Scoutmaster

Scout Cuisine (or Lack Thereof)

Boys are pragmatic vestiges of our hunter-gatherer past who see little reason to linger lovingly over the preparation or consumption of food. Left to themselves I believe they would gravitate towards gobbling down whatever fistful of uncooked food was most convenient. Prepared meals, as we know them, would grow ever more rare. As a matter of fact if it were not for microwave ovens and instant macaroni and cheese cooking would be in danger of disappearing altogether.

The menus our Patrols develop for a weekend camping trip are studies of efficiency in time and motion. Meals consist of foods that require minimal manipulation of the ingredients. Recipes aren't  lists of ingredients accompanied by instructions for preparation but mere directions, rarely more than four in number:

1. Open package
2. Add contents to boiling water (or vice-versa)
3. Wait a minute or two
4. Enjoy your 'meal'
(In many cases steps two and three can be eliminated)

Any Scout who bothers to combine multiple ingredients, adds seasonings, or offers a meal constructed of two or more components is admired for his patience and skill.

Standards of edibility are so minimal that one wonders if they exist at all, There is little differentiation between burnt and raw, stale and fresh or dirty and clean. Thankfully the dog-like digestive system of the average Scout is able to process food that many of us would have difficulties consuming.

Like most Scoutmasters I make occasional efforts to improve conditions. Most of my suggestions are are met with a familiar look of hopelessness and disgust. Once in a great while a Scout or two will discover the magic of dutch ovens and revel in the careful preparation of wonderful meals. This bright little flame of hope is often short lived.

Whatever my expectations or aspirations I am reminded that when Scouts have prepared their simple fare they have accomplished something that few of their peers have. When they hunker around a campfire with the fruit of their labors (however horrid I feel it may be) it is usually thought of as the best meal they have ever eaten.

Trail Cooking Videos

Trailcooking.com (an expansion to Freezerbagcooking.com) has a number of  step-by-step  videos that demonstrate recipes featured on their site and in their book Freezer Bag Cooking.

Freezer bag cooking is great for Scouts. It is inexpensive, simple and much better tasting than most of the freeze dried foods I have tried. I also appreciate cooking that requires some thinking, preparation and a modicum of skill  beyond simply running to the Walmart and grabbing pouches of Mountain House.

Three Wall Fireplace

Illustration       by Hap Wilson. Originally appeared in The       Keewaydin Way by Brian Back

 

Lake Temagami and environs is one of the great good places to go canoeing. According to  the Ottertooth website:

The three-walled heritage fireplace has been a Temagami tradition for over a hundred years and many blackened campsite fireplaces  have been in use for decades.

Daily baking, particularly for bannock, remains an essential part of heritage Temagami. Many of the camps have two bakes at dinner, one for dessert that night, and a second for lunch the next day. Who would go canoeing and not expect pineapple-upside-down cake and blueberry bannock?

Tips for building the fireplace

• Build fireplace on a level spot.
• Fireplace should be open into the wind.
• Place fire irons six to twelve inches off the ground.
• Space irons at least wide enough to hold the smallest pot or pan.
• Rear wall should be flat, vertical and without holes to maximize heat reflection into the oven.
• Set fire irons near the rear wall so heat can't escape behind the pots.
• Walls should be high enough to keep heat from escaping early.
• Rock down the ends of fire irons for stability

Harmony House Foods

Dehydrated and freeze-dried foods are hard to beat for nutritional value, light weight and ease of preparation. As I have mentioned before prepackaged meals are expensive and hit-or miss in the taste department.

Harmony House Foods offers vegetables, fruits, textured vegetable protein (a soy based meat substitute) in small or large quantities so you can make your own freeze-dried meals. They offer a Backpacking Kit, a selection of dried foods that will make many different dishes.

Don't miss two very helpful PDF files Using Dehydrated Products and a Serving Size Chart.

Associated Posts at Scoutmaster
Honeyville Food Products
Freezer Bag Cooking
Freeze Dried Food

Honeyville Food Products

Supplying 6 days of food for eighteen people in two crews for a canoe trip (that's 18 meals, 324 servings) with traditionally packaged freeze-dried food  is a real budget breaker. One can shop at the average supermarket for reasonably lightweight, nutritious and easily prepared food but freeze-dried foods really expand the menu for very little weight.

Building your own menu from freeze-dried components available at Honeyville Food Products and some components from the grocery store is much cheaper and better tasting to boot.

One comparison - One serving package of freeze-dried strawberries (.06 OZ) from Mountain House is $3.00, or a whopping $50.00 an ounce. Honeyville's #10 can of freeze-dried strawberries (6 OZ) costs $17.00, or $2.83 an ounce.

Honeyville offers a wide variety of vegetables, fruits and other foodstuffs in bulk (#10 tin cans). At this writing they will ship an order of any size anywhere in the continental U.S.A. for under five dollars - just a little more than a gallon of gas!

If you are planning an extended canoe or backpacking trip I heartily recommend looking into assembling your menu with Honeyville in mind.

Bannock

From Bannock Awareness:

... Bannock, is common to the diet of virtually all North America’s first peoples. The European version of bannock originated in Scotland and was made traditionally of     oatmeal. The bannock of Aboriginal people was made of corn and nut meal, and flour made from ground plant bulbs. ... Some rolled the dough in sand then pit-cooked it. When it was done, they brushed the sand off and ate the bread. Some groups baked the bannock in clay or rock ovens. Other groups wrapped the dough around a green, hardwood stick and toasted it over an open fire. ... Today, bannock is most often deep-fried, pan-fried and oven-baked.

Basic Bannock Recipe (Fried or Stick)

1 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
3 tbsp margarine/butter or oil
2 tbsp skim milk powder (optional)

Sift together the dry ingredients. Cut in the margarine or oil until the mixture resembles a coarse meal (at this point it can be sealed it in a ziplock bag for field use). Grease and heat a frying pan. Working quickly, add enough COLD water to the pre-packaged dry mix to make a firm dough. Once the water is thoroughly mixed into the dough, form the dough into cakes about 1/2 inch thick. Dust the cakes lightly with flour to make them easier to handle. Lay the bannock cakes in the warm frying pan. Hold them over the heat, rotating the pan a little. Once a bottom crust has formed and the dough has hardened enough to hold together, you can turn the bannock cakes. Cooking takes 12-15 minutes. Another method is to lean the frying pan in front of the fire and use reflected heat (see picture above). Good bannock is cooked slowly.

If you are in the field and you don’t have a frying pan, make a thicker dough by adding less water and roll the dough into a long ribbon (no wider than 1 inch). Wind this around a preheated green, hardwood stick and cook about 8 inches over a fire, turning occasionally, until the bannock is cooked.

Variations -

• Add sugar to the dough for sweet bannock
• Sprinkle cooked bannock with brown sugar and cinnamon
• Substitute whole wheat flour for white flour.
• Add dried or fresh fruit to the batter
• Serve with maple syrup
• Add chunks of cheese to the batter
• Wrap in double tin foil packet and cook under the coals and ashes of a campfire (slow heat works best)
• Flavored instant oatmeal for a change of taste and texture
• Milk, either powdered or dry will cause the bannock to brown when baked
• Add cornmeal or rolled oats
• Add instant coffee or cinnamon

See bannock at Survival Topics

The Venerable Foil Dinner

A mainstay of any Scout's arsenal of cooking methods the foil dinner is simple, fun and (almost always) delicious.
The Cuckwagon Diner site has an excellent collection of foil dinner recipes.
How about a foil pineapple upside down cake or roasted garlic jam?
Via Uncooped
'2643 Scout Camping Dinner' picture from WoofBC at Flickr.

More on Cooking

Freezer Bag Cozy

Have you tried freezer bag cooking yet? I am sold on the method - simple, lightweight, inexpensive and reasonably goof proof. Stove Stomper has a great pictorial guide to making your own freezer bag cozy from Reflectix insulation.
via Freezer Bag Cooking Blog

See also
Freezer Bag Cooking - worth a look

Freezer Bag Cooking - Worth a Look

Last December I came upon the Freezer Bag Cooking Blog after reading a post in Tom Managan's Two Heel Drive.

I finally got down to business and tried it out. Freezer bag cooking is easy, inexpensive and an especially great way for Scouts (or anyone for that matter) to prepare food on backpacking trips.

The ingenious technique 'boils down' to this ;  measure ingredients into a 1 quart freezer bag and add hot water, wait a few minutes and viola! - a great-tasting meal.

Most of the recipes consist of ingredients you can find on the grocery store shelf Add a home food dehydrator and the possibilities really expand.

In preparation for a backpacking trip I prepared a freezer bag cooking demo for our Scouts and they were impressed by how easy and how cool it was to cook something better than a brick of ramen noodles. (Jeeze, they really love ramen noodles too - yuck.)

Blogster and author Sarah Svien offers a book, home made cozies (an insulating fabric envelope for freezer bags) and a few hard to find supplies in the Freezer Bag Cooking Store. Her website features a blog and quite a few recipes.

The Gear and Techniques features basic "how to" instructions and advice.

Related Posts on Scoutmaster

Freeze Dried Food
Baking for Backpackers
Honeyville Food Products
Freezer Bag Cooking

Two  of my favorite freezer bag recipes (the brownies are truly amazing) are included after the jump.

Freeze Dried Food

Freeze dried food is not the cheapest option to fill out a camping menu. There are times, like backpacking, when the weight savings are well worth the cost.

Here's a few of the manufacturers and suppliers;

Cache Lake offers food specifically designed for trip outfitters. Basic meat, veggie and potato, pasta or rice entrees, breakfast items, desserts, and vegetable sides. These foods are packaged in two- or four-serving size packages. Their serving sizes average larger than comparable products on the market.

Mountain House has been around for 30 years or so. They offer both serving sized meals and bulk foods in large #10 tin cans. Mountain House offers Boy & Girl Scouts a discount on full cases only. To receive this discount they want a copy of your Troop Charter along with the name and contact phone number of your troop leader.

Harvest Foodworks offers some really nice meals. Our Canadian outfitter supplied us with Harvest food for the past three summers and we all thought it to be very good indeed.

Richmoor is another long time player in the freeze dried food business. They offer both ready made and bulk items. They make a line of natural foods for camping called Natural High. They also have a discount program for Boy & Girl Scout Troops. Once they have the name of your leader and a copy of the troop charter you qualify for 25% off list prices. Associated Posts at Scoutmaster Honeyville Food Products Freezer Bag Cooking Harmony House Foods