Further to the thread titled “least-defensible luxury camping item” I wonder what people have experienced for fancy campsite cooking. A friend of mine does a lot of backpacking and typically eats “boil in bag” meals and admits his approach is “food=fuel”.
Personally I can’t imagine eating rehydrated packaged food for days on end. I can admit that DIY dehydrators can yield impressive results though. Also, my trips haven’t been that long, so I can’t really point fingers.
What’s the most luxurious campsite meal you’ve seen or witnessed?
KP
You want advice, help, or just a
suggestion? We got a great discussion forum that would suit this topic just fine.
Walleye
Freshly caught and cooked walleye.
rolled in cornmeal and flour
and sauteed over an open fire.
Yumm… with bannock its good…
as a veggie coleslaw…it dehydrates and rehydrates very well.
Or Charlie Wilsons recipe for Veal Medallions in Port Wine Sauce…
Umm,
I’m a bit new here, should I move the thread to the other forum? I saw the “luxury camping item” in this forum and thought I’d extend the conversation.
KP
don’t mind g2d,
he’s just the resident wannabe moderator, every online forum has one.
my “suggestion” has to be fajitas. made with grilled sirloin steak cut into strips, a seasoned onion-garlic-bell pepper-tomato stir fry, shredded cheese and warm tortillas, and a Spanish rice dish on the side. that wasn’t on a paddling outing but it was on a campout.
be aware there’s another recent thread about what counts as “camping” 
Spam an’ Tang wit Beanee Weenies…
as Jed Clampett wood say “Hewwww, doggie!”
FE
Just take Janice
My first few river trips, my friend Janice handled the shopping and the cooking. The rest of us handled the boats, gear, fees, shuttles, etc., that was the deal we had.
Janice got her camping food either from the market, the garden, or the woods. No freeze dried pouches, no powdered eggs. She brought a rickety crate of cookware such as cast iron skillets. She brought meat such as leg o lamb, whole chicken, beef roast, steaks, chops, etc., all in a “deep freeze” cooler that was kept wrapped in a space blanket and only opened once a day, to get out the next day’s entree to defrost in a day cooler. We ate from the deep freeze cooler, in cool-spring camping, for ten days.
Janice did just about all her cooking over the open fire. She is expert at open fire cookery. Never burned a potato or scorched a piece of meat. She would give us grief about the bringing her punky wood for the fire, but in the end, managed to cook with whatever wood we brought.
So, if you can’t stand the thought of eating modern food=fuel on your trip, contact Janice and invite her on your trip. She loves camping, but doesn’t have much money. If you pick up the funding, maybe she’ll go along and cook.
~~Chip
Hmmm
decisions, decisions. Should I invite Janice or Hopsing on my next camping trip?
Best Dessert
– Last Updated: Jun-04-09 2:26 PM EST –
Last year, for my wife and best paddling buddy's birthday, we camped with a couple of other kayaking couples at Terra Nova National Park's Malady(MA-LADDIE) Head campground. After a day of incredibly nice paddling on Southwest Arm, we had a big birthday supper.
Earlier in the day, I had asked Ed Powell, the owner and chief chef at Eastport's Little Denier Restaurant, if he'd make a birthday cake for Chris. He did - and instead of the usual cake, he made this spectacular carrot cake with cream cheese icing. Lordy, was it good!!!
We're doing the birthday bash again this year (Campsite 36, August 8th, you're all invited!) When we sent last year's attendees the invites, the first question from everyone was "Will Ed make another one of those carrot cakes???Please???"
Now that's true luxury in the woods....
well it would EXCEPT
– Last Updated: Jun-04-09 2:27 PM EST –
...you're busy clogging it up with QUESTIONS that belong in THIS forum. Or better yet, that you could have asked the administrator directly (let me know if you want me to show you how to do that).
best meal
I kayaked to a private island with a bag of mussels and some clams and steemed them with with garlic and onions and white wine. Drank the left over broth with butter. heavan.
…Try the most luxurious meal at…
breakfast sometime…with very light lunches/dinners. Blueberry pancakes and coffee…$^%%&%. Those fajitas sound great…just keep the portion down…
Well you asked for it…
$.01
PB & J
My favorite.
I am out there to paddle and explore not to wine and dine !
cheers,
jackL
4-star
Good topic. Definitely belongs in Advice forum however phrased because it should provide ideas to help people have more successful trips.
I’ll buy food=fuel on some special-purpose trips (although if you’re gonna use the car analogy, don’t you also need other fluids like oil and radiator fluid, i.e., liquor and coffee?), but my average camping trip is designed to have a good time, so good food is a worthwhile priority. Food in general tastes so much better in the outdoors after a day of exertion that it seems natural to heighten the effect by eating good food.
When by myself, I tend toward the steak/potatoes/fancy vegetable/fancy dessert type meal. I’m not that great a cook, but I can usually recreate anything I cook at home so I take along my current favorites on my camping trips. Also, nothing can beat freshly caught fish baked in a spiced-up aluminum foil package on wood fire coals.
For most luxurious meal, I’d have to nominate a certain Wolf River Conservancy Ghost River trip a few years back during a fund raising drive that was intended to give some local fat cats a favorable first impression of the river. We managed to get the chef of one of Memphis’ best restaurants to come along on the trip and do the cooking, and he created various exotic and delicious dishes. I can’t remember any of he individual dishes but it was definitely 4-star restaurant quality on a sand bar in the middle of the wilderness.
Hey Jack
Do you some times spice it up a little,like with a small box of rasins.Now thats a good meal,and wash it down with a luke warm jug of gatorade.
O.K. Back to the technical advice…Like why do my hips keep comeing loose from the seat when my roll is only 75%complete?
JOHN
Not to be “topper”, but Janice made pies
"Topper" is that character in Dilbert that always has to one-up every story.
Honest, Janice cooked an apple pie (fresh apples) over the fire on our trips in 2000 and 2002. Too bad we left the reflector oven at Baker Lake. The pies are still good, but tinfoil just doesn’t do the same job as the reflector oven.
Still, pie is just pie. A really nice carrot cake is in a class by itself.
~~Chip
Filet Mignon…
and Lobster with drawn butter. For the past dozen or so years my family and friends have vacationed on an island in an Adirondack lake. Base camping style, coolers, air mattresses, lounge chairs, tiki torches, the works.
We take turns cooking a dinner, and a couple of our friends are always intent on taking home the laurels for the most elaborate meal. Champagne? Of course!
My wife and I are hard pressed to compete with our subsequent offerings like barbeque ribs and fresh corn on the cob. But hey, life is tough sometimes.
Steak and bake with cobbler for dessert
Why eat freeze dried when you can paddle a canoe?
My oldest son’s scoutmaster was a chef
I don’t remember what he cooked when we hiked the Grand Canyon at the bottom, but it took him about 1.5 hours to cook it.
Once on a canoe outing he made all the adult leaders his signature fajitas, fresh tortillas, and black beans. Best food I have ever had on a campout.
I’ve had trout dinners that have been pretty good after a week or so living out of your backpack.