Campfire gourmet
Memorial Day’s almost here. Time to go camping. Before heading out, stock up on camp favorites. Soup in a cup. Hot dogs. Canned pork and beans. Instant coffee. Freeze-dried packets of alleged goodness. Maybe not. Maybe this year, it’s time to stretch the culinary muscles and try something different. Something real. Something gourmet.
It’s not a big challenge. Any food that can be cooked in a pan, grilled on a barbecue, skewered on a stick or wrapped in aluminum foil and roasted over hot coals can be cooked in even the most primitive camp sites.
When Peter Grubb, co-owner of ROW Adventures in Coeur d’Alene, puts together menus for one of his guided white-water or fly-fishing trips, he does it with the idea of quality and simplicity in mind.
“We think the food should be really, really good, approaching gourmet, but should be prepared in a reasonable amount of time,” he said. “We never want more than three people in the kitchen.”
Considering that ROW chefs often will cook for as many as 30 people at a time – after having set up a complete camp with kitchen – it makes sense to keep it simple.
His crew often cooks with Dutch ovens, designed to be set directly on coals, and then covered with coals, to make dishes as diverse as lasagna and prime rib.
“That one’s really popular,” he said.
So what is the biggest challenge to campsite cooking? Unless you have access to an RV or a propane-generated portable refrigerator, it’ll be ice management.
Over the years, Grubb and his colleagues have developed a system that allows them to pack food for multiple-night trips in nothing more than large coolers.
He suggests you pack block ice, which lasts longer. Take the ice out of the bag; this allows the blocks to “mate” as they melt, Grubb said. Also, keep the drain plug of your cooler open, he said, because ice melts faster in standing water than it does in air.
When getting ready for a multi-night trip, Grubb’s crew will pack a cooler for each day’s meals; that cooler is not opened at all until that day arrives. Most weekend campers won’t need to go that far, but it’s not a bad idea to incorporate some of that philosophy into your planning.
Instead of one big cooler, bring two or three smaller ones. Keep one cooler dedicated to beverages – and know that as the cooler is opened and closed, the more likely it’ll be you’ll have warm beer and soda at the end of your trip. Keep other perishables such as eggs, bacon, meat, cheese and mayonnaise in another cooler, and open it as little as possible. Consider placing ingredients for specific meals in one place in the cooler, or even in plastic grocery bags. That way you can grab everything you need in one quick motion.
Another trick Grubb suggests?
“We freeze meats that we’re not going to need until the end of the trip,” he said.
Taking that further, many people will pat the meat with spice rub or douse it in marinade, then freeze it. The meat absorbs the flavor as it defrosts and you’ll save a step or two during meal prep.
When it comes to meal planning, the key is actually planning your meals. Craft a menu – don’t forget the fresh fruits and veggies – then buy and pack only what you need. You don’t want to be in the woods and realize you’ve forgotten a key ingredient.
If you’re stumped about what to prepare, there are plenty of resources to guide you. Turn to your favorite cooking Web site for ideas. (Type “camping” into the allrecipes.com site, for instance, and you’ll get pages of ideas.) Look for recipes in barbecue or tailgating cookbooks. Or, look for cookbook aimed specifically for camping.
Scott Cookman, a writer for Field & Stream, has published a new book, “The Great American Camping Cookbook” (Broadway Books, $17.95) that aims to demystify campground cuisine. He urges cooks to avoid committing “food crimes” – relying on canned foods, freeze-dried meals or new-style “Meals Ready to Eat” (MREs in military lingo) – and to instead cook natural, fresh food.
In addition to recipes, the book contains a fair amount of history, shopping guides and other advice. He praises the cast-iron skillet, calling it one of the original multitasking tools, suitable for bonking fish, crushing garlic, cracking nuts or even driving tent stakes into the hard-packed earth.
“A weekend or weeklong trip in the wilderness isn’t – or shouldn’t be – an ordeal,” he writes. “There’s no place safer or more beautiful. Why can’t outdoor adventure mean gustatory pleasure, too?”
It can, and here are a few recipes to make your next trip to the woods as delicious as it should be.
Salmon with Herbs in Newspaper
From Jamie Oliver, “The Naked Chef,” www.foodtv.com
4 large handfuls fresh mixed herbs (dill, basil, rosemary, flat leaf parsley, and fennel tops)
1 (3 1/2 to 4 pound) whole salmon, scaled and gutted
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Olive oil
2 lemons, thinly sliced
6 spring onions, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons fennel seeds, cracked
A newspaper of your choice
Open out the paper to the middle page, and scatter half the herbs over it.
Place the salmon in the middle of the paper and season inside and out with salt and pepper and rub with olive oil.
Scatter over the lemon slices, spring onions, fennel seeds and remaining herbs, tucking some inside the fish.
Drizzle with a little extra olive oil.
Wrap the paper around the salmon, securing it well with lots of string.
Dampen the paper well with drinkable water. Place parcel directly on the top shelf of a preheated 425 degrees oven, for 35 minutes, or preferably, cook on the barbecue or on a rack over a camp fire for about 25 minutes on each side.
Note: Try to avoid using newspaper pages with colored ink, or feel free to use aluminum foil instead, and skip the step where you soak the parcel in water.
Yield: 6 servings.
Approximate nutrition per serving: 530 calories, 30 grams fat (5 grams saturated, 52 percent fat calories), 62 grams protein, less than one gram carbohydrate and dietary fiber, 197 milligrams cholesterol, 150 milligrams sodium.
Field-Made Cassoulet
From “The Great American Camping Cookbook,” by Scott Cookman
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 cup flour
4 bone-in chicken thighs
2 andouille sausages (about 1 pound), cut into 1-inch pieces
1 carrot, sliced
1 onion, chopped
1 celery rib, chopped
3 garlic cloves, chopped fine
1/4 cup red wine
12 sprigs thyme
pepper
2 12-ounce cans cannellini beans
Heat the olive oil in a stew pot. Place the flour on a plate, dredge the chicken in the flour, and place in the pot and brown on all sides. Remove and set aside.
Add the sausage, carrot, onion, celery and garlic to the pot and sauté until the sausage is lightly browned and the onion is translucent (10 to 12 minutes). Add the wine, thyme, pepper and beans, and stir thoroughly.
Lay the chicken atop the mixture and press down until almost covered. Cover the pot and set on low coals. Cook, checking occasionally, for about an hour. Serve at once.
Yield: 4 servings.
Approximate nutrition per serving: 784 calories, 48 grams fat (15 grams saturated, 56 percent fat calories), 45 grams protein, 37 grams carbohydrate, 9 grams dietary fiber, 144 milligrams cholesterol, 1,900 milligrams sodium.
Squash Fritters
From “The Great American Camping Cookbook”
2 cups grated summer squash
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons grated onion
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon salt
2 large eggs, beaten
2 tablespoons butter, melted
2 to 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
In a bowl, combine all ingredients except the vegetable oil and mix well. Heat the oil in a skillet. Drop spoonfuls of the mixture into the skillet and fry like pancakes. Add more oil as necessary.
Yield: 6 servings.
Approximate nutrition per serving: 170 calories, 11 grams fat (3 grams saturated, 56 percent fat calories), 4 grams protein, 15 grams carbohydrate, 1 gram dietary fiber, 102 milligrams cholesterol, 1,200 milligrams sodium.
Roasted Ears
From “The Great American Camping Cookbook”
8 ears fresh corn, unhusked
Melted butter
Salt
First and foremost: leave the husks intact. The corn silk, too. It’s Mother Nature’s packaging and a near-perfect cooking container.
Light a wood or charcoal fire and let it burn down to a bed of red-hot coals. Lay the unhusked ears on a grill over the coals (you want to roast them, not steam them). Cook for 7 to 10 minutes, turning a few times, until the husks just blacken at their edges. Remove from the grill, strip off the husks and silk (they’ll peel away easily when hot), dip in melted butter and sprinkle liberally with salt.
Yield: 4 servings
Approximate nutrition per serving (with 1 tablespoon butter and ½ teaspoon salt): 185 calories, 12 grams fat (7 grams saturated, 56 percent fat calories), 3 grams protein, 19 grams carbohydrate, 2 grams dietary fiber, 31 milligrams cholesterol, 1,200 milligrams sodium.
Apples by the Fire
From allrecipes.com
1 Granny Smith apple, cored
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Fill the core of the apple with the brown sugar and cinnamon. Wrap the apple in a large piece of heavy foil, twisting the extra foil into a tail for a handle. Place the apple in the coals of a campfire or barbecue and let cook 5 to 10 minutes, until softened. Remove and unwrap, being careful of the hot sugar.
Yield: 1 serving
Approximate nutrition per serving: 114 calories, no fat, 31 grams protein, 31 grams carbohydrate, 3 grams dietary fiber, no cholesterol, 7 milligrams sodium.
Campfire Foil Packs
From allrecipes.com
1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast meat, cubed
2 onions, diced
8 ounces sliced mushrooms
1 yellow bell pepper, seeded and sliced into strips
1 red bell pepper, seeded and sliced into strips
4 cloves garlic, sliced
4 small potatoes, cubed
1/4 cup olive oil
1 lemon, juiced
In a large bowl, or a large zip-top bag, combine the chicken, onion, mushrooms, yellow pepper, red pepper, garlic, and potatoes. Pour in the olive oil and lemon juice, then mix well.
Evenly divide the mixture between 4 large sheets of aluminum foil. Top each with another sheet of foil, and roll up the edges tightly. Wrap each packet again, securely in another sheet of foil to double wrap.
Cook in the hot coals of a campfire until the chicken is opaque and the potatoes are tender, about 40 minutes.
Yield: 4 servings
Approximate nutrition per serving: 534 calories, 23 grams fat (4.5 grams saturated, 38 percent fat calories), 40 grams protein, 44 grams carbohydrate, 6 grams dietary fiber, 95 milligrams cholesterol, 96 milligrams sodium.