Camp Food
Article #R115. ============== Outdoors Gerry Giuliani The Leader, April 1983This month and next, Outdoors takes a look at camp food; in particular, at alternatives to the expensive freeze dried stuff that often seems so low on taste but high in price.
This month's article is written by Doug Cunnington, member of the National Program Committee responsible for camping and outdoor activities. Doug, an active Scouter and teacher of outdoor studies in the Muskoka area of Ontario, has a lot of experience in the wilderness and is particularly fond of canoe tripping.
Next month, Russ Kempling will look at camp foods you can purchase from the supermarket.
How often have you seen pancakes that resemble mud pies or plaster rather than something edible; or beans and wieners served three times a day; or elaborate seven course meals (only one of the courses hot), which take three hours to prepare and four hours to clean up? How often have you heard a boy complain about the weight and comfort of his pack and discovered that he had several cans of whatever "padding" his back?
Too often we take the view that boys must experience these hardships before they can appreciate the outdoors. We overlook the fact that we, the leaders, seldom partake of the burnt offerings prepared by the boys.
Over the past two or three years, I have waged war against unpalatable and unimaginative foods, and have discovered that there are alternatives.
First of all, a great variety of freeze dried foods are available. They tend to be costly and, in many cases, making a meal of them is rather like eating cardboard or styrofoam. They do, however, have a place on trips where weight and space is of major concern and taste and cost are secondary.
The regular supermarket camp fare in cans and boxes also has its place when deliveries can be made by vehicle to the camp. Because there is nothing unusual or special about this type of food, the price tends to be reasonable, although the taste offers little variation.
In the past few years, a large variety of lightweight dried and prepackaged foods have become available in the supermarkets. These have many advantages which will be described in next month's article.
There are two other alternatives which, in my opinion, far outweigh the others. It takes a little more effort to prepare them but the results, I am sure you will discover, more than compensate.
Slice foods thinly (5 to 10 mm) and spread them out on the screen. Place in a 200 degree F oven and leave the door ajar to let moisture escape. The food will reach the desired consistency in six to 12 hours.
If, however, you are one of the many who now have a wood burning stove in your house, you can string these foods on a piece of small diameter dowelling about a metre above the stove until the desired consistency is obtained. If the stove is burning constantly, it usually takes about two days.
Beef jerky is a relatively simple food to prepare, but it seems to dry better if you suspend each piece on a toothpick between the bars of the oven rack, instead of spreading the pieces on a screen.
Bread and cookies, standard fare on nearly every outing, probably take the most abuse between packing and palate. When you open them, they often resemble pulverized bird food.
"Heavy" unsliced bread such as malt bread (available in supermarkets), tends to travel best. The loaves are of a size and shape that you can use the extra ones for a game of football -- something quite impossible with sliced, white styrofoam.
Unleavened breads baked at home are a tastier choice, but they tend not to stay fresh as long as the supermarket varieties because they lack preservatives.
Trail snacks such as energy bars, fruit cakes, gorp and the like can be prepared at home and travel much better than crumbly supermarket cookies. You can freeze or refrigerate many of these items and store them indefinitely.
By far the most gratifying outdoor food is a fresh apple pie or hot biscuits you bake on site where fires are permitted and practical. Things like popovers, tea bisk, cake, muffins or square mixes which require a minimum of additional ingredients can easily be baked in a reflector oven. The secret is to have a high flame rather than coals, and to keep the oven as close as possible to the heat (about 30 cm). Hardwood burns longer and produces less smoke than softwood I've also found that foil is handy for baking most things. Again, it saves on dirty pots, and it also keeps the oven clean. Remember to use good fire management: build fires in existing fire sites; keep them no bigger than what you actually need; burn to white ash; and put fires dead out.
Although the reflector oven, which you can buy from a good outdoors store or make from a couple of inexpensive cookie sheets, has been around for years, it is still one of the simplest pieces of cooking equipment to use. Practice makes perfect, they say, so don't be afraid to try your reflector oven. Mine sat in my basement for several years because I was afraid to try it. Now, it's a permanent fixture in my camp. Try experimenting with it in front of your fireplace, or on a meeting night, and you'll discover that the "old timers" really did have some good ideas before the advent of single burner stoves and microwave ovens.
3 c rolled oats, barley or wheat 2 1/2 C powdered milk 1/2 pkg citrus flavoured gelatin 1 c sugar 2 tbsp honey 3 tbsp waterPlace rolled oats, powdered milk and sugar in bowl. Add water to honey and bring to boil. Dissolve gelatin in honey-water mixture and add to dry ingredients. After mixing well, add water a teaspoon at a time until the mixture is barely moist enough to be molded. Shape into two bars.
Each bar will be sufficient food for one day. You can eat the bar dry or cook it in about a pint of water. It may be dried in the oven under low heat, wrapped in foil and placed in a covered container for indefinite storage.
Suggested seasoning 1/4 c Worcestershire sauce; 1/4 tsp garlic powder; 1/2 tsp onion powder or onion salt; 1/2 tsp liquid smoke; 1/4 c soy sauce; dash of salt and pepper.
Start with very lean ground beef. Cook in a frying pan with no added fat until all red is gone. Drain off fat and water well, place the meat between sheets of absorbent paper and press. When very little moisture comes out of the meat, put it between sheets of dry paper, place a board on top of it and stand on the board to squeeze out any remaining moisture.
Spread meat on a cookie sheet and place in a 175 degree F oven for six to 10 hours. Ensure that air can circulate around the cookie sheet. Stir occasionally. When done, meat should be dry and crumbly.
Thin slice or chop fresh vegetables and blanch them before drying. Put them into boiling salted water, return to a full boil and boil 30 seconds. Plunge into cold water, drain well and absorb excess moisture with paper. Then dry in oven as above.
Mix all ingredients. Cook one large "pancake" in a large frying pan, or wrap around a stick and cook over hot coals. Serve with butter and jam.
Mix dry ingredients thoroughly and add milk to make stiff batter. Put into a well-greased 48 oz. juice can and bake 1 1/4 hours at 350 degrees F. Cool on a rack on side for 10 min, then stand tin to cool thoroughly. You can also bake this in a loaf pan.
Combine dry and liquid ingredients in separate bowls. Add liquid to dry and stir well. Bake until golden at 300 degrees F, stirring once or twice during the baking period.
You can make any variation of the recipe using the following ingredients, as long as you keep the ratio 7 cups dry to 1 cup liquid.
Dry ingredients: wheat flakes, nuts, wheat germ, coconut, bran, soy flour, cornmeal, spices (cinnamon, nutmeg)
Liquid ingredients: honey, peanut butter.
When mixture is cool, you can add chopped dried fruit.
Granola Bars: The commercially produced bars tend to be rather dry. Try making your own. Mix a granola cereal with honey and peanut butter and form into bars or rolls on waxed paper.
Gorp: can be a mixture of almost anything. I recommend: 2 c salted nuts; 1/2 c sunflower seeds; 1/2 c shredded or string coconut; 1/2 - 1 c smarties (chocolate chips melt in hot weather); 1 c raisins.
Mix thoroughly and put one cup portions into small plastic bags.
Energy Bar: Mix together equal portions of raisins, dates, figs, coconut, prunes, pecans, walnuts and filberts. Put mixture through a food chopper or blender, or chop finely with a sharp knife. Pack tightly into bars on waxed paper and wrap in foil. It may be easier to cover a cookie sheet with waxed paper, pack down the mixture until it's 6--12 mm thick (1/4--1/2"), cut into bars and wrap in waxed paper and foil.
The Hungry Hiker's Book of Good Cooking by Gretchen McHugh; Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1982
Nols Cookery, the National Outdoor Leadership School; Emporia State Press, Kansas 1980
The One Burner Cookbook by Harriett Barker; Coles Publishing, Toronto
Roughing It Easy by Dian Thomas; Warren Books, New York
Roughing It Easy II by Dian Thomas
Simple Foods for the Pack by Vikki Kinmont and Claudia Axcell; Sierra Club Books, San Francisco, 1976
Supermarket Backpacker by Harriett Barker; Contemporary Books Inc., Chicago, 1977
Fur-Fish-Game magazine July 1980; "How to Make Jerky"; article by J. Wayne Fears.