, "I knew there was something I forgot"! I (at the time) had a real nice knife on my belt, but I had no intention of using it for a can opener. So then we spent the next twenty minutes searching every nook and cranny looking for a sharp object with which to access our lunch. We ended up settling for a hatchet! By this time I was tired and cranky but I managed to open both cans without spilling too much. Just an old military P-38 can opener on a key ring would have save a lot of aggravation! The lesson here is simple. Put some time and effort setting up a kitchen which will meet your needs.Today's catalogs now tout a suitcase contraption which sets up into an adult version of a doll house kitchen. I tend to be more of a traditionalist. For car camping I have a couple of plastic duffle boxes and for horse packing, a kitchen box made to carry my kitchen. When I choose my pots and pans, I select those which will nest together whenever possible. These same two plastic duffle boxes load onto my rubber raft and provide the kitchen on raft trips. For doing dishes, I use two new metal oil change pans, which I purchased at the local auto parts store. They also nest together which conserves space. I use small plastic containers with snap on lids for table service, spices, etc. My larger utensils usually fit in one of my larger pots or Dutch ovens. My basic car camping/raft kitchen is set up for about 20-25 people. If I end up having to cook for more I just add more Dutch ovens and more table service. If I plan a meal which requires something that isn't in my kitchen, I make sure to add the extras before I leave. My horse packing kitchen is altogether different. In the early 70's my folks gave me a Kangaroo Kitchen for my birthday. It consists of two metal halves which clamp together. It's outside dimensions are 16 ½" x 14" x 4" thick. Inside is a two burner propane stove, a grill, and aluminum griddle. With everything out, the two halves can be clamped together to make an oven or separated and used as dish pans. By packing the quart size gas bottle elsewhere in the pack box, I have room for utensils, plates, spices, soap, dish towels, hot pads etc. Everything for four people except coffee cups will fit in it. In addition I will take a ten inch aluminum Dutch which nests inside a twelve inch Dutch. My whole kitchen weighs about fifteen pounds. I haven't seen one for sale since the early 80's. When you're car camping or on a raft trip, the bulk and weight considerations are not as critical as when horse packing. As you plan the meals for a trip think of what prep work can be done ahead of time and what utensils, pot and pans you'll need in camp to prepare the meal. Whatever type or types of camping you do, the kitchen you choose should be tailored to the job. Like many other things in life there is a line between not enough and too much.A Back Country Guide to Outdoor Cooking Spiced with Tall Tales

_CAMP CROCK POT

Steps:

• A few years ago in September, I'd horse packed into Bear Valley, Idaho to check archery hunters. I broke camp and pulled out fairly early in the morning. Over a half mile out from the trailhead I could hear a motor running. When I got there I found a big camp had been set up next to where I'd parked my truck and trailer. By the time I'd unpacked and grained the stock this generator was beginning to get on my nerves. The best description I can give of this camp would be to call it an "aluminum wagon train". There were three travel trailers of varying sizes and two pickups with large cabover campers all parked in a circle. All five "wagons" were connected by extension cords of different lengths to a trailer mounted generator. When I walked up everyone was sitting around in the September sunshine swapping stories and sipping drinks which clinked with ice cubes. Setting on a camp table were two large crock pots which the camp cook told me contained the only game they'd gotten. Dinner, he said, was going to be "Blue Grouse Fricassee". He continued by saying, it sure was nice to come back to camp after the evening hunt and have dinner ready to go. Now I can't argue with that, but I prefer camping in a place which doesn't sound so much like a construction site! Don't get me wrong, because I like some of today's amenities in camp, but running a generator of that size just to power a couple of crock pots falls into the "overkill" category. Not only did I have to raise my voice somewhat to be heard, but every other camp within a half mile had to put up with the noise as well. Other than battery power in my flashlight, the closest I've been to having an all electric camp was the time I pitched camp along side a currant bush thicket. These bushes didn't produce any voltage but the "juice" produced from a couple of cups of berries, with a little sugar added, made for some awful good french toast. But.... read on if you'd like the convenience of a crock pot without the aggravation of having to listen to a generator all afternoon.When you set up camp, dig a hole about two feet deep right next to where you put your campfire. (Keep the dirt in a pile close by cause you're going to need it later.) This hole should be about twice the size of your Dutch oven. That night while you fix supper, start a fire in your hole and let it burn down before you hit the bed ground. Next morning as soon as you get the coffee going, start both fires and pile on a fair amount of wood. While you're cooking breakfast, get the number two cook to put all the makins' of a stew or a pot roast in a Dutch. Make sure he seasons it and adds a little more cooking liquid than usual. Put the lid on and spin it around just to make sure it doesn't have a gap from being on crooked. Take a couple of feet of baling wire and wrap one end on the bail of the Dutch oven. (Make sure you don't use the handle on the lid.) About the time breakfast is over both fires should have burned back to coals. With your camp shovel, scoop a small depression in the coals in the hole. Set your Dutch oven in the depression and shovel the coals from your camp fire onto the Dutch until it's covered. Now shovel all the dirt you saved when you dug the hole over the coals on top of the Dutch oven. You should have 6" - 8" of dirt over top the coals. If you did it right, the wire tied to the bail should indicate where the Dutch oven is. Douse any left over coals in your campfire, so when you leave there are no live coals left to be a fire danger.That evening when you get to camp, dinner will be piping hot and ready to serve. Carefully shovel off the dirt and coals until you're down to the lid of the Dutch oven. Using the wire you wrapped on the bail gently lift the Dutch out and set it down. I keep an old whisk broom in my camp box to brush the remaining dirt and coals off the lid. (Most folks will appreciate the meal better without a shovel full of grit added just prior to serving!) Anyway...there you have it, a "camp crock pot" with out having to pack around a generator and an extension cord.A Back Country Guide to Outdoor Cooking Spiced with Tall Tales - Camp Chili, Stews, Soups and Sauces

_CAMP CREATIONS

Steps:

• Few things in life end up being written in stone, the exception of course, a few short words on a gravestone that marks a final resting place. I've run across cooks who treat every recipe card as a piece of granite. Changing a recipe crosses their mind just before they consider voluntary commitment to an institution! In an extreme case, a cook I know totally changed his menu one night for the lack of a certain spice! Camp cooks rarely have that luxury. My personal opinion is, if someone is that hidebound they should cook for survival purposes only and take up something like underwater basket weaving when they want to have fun!If you truly enjoy camp cooking, an empty Dutch oven should be to you what an empty canvas is to an artist. The artist begins with daubs of paint on a palette while the camp cook opens the grub box and takes stock. Regardless of the colors used or the contents of the chuck box, only imagination and creativity limit the final product. The end result should be pleasing for both artist and cook. The difference being the painting ends up gracing a wall and the meal graces a table.Many recipes in this book and those still in my files got their start in camp. Hunting season ends up being a month long carousel of company and camps. Everyone shows up with plenty of grub. For convenience, we'll prepare some main dishes at home then take them to camp frozen. These are great when everyone gets in late. Also we have plenty of basics such as spuds, onions, dried beans, rice, and baking supplies. For the first few days if you were to sit back and silently observe, you'd think we actually had a plan. The last few days things change. Mealtime finds the cook rummaging through the grub box and coolers scratching his head trying to figure out just what to fix. Leftovers might show up as a side dish or the cornerstone of something new. The resulting meals end up being equal parts availability and necessity. Whether you're cooking for a crew in camp or the family on the patio, fill your Dutch with creativity and everyone will be back for seconds!Spiced with More Tall Tales - Breakfast