Cooking Recipes for the Ranger on the trail

[Peter Remling]

Back on Meranger.com when there was a forum aspect, there were several great recipes and ideas on what spices to bring, how to cook certain foods and some recipes. I though it would be a good idea if we can resurrect some of those suggestions here.

[Greg]

Camprecipes.com is the place where I find a lot of the stuff I use. I find something that sounds good, and then replace ingredients here and there with stuff that'll be readily available, if not remove some steps completely for the sake of not having flour on hand, etc.

Here's the original of one of my favorite rabbit recipes:
http://camprecipes.com/recipe-Fried-Rabbit-931

The only differences between that and mine are that I often skip the flour step, or substitute acorn flour if I've had lots of time to prepare. I either replace the onion with a wild onion, some tubers I might find along the way, or I scrap it altogether.

On treks, though, I havent' had a chance to do a rabbit yet. That frying recipe is what I've used in the past on family camping trips. I'm working on a rabbit stew that I'm going to have to test out. It'll just require bringing some slow-perishing vegetables along, as well as collecting lots of tubers and things to replace potatoes and the like with.

Currently, I'm carrying garlic powder, salt, pepper, bay leaves, and cooking oil, in a small corked bottle. The bay leaves are in a small leather roll, while the powder, salt, and pepper are in bottles as well to prevent moisture getting in and making them all chunky, as well as preventing the garlic smell from getting all over the place. I'm thinking of starting to bring garlic cloves along instead because they don't smell so strongly as the powdered stuff does.

[Peter Remling]

I'm going to post this tip. I had posted it on Andy's site but I think there's a lot of new folkes here.

When making pancakes, corncakes or fritters, use your normal mix or flour with a bit of baking powder but instead of eggs, use 1/2 of the same volume of honey. Not only will it work just as well without having to lug eggs around but it makes everything sweeter.

Chris had questioned how to carry the honey around. I have a small bota, about 2 cups that I use exclusively for honey.

[Greg]

I've been considering using one of my new glass bottles for honey...thanks for reminding me! I'll have to try that with my acorn flour pancakes!

[Peter Remling]

Never heard of acorn flour before. Is it normal flour with acorn added or is is ground acorn?

[Greg]

Ground acorn meats. I collect them in my home forests, crack them open, and then either hand pound them (labor-intensive and time-consuming) or stick them in the blender. Acorn pancakes (the flour and water mixed together and cooked like a normal pancake) typically wind up quite stiff, but they're a great on-the-go breakfast that doesn't break up much in your pocket/pouch and can be quite tasty if smothered with the right stuff. I'm sure they'd be far sweeter and a bit softer if honey was involved.

[Peter Remling]

Do you dry the ground acorn meat or dose it stay pasty?

[Greg]

Dry out the meats, pound them down, dry again.

[Chris Russo]

Here's some I've used:

Camp stew
--Dried black beans
--Dried corn
--A small shaker of spice (Chili powder and cumin if you can get it, though Mrs. Dash makes a great all-purpose spice)

Soak beans about an hour to two hours before cooking. Hang over campfire, heat to a rolling boil. Stir frequently with stick. After about half an hour to forty-five minutes, stir in your corn. Stew should start looking thicker by now as corn and beans absorb the water. Add spices.

It isn't the best-tasting thing in the world, but it'll keep you alive and with energy to hike.


Ash Cakes/Stick bread
--2 cups whole wheat flour
--1 cup cornmeal
--1/4 cup brown sugar

Mix before your trek. Keep dried ingredients in a small cloth bag. When ready to cook, make a divot in the dry flour and pour in a little bit of water. Mix in, take out the ball of dough that's formed. You can either 1) cover the ball in ashes and bake it under the fire, 2) roll the ball out into a snake, twist around a green stick, and roast it over the fire, or 3) fry up in a trekker's skillet using the grease from that bacon you just cooked. It will not rise; is done when golden-brown.

[Greg]

Here's a rundown for dealing with Cattails, which I absolutely LOVE.

Cattail Shoots:
In early spring, cattails send up small, immature shoots that are rich and succulent and taste a bit like zucchini. These first sprigs of fresh cattail can be put into stir-fries, soups, pasta sauces, or any other recipe that calls for fresh, green vegetables.

Cattail Hearts:
When cattail shoots mature in mid spring, the rich "heart" at the base of the leaf-blades becomes full of nutrients. These can be used in the same contexts as cattail shoots, but will lend a slightly stronger flavor and crunchier texture. A cattail heart's texture is something like a cross between a bamboo shoot and an artichoke heart, and its flavor is like a cross between a rutabaga and a melon rind. They are ideal for pickling and canning.

Cattail Heads:
A delightful dish that tastes remarkably similar to sweet, white corn. Immature cattail heads that do not yet have a cotton-like texture-- best harvested in early summer--- are tasty and wonderful additions to any meal. They can be boiled or put into soups and stir-fries, but I prefer to cook them in a buttered skillet over medium heat and serve them in place of corn.

Cattail Pollen:
When the flowers, or heads, of the cattail plant mature in mid-summer, their pollen can be gathered and used in the same context as corn starch. The pollen gives an excellent flavor to breads and pancakes when it is added to flours, or it can be used as a thickener in gravies, soups, and stews. Its flavor is mild and barely noticeable, but it makes a fine addition.

Cattail Roots:
The cream of the cattail crop is the root, which can be harvested any time between late fall and early spring. Cattails store starches in their roots over winter, similarly to potatoes and carrots, and provide a succulent, fibrous meal base when the root is properly harvested. They can be prepared like potatoes or used along with them. If you dice them, they make an awesome replacement for potatoes in stews, alongside shoots as vegetables, plus pollen for thickener.

Cattail Stew
For a stew, boil a little less water than you want stew (you'll be adding plenty), and add your meat. Whether it be beef you bring along, or some form of poultry or small game you catch/kill along the trail, it'll work. Get the meat going for a good 5-10 minutes until you can taste it in the water a bit, and then add a handful of cattail shoots, hearts, heads, or roots (as the seasonal case may be) cut in small chunks. I prefer using roots and hearts together, though times when both are available are somewhat rare. Continue stirring, until it starts smelling (in a good way, that is). Add some salt and pepper, and then add some pollen stripped off of the top as a thickener. It should start to darken and thicken. A few more minutes sopent lightly bubbling, and it should be ready to go.

As the seasons go, you can replace roots with potatoes, hearts and shoots with onions or celery, and pollen with cornstarch. I like bringing along onions and carrots regardless, for added flavor. I usually plan to carry cornstarch at all times for making any variety of stews. Salt and Pepper are always a necessity.

Dealing with Acorns
I mentioned making Acorn flour in here earlier, but I failed to mention some key points.
Only collect acorns that still have their caps. The ones that fall without the caps have bugs in them; they got too heavy. Also, no holes. But that should be a given.
Once you've collected them, crack them open and dry them out for an extended period. A few days at least. I tend to do this kind of work in longer camping trips, or at home before a Ranger outing. If you dry them outside, be sure your drying area is squirrel-safe. I've also dried them fairly quickly in an oven with some success. Just clean your baking sheet thoroughly afterwards. Then grind the nut meats into a fine consistency. It'll be a little pasty.

Once they're dry, you have to leech them. Translation: remove the tannic acid. Hide tanners should be familiar with this stuff. It's not very healthy for you, but you CAN ingest a little bit.
To leech the acorn meats, spread an unbleached white cloth over a flat-bottomed basket. Commit this piece of cloth to the task forever...it'll never be white again. Place your ground nut meat flour/paste on the cloth, and place a fresh cedar branch or some pieces of cedar like broken or bad arrow shafts (non-sealed...it has to be raw wood) across the basket. Run water SLOWLY over the cedar onto the ground acorn. Taste the acorns with your tongue at the start. It should be tangy. Taste it periodically over the next few hours until that flavor is gone. That means the tannic acid is gone, and you can dry it out, ready for use.

[Greg]

I had posted a thread about just such a thing awhile ago, but I just came across this on Townsend's website, and I thought that this thread was more present-day than that one.

http://jas-townsend.com/product_info.ph ... ts_id=1066

Not only does it carry six different spices, but it comes with five of them pre-loaded. I'm sooo getting one.

[Mirimaran]

Greg, that is so cool! It's on my shopping list LOL thanks for the link!

[Peter Remling]

Me too! Great catch.

[Greg]

Glad you like it! Found it on the homepage under "new items for october" while searching for wool gloves and brewer's pitch. Found both, and more!

I currently carry minced garlic in one of my bigger glass bottles, as well as oregano, pepper, and salt. I don't think I need as much garlic as it can hold, so I'm gonna move garlic into the empty one in this set, and put something else in the big one, like cornstarch. Not sure what to do with the ones holding salt&pepper, though...

[Mirimaran]

I don't know if you could bring this on the trail, but I could definitely see a stew made with this at the Prancing Pony:

http://www.williams-sonoma.com/products ... |fodsausau

we picked up a jar of this the other day at the Williams Sonoma store at the mall, and even at the price, we had to try it. We made stew with it tonight and it is the best commerical stew base we have ever tasted! I can well imagine sitting in the Pony with a bowl of this in front of me, some good dark bread and a piece of cheese, and a jack of ale, and the horrors of Moria would be soon forgotten with some good food in my stomach. I urge everyone to try it at least once, we probably have at least 3 meals worth out of the crock pot from it, and I would think that if a Ranger base camp was set up, a stew from this could last for days if added to.