_camp Creations Recipes

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• Keeping fresh produce in camp requires some planning, especially if you have to plan for salad hounds. Consider taking cabbage and making coleslaw instead of lettuce. The cabbage will keep several times longer than lettuce. A couple of years ago we shredded cabbage for coleslaw and packed it in resealable bags for a river trip. Squeeze as much air out as possible before you seal it. On day five we popped open the bags and made the dressing and had fresh slaw in less than ten minutes. If soups or stews are on your menu, throw in a few turnips and parsnips. Like potatoes, carrots, and onions they will keep fresh in a cooler or pack box for several days without ice. If you don't grow a garden, stop if you can at the local farmers' market on your way out of town on a summer trip. Farm fresh veggies taste better and are better for you. I try to keep canned veggies to a minimum just to save weight in my garbage sack. Also taking fresh veggies instead of frozen ones will reduce the amount of money you spend on ice. Depending on how long your trip is, many fresh veggies can be peeled, sliced, diced, etc., at home, which also saves preparation time in camp and reduces your garbage to bring out.Spiced with More Tall Tales - Vegetables and Salads

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• 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

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• If you're not a duck hunter or married to a duck hunter, just skip this recipe. Personally, I've never tried to cook a coot, primarily because I've never even shot at an "Ivory Billed Mallard". Remember, this is the guy who will eat every thing except grits and green lima beans. In this modern age, it seems to me, too many people blame events in their childhood for the mistakes or failures they make as adults. Some rightly so, but I can't help but feel a lot of it is over done!So where is all this leading, you ask yourself? Yup! you guessed it, my childhood. Since my dad first took me duck hunting at age three, the list of things I've done in life longer than I've duck hunted is fairly short. Memories of those first duck hunts are still vivid. Back in that distant past, I learned that the preferred duck of those who wait at home while others duck hunt, to be mallards. Those of the green headed variety! My dad, being a pretty fair hand with a shotgun, seldom got skunked in those days. He'd been there before, but it was a new experience for me, just four years old. About the only thing flying in the marsh that day were coots, which Dad had several different adjectives to describe. I didn't understand why dad didn't shoot them as they patterned by. At that time I obviously thought-ducks are ducks! Wrong! How long I pestered Dad to shoot them, I can't remember. What I do remember is him saying, "Mother didn't like any kind of ducks except those with green heads" and it wouldn't be very smart to take something home she didn't like. Though I was just four years old, that part I understood! I'm sure Dad first passed this recipe on that day. Over the years, Dad repeated this recipe so many times I've memorized it without ever having cooked it.A Back Country Guide to Outdoor Cooking Spiced with Tall Tales - Fowl & Fish

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• For those of you who didn't take high school Spanish this translates to 'The Rocks'. Las Piedras Ranch owned by Dwain and Sandy Riney of Montgomery, Texas, is aptly named. Located in Real County, WNW of San Antonio, Las Piedras Ranch exemplifies the Texas 'Hill Country'! Their ranch, though not large by Texas standards, supports a healthy population of native wildlife and is also host to numerous exotic species. These wild, free ranging exotics escaped from neighboring ranches years ago. Dwain and Sandy recently invited me down to cook for some of their hunters. This particular hunt is a 'special hunt' for both the Riney family and the hunters. Once a year Dwain and Sandy donate a hunt for exotic species at Las Piedras to the Montgomery County Cattle Barons' Ball and benefit auction. The money raised from this annual event benefits the Montgomery County Unit of the American Cancer Society. In the course of my visit Dwain pulled out the 'ranch recipe box' and selected several favorites of his and Sandy's that he thought I'd like. In addition Sandy has since called me with a couple of other old family favorites. We hate to think of family heirlooms disappearing, but it happens when you prepare these recipes. My thanks to Dwain and Sandy for sharing them and inviting me down to share their corner of heaven in the Texas Hill Country!Spiced with More Tall Tales - Appetizers

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• 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