How to make the camp fire range—Bread bakers—Cooking utensils—The
grub list—Simple camp recipes
Most boys, and I regret to say a few girls too, nowadays, seem to
regard a knowledge of cooking as something to be ashamed of. The boy
who expects to do much camping or who ever expects to take care of
himself out in the woods had better get this idea out of his head just
as soon as possible. Cooking in a modern kitchen has been reduced to a
science, but the boy or man who can prepare a good meal with little
but nature’s storehouse to draw on and who can make an oven that will
bake bread that is fit to eat, with the nearest range fifty miles
away, has learned something that his mother or sister cannot do and
something that he should be very proud of. Camp cooking is an art and
to become an expert is the principal thing in woodcraft—nothing else
is so important.
We often hear how good the things taste that have been cooked over the
camp fire. Perhaps a good healthy appetite has something to do with
it, but it is pretty hard even for a hungry boy to relish half-baked,
soggy bread or biscuits that are more suitable for fishing sinkers
than for human food. A party without a good cook is usually ready to
break camp long before the time is up, and they are lucky if the
doctor is not called in as soon as they get home.
There is really no need for poor food in the woods. Very few woodsmen
are good cooks simply because they will not learn. The camp cook
always has the best fun. Every one is ready to wait on him _“if he
will only, please get dinner ready”_
One year when I was camping at the head of Moosehead Lake in Maine, I
had a guide to whom I paid three dollars a day. He cooked and I got
the firewood, cleaned the fish and did the chores around camp. His
cooking was so poor that the food I was forced to eat was really
spoiling my trip. One day I suggested that we take turns cooking, and
in place of the black muddy coffee, greasy fish and soggy biscuit, I
made some Johnny-cake, boiled a little rice and raisins and baked a
fish for a change instead of frying it. His turn to cook never came
again. He suggested himself that he would be woodchopper and scullion
and let me do the cooking. I readily agreed and found that it was
only half as much work as being the handy man.
The basis of camp cooking is the fire. It is the surest way to tell
whether the cook knows his business or not. The beginner always starts
with a fire hot enough to roast an ox and just before he begins
cooking piles on more wood. Then when everything is sizzling and
red-hot, including the handles of all his cooking utensils, he is
ready to begin the preparation of the meal. A cloud of smoke follows
him around the fire with every shift of the wind. Occasionally he will
rush in through the smoke to turn the meat or stir the porridge and
rush out again puffing and gasping for breath, his eyes watery and
blinded and his fingers scorched almost like a fireman coming out of a
burning building where he has gone to rescue some child. The chances
are, if this kind of a cook takes hold of the handle of a hot frying
pan, pan and contents will be dumped in a heap into the fire to
further add to the smoke and blaze.
When the old hand begins to cook, he first takes out of the fire the
unburned pieces and blazing sticks, leaving a bed of glowing coals to
which he can easily add a little wood, if the fire gets low and a
watched pot refuses to boil to his satisfaction. When the fire is
simply a mass of red coals he quietly goes to cooking, and if his fire
has been well made and of the right kind of wood, the embers will
continue to glow and give out heat for an hour.
Of course, if the cooking consists in boiling water for some purpose,
there is no particular objection to a hot fire, the fire above
described is for broiling, frying and working around generally.
[Illustration: A type of camp fire that will burn all night]
There are all sorts of camp fireplaces. The quickest one to build and
one of the best as well, is the “hunter’s fire,” All you need is an
axe. Take two green logs about six to eight inches thick and five feet
long and lay them six inches apart at one end and about fourteen
inches at the other. Be sure that the logs are straight. It is a good
plan to flatten the surface slightly on one side with the axe to
furnish a better resting place for the pots and pans. If the logs roll
or seem insecure, make a shallow trench to hold them or wedge them
with flat stones. The surest way to hold them in place is to drive
stakes at each end. Build your fire between the logs and build up a
cob house of firewood. Split wood will burn much more quickly than
round sticks. As the blazing embers fall between the logs, keep adding
more wood. Do not get the fire outside of the logs. The object is to
get a bed of glowing coals between them. When you are ready to begin
cooking, take out the smoky, burning pieces and leave a bed of red-hot
coals. If you have no axe and can find no logs, a somewhat similar
fireplace can be built up of flat stones, but be sure that your stone
fireplace will not topple over just at the critical time.
If you only have your jack-knife, the best fire is a “Gypsy Rig”. Cut
two crotched sticks, drive them into the ground and lay a crosspiece
on them just as you would begin to build the leanto described in the
preceding chapter, but of course not so high above the ground. The
kettles and pots can be hung from the crossbar by means of pot hooks,
which are pieces of wood or wire shaped like a letter “S.” Even
straight sticks will do with two nails driven into them. These should
be of different lengths to adjust the pots at various heights above
the fire, depending on whether you wish to boil something furiously or
merely to let it simmer. Do not suspend the kettles by running the bar
through them. This is very amateurish. With a gypsy fire, the frying
pan, coffee pot and gridiron will have to be set right on the bed of
coals.
An arrangement for camp fires that is better and less work than the
logs is obtained by using fire irons, which are two flat pieces of
iron a yard or so long resting on stones and with the fire built
underneath.
The whole object of either logs or irons is to furnish a secure
resting place for cooking utensils above the fire.
There are several kinds of ovens used for baking bread and roasting
meat in outdoor life. The simplest way is to prop a frying pan up in
front of the fire. This is not the best way but you will have to do it
if you are travelling light. A reflector, when made of sheet iron or
aluminum is the best camp oven. Tin is not so satisfactory because it
will not reflect the heat equally. Both the top and bottom of the
reflector oven are on a slope and midway between is a steel baking pan
held in place by grooves. This oven can be moved about at will to
regulate the amount of heat and furthermore it can be used in front of
a blazing fire without waiting for a bed of coals. Such a rig can
easily be made by any tinsmith. A very convenient folding reflector
oven can be bought in aluminum for three or four dollars. When not
used for baking, it makes an excellent dishpan.
[Illustration: A reflector camp oven]
The standard camp oven that has been used by generations of pioneers
and campers is the Dutch oven. It is simply an iron pot on short legs
and is provided with a heavy cover. To use it, dig a hole in the
ground large enough to hold it, build a fire and fill the hole with
embers. Then scoop out a place for the pot, cover it over with more
embers and ashes and let the contents bake.
For the boy who wants to go to the limit in depending on his own
resources, the clay oven is the nearest to real woodcraft. This is
made in the side of a bank by burrowing out a hole, with a smoke
outlet in the rear. A hot fire built inside will bake the clay and
hold it together. To use this oven, build a fire in it and when the
oven is hot, rake out the coals and put in your bread or meat on flat
stones. Close the opening with another stone and keep it closed long
enough to give the oven a chance. This method is not recommended to
beginners who are obliged to eat what they cook, but in the hands of a
real cook, will give splendid results. The reflector oven is the best
for most cases if you can carry it conveniently.
The kind of a cooking equipment that we take with us on a camping trip
will depend on what we can carry conveniently, how much we are willing
to rough it and what our stock of provisions will be. One thing is
sure—the things that we borrow from home will rarely be fit to
return. In making a raid on the family kitchen, better warn the folks
that they are _giving_ us the pots and pans instead of merely
_lending_ them. Very compact cooking outfits can be bought if one
cares to go to the expense. An aluminum cook kit for four people, so
made that the various articles nest one into the other, can be bought
for fifteen dollars. It weighs only ten pounds and takes up a space
of 10 x 12 inches. Such a kit is very convenient if we move camp
frequently or have to carry our outfit with us, but for the party of
boys going out by team it is not worth the expense. You will need
several tin pails, two iron pots, a miner’s coffee pot—all in one
piece including the lip—two frying pans, possibly a double boiler for
oatmeal and other cooked cereals, iron spoon, large knife, vegetable
knife, iron fork and broiler. A number of odds and ends will come in
handy, especially tin plates to put things on. Take no crockery or
glassware. It will be sure to be broken. Do not forget a can opener.
Camp fire utensils should never be soldered. Either seamless ware or
riveted joints are the only safe kind. Solder is sure to melt over a
hot open fire.
The personal equipment for each boy should be tin cup, knife, fork,
and spoons, deep tin plate, extra plate and perhaps one extra set of
everything for company if they should happen to drop in. A lot of dish
washing can be avoided if we use paper or wooden plates and burn them
up after the meal.
The main question is “What shall we take to eat.” A list of food or as
it is commonly known “the grub list” is a subject that will have to be
decided by the party themselves. I will give you a list that will
keep four hungry boys from staying hungry for a trip of two weeks and
leave something over to bring home. If the list does not suit you
exactly you can substitute or add other things. It is an excellent
plan for the party to take a few home cooked things to get started on,
a piece of roasted meat, a dish of baked beans, some crullers, cookies
or ginger snaps. We must also consider whether we shall get any fish
or game. If fishing is good, the amount of meat we take can be greatly
cut down.
This list has been calculated to supply a party who are willing to eat
camp fare and who do not expect to be able to buy bread, milk, eggs or
butter. If you can get these things nearby, then camping is but little
different from eating at home.