Amazing Camping Food?

[chinooktrail]

What are some of the best meals people have eaten while camping?

Could be car camping, or backpacking or kayak camping...

Cooked over a campfire or a camp stove.

I know everything tastes better when outside, but I am looking for the unusual things, the real treats or surprises.

Suebiscut surprised us with sushi on an overnight, that was really fun!

I have a week plus Kayak trip planned for this summer. I will be able to paddle to shore and get more provisions, so storage and preservation are not a huge issue.

Just trying to plan out some different meals than the usual...

Any suggestions?

I will have the standard campfire, and a two burner Coleman camp stove, and quite possiably a large propane burner and a LARGE round cast iron griddle on a tripod that fits over either the campfire or the large burner.

http://www.amazon.com/24-Castiron-Group-Griddle-Tripod/dp/B000EZI66Q/ref=cm_lmf_img_1

Breakfast, lunch, dinner or desserts!

 

[drewski]

your pizza

 

[chinooktrail]

hahaha!

That was a fun trip.

I don't have a camp oven, have to figure out a way to grill it on the fire...

Lots of time to practice!

 

[SkierSteve]

Crab Alfredo

This is one of my most memorable. We had just hiked into Davis Pond @ BSP from Chimney Pond. And it was easy:
Can of lump crab
1/2 stick butter
Parm cheese
Powdered milk
Dry pasta
I did this with my partners whisperlight (he boiled the pasta), and I made the alfredo sauce with my Jetboil, you need the simmer function. An epic meal in an epic location.

 

[chinooktrail]

oHHH, NICE!

Thats what I am looking for!

Thanks.

 

[dug]

Where is your kayak trip? I have some ideas, but they are location-dependent.

 

[DrewKnight]

Dumb and really simple...

Hamburgers, grilled over real-wood charcoal up at Russell Pond last May. It didn't hurt that the entire, car-camping rabble of us were absolutely starving -- but the real-wood charcoal (combined with all the usual it-tastes-better-when-you're-hungry-and-outside factors) really tipped the scale.

If you've never cooked with real-wood charcoal -- it's a completely different experience than lump briquets. Real-wood charcoal (comes in 5-7 lb bags, available at most grocery stores alongside the nasty chemical stuff) lights fast and easily, is ready to cook quickly, and is insanely hot. You probably don't want to pack it along on a backcountry trip -- it's not heavy but it is bulky -- but if you're not far from the road and have a good firepit with a good grate, I heartily recommend it for any kind of grilling.

 

[KayakDan]

Best meal ever.Kayak camping- Lobsters and steamers with corn and cold beer on Whaleboat Is. in Maine. We had a full moon,bright enough to cook without headlamps. We sat up on the high grassy top of the island,with a spectacular moonlit view of Harpswell Sound,while we ate our feast.

We had an informal contest for the most outrageous kayak camping meal,with another couple we paddle with.
I think Mrs KD trumped it when she brought out the dessert one night. Strawberry Shortcake-homemade shortcake-real whipped cream-ya gotta love it!


Does your kayak have a dayhatch? If so I can tell you how to turn it into a mini-fridge. Very convenient for kayak camping.

 

[erugs]

Has anyone sampled the ideas in this book/web site: http://www.freezerbagcooking.com/

I received the book as a gift but haven't put it into practice yet, but I'm looking forward to giving it a try. Seems like I'll need to buy a dehydrator. Anyone have suggestions for that?

 

[SAR-EMT40]

Has anyone sampled the ideas in this book/web site: http://www.freezerbagcooking.com/

I received the book as a gift but haven't put it into practice yet, but I'm looking forward to giving it a try. Seems like I'll need to buy a dehydrator. Anyone have suggestions for that?

I also bought it a few months ago but haven't actually tried any of the recipes.

I have used an Amercan Harvest snackmaster for years. It really works well for me. I have bought extra trays for a total of eight I think and also have the inserts to make fruit roll ups as well.

Keith

 

[Karst]

Two meals come to mind:
The first one was some pork tenderloins over a hardwood charcoal fire on a relentlessly rainy trip in the Pemi Wilderness in July 1999. That was a drought year and the only rainy weekend was the one we picked. We brought the tenderloins in frozen and they defrosted as we hiked in. The other memorable moment of the trip was when my friend's son lost his hiking shoe in the stream at 13 Falls and had to hike 3 miles back to our tents with three socks on one foot. Good thing he was 12 years old and thought of it as a big adventure.

The second was two months ago at a yurt on the side of Mount Cardigan, celebrating a friend's 60th birthday with a summit climb followed by steak au poivre and roasted vidalia onions. The flambe part of the steak was impresssive in the new moon darkness. This was washed down with a great Bandol and followed up by vintage port.

 

[sierra]

I do not eat that exotic but a treat for me is a big bowl of rice ( the more saffron the better) and steak tips cooks on a marshmellow stick.

 

[trailbiscuit]

Having pizza delivered to the Partnership Shelter on the AT in VA.

 

[jniehof]

Has anyone sampled the ideas in this book/web site: http://www.freezerbagcooking.com/

The author posts as "sarbar" on backpacker.com and practicalbackpacking.com. Just look in the cooking forums. She's pretty engaged in free exchange of information in both directions--doesn't treat her ideas as "state secrets."

I use the FBC book as more of an "idea" book than a "follow the recipe" book; several of the recipes in it are variants of each other (and it's fairly easy to think of more variants.) Useful but not revolutionary, and kinda thin for the price. Of course, compared to the price of a few Mountain House instant foodpacks, it's not bad

 

[Nessmuk]

Has anyone sampled the ideas in this book/web site: http://www.freezerbagcooking.com/

I received the book as a gift but haven't put it into practice yet, but I'm looking forward to giving it a try. Seems like I'll need to buy a dehydrator. Anyone have suggestions for that?

Good ideas in that book, many don't require you to do your own dehydrating. But once you get serious, the best resource for dehydrator backpacking food is Linda Yaffe's
Backpack Gourmet: Good Hot Grub You Can Make at Home, Dehydrate, and Pack for Quick, Easy, and Healthy Eating on the Trail. One other recommended book, the "Bible" of general food dehydrating, is Mary Bell's Complete Dehydrator Cookbook.

Once you start dehydrating real meals for yourself, you'll never want to look at commercial freeze-dried again.

There are basically 2 different styles of dehydrator that are worth anything.
1. The round style Nesco American Harvest (most go with this one).
2. and the square Excalibur.
Do a web search on each for the best prices.

 

[Dave Bear]

If you don't mind the weight steak is an excellent option especially in the winter! I like mine defrosted first and carry it in already seasoned and/or marinating in a ziplock bag. That way when its dinner time the preps all done. Usually I tenderize it with a fork or knife point to get the seasoning in to it a bit. Can be cooked many ways: wood fire over or if too hot beside it on a rack, or on top of any version of stove using the aluminum foil trays with the creased bottom some times on a little folding rack to elevate it. I usually sear it first then slow cook after that, turning it often espcially in colder weather. Accompanied by rice and veggies or something else and chased with some good Chardonay or Zinfindael, steak really tops out the camping experience. If you go with a nice bone-in like T-bones you've got your handle and a little finger-licking afterwards. With an eye-of-the-round I usually strip cut it after its cooked and toss it in a plastic bowl with the rice and veggies so the juices mingle. Grew up cutting beef so my own T-bones are normally cut over 1 1/2" thick and can drive other folks nuts while I slow cook them. If I just grab some "eyes" from say P&C in Lincoln I get a nice pair for under $5 and they cook up a little quicker. In the winter its nice knowing you won't get other bears coming to dinner. In the other seasons I'm more careful and will sometimes make an additional hike back to my vehicle for dinner and hang a separate bear-bag with the meat scraps away from the rest of the items bagged. I have even packed out scraps to my vehicle and hiked back in to avoid an evening visitor. Damn I hope I'm having steak tonight all this talk about cooking this time of night has my mouth watering!!!

 

[sleeping bear]

lentil soup and blueberry bread on a recent winter trip

Lentil soup- boil lentils with precut carrots and onions, beef bullion cubes and a couple strips of bacon. Add a can of diced tomatoes when the lentils are cooked. Add hot sauce liberally and drop in bits of mozzarella cheese.

Blue berry bread from Betty Crocker- baked in the outback oven.

 

[king tut]

Any sort of seafood (lobster or clams) heated in a pot over a flame, add some butter and corn, and some drinks. Or a nice steak over an open flame. I just drooled all over myself thinking of this.

 

[Tom Rankin]

I gotta get Pete Hickey to post here! He packed an 8 lb. iron tortilla press into Peggy O 2 years ago, along with a lot of other stuff!

 

[Silverfox]

campsite meals

While on the LT awhile back we reached Hazens Notch Camp where the caretaker was just leaving after doing his thing..He offered a ride back in to town..Montgomery Center..and back if we were interested.. Let me tell you what...after 9 days on the trail in the heat of a dry summer..a rack of Buds, hot dogs over an open fire with spicy mustard.. fresh made chocolate chip cookies..It's been a long time since I"ve done dogs and I am all about seafood and well prepared food but....this meal was hard to beat and Larry and i still laugh about it and how perfect things came together....