_two Reluctant Cooks Recipes

_LAS PIEDRAS

Steps:

• For those of you who didn't take high school Spanish this translates to 'The Rocks'. Las Piedras Ranch owned by Dwain and Sandy Riney of Montgomery, Texas, is aptly named. Located in Real County, WNW of San Antonio, Las Piedras Ranch exemplifies the Texas 'Hill Country'! Their ranch, though not large by Texas standards, supports a healthy population of native wildlife and is also host to numerous exotic species. These wild, free ranging exotics escaped from neighboring ranches years ago. Dwain and Sandy recently invited me down to cook for some of their hunters. This particular hunt is a 'special hunt' for both the Riney family and the hunters. Once a year Dwain and Sandy donate a hunt for exotic species at Las Piedras to the Montgomery County Cattle Barons' Ball and benefit auction. The money raised from this annual event benefits the Montgomery County Unit of the American Cancer Society. In the course of my visit Dwain pulled out the 'ranch recipe box' and selected several favorites of his and Sandy's that he thought I'd like. In addition Sandy has since called me with a couple of other old family favorites. We hate to think of family heirlooms disappearing, but it happens when you prepare these recipes. My thanks to Dwain and Sandy for sharing them and inviting me down to share their corner of heaven in the Texas Hill Country!Spiced with More Tall Tales - Appetizers

_VEGGIES FOR CAMP

Steps:

• Keeping fresh produce in camp requires some planning, especially if you have to plan for salad hounds. Consider taking cabbage and making coleslaw instead of lettuce. The cabbage will keep several times longer than lettuce. A couple of years ago we shredded cabbage for coleslaw and packed it in resealable bags for a river trip. Squeeze as much air out as possible before you seal it. On day five we popped open the bags and made the dressing and had fresh slaw in less than ten minutes. If soups or stews are on your menu, throw in a few turnips and parsnips. Like potatoes, carrots, and onions they will keep fresh in a cooler or pack box for several days without ice. If you don't grow a garden, stop if you can at the local farmers' market on your way out of town on a summer trip. Farm fresh veggies taste better and are better for you. I try to keep canned veggies to a minimum just to save weight in my garbage sack. Also taking fresh veggies instead of frozen ones will reduce the amount of money you spend on ice. Depending on how long your trip is, many fresh veggies can be peeled, sliced, diced, etc., at home, which also saves preparation time in camp and reduces your garbage to bring out.Spiced with More Tall Tales - Vegetables and Salads

_SOURDOUGH

Steps:

• Talk to a "Sourdough Cook" and almost immediately he'll launch into a history of his starter. (You may be reminded of folks who've just become grandparents for the first time!) It's not uncommon for a particular starter to be handed from generation to generation and considered to be a family heirloom. Fanatics, who inhabit the ranks of "Sourdough Cooks", will always like to tell how their starter was carried over Chilkoot Pass during the Klondike gold rush. They say this as if any starter with a less glorious past is inferior. Over time I've found it's easier to let such folks think their inferior thoughts rather than argue with them. The starter I have used for the last twenty years was given to me by an uncle who lived in the Seattle area. As I recall, a cook off a merchant ship gave it to him only after an hour long discourse on the lineage of this starter. Translated, it means if you buy or are given a starter, it is at least a day old. Don't worry though, "Sourdough Cooks" often like to fish as well and thus, share a trait for which all fishermen are famous. So, within a month or so of starting to cook with sourdough it's perfectly acceptable to me if you want to "stretch the dough" so to speak!At home I keep at least two containers with starter in them at all times. When I pack for a trip I take one starter with me and leave the other at home. Then should I roll a pack horse off the trail or flip my raft, I'll only be out of sourdough until I get home. The starter I leave at home, I like to think of as my insurance "dough"! Rather than this author attempting to write another "Sourdough Cook Book", Jack Trueblood graciously allowed the use of his recipes and an explanation of just what "Sourdough" really is. As a kid growing up in the 50's-60's in southeast Idaho, I often read stories in FIELD AND STREAM written by Jack's father, Ted Trueblood. Ted often mentioned sourdough biscuits and bread when describing camp life in those stories. At any gathering of the Trueblood clan, "Uncle Jack" will be found with his "sourdough fixins", passing on this knowledge to all his nieces and nephews.A Back Country Guide to Outdoor Cooking Spiced with Tall Tales - Bread in Camp

_ABOUT THE COOKS!

Steps:

• The recipes found in this book represent the efforts and experiences of others and not just the author. A majority of the folks who graciously let me include their camp favorites are (like myself) involved in resource management. As a group, we are not unlike groups of other professionals, in that common bonds are forged not only professionally, but personally as well. Though I can't personally vouch for each individual recipe, I can personally vouch for each of the folks whose recipes you find in my book!Based on my experience, I think it's safe to say most camp recipes, if researched at all, will result in a story being told either about the cook or the results of his or her cookin'. Most folks have at some time in their life spent at least a little time around a campfire with friends and family. As our society becomes more urban in nature, I suspect the number of people who've never spent time around a campfire will increase. If you stop and think about it, the more our society seems to "progress", the more folks seem to look back in time. I'm sure social scientists have published numerous journal articles about why "progress" causes some folks to focus substantial efforts into looking in life's "rear view" mirror! Besides the entertainment value, it's the wish of the author for this book to get folks to pause a little after reading some of the stories, to look in their own rear view mirror of life.A Back Country Guide to Outdoor Cooking Spiced with Tall TalesBOB STAUTSWhen not working for our printer, Joslyn & Morris, Inc., Bob Stauts spends much of his free time hunting, fishing, and rafting in the desert country of SW Idaho and adjoining areas of Nevada, Oregon, and Washington. He has also become a Dutch oven cooking enthusiast. You only have to read Bob's recipes to see that Bob likes his grub 'hot & spicy'! Bob's recipes typify those of many camp cooks. At the end of a long, hard day the cook creates an awesome meal out of what's in the grub box and the day's bag.DAVE MCGONIGALDave, a fellow game warden, is one of the most accomplished cooks I've ever met. His name is Irish, but the other side of Dave's family tree has its roots in the Basque provinces of Spain. Growing up on the family sheep ranch in Idaho's Wood River Valley influenced Dave to become a camp cook in his own right. When time came for college, Dave paid his way through school by becoming a restaurant cook/chef. Whenever you see a recipe with Dave's name on it, you can bet you're at the top of the list.GEORGE HIRSCHGeorge Hirsch, a fellow Public TV cook from New York specializing in grill cooking, showed me this recipe when we both appeared at a festival at Itchycoo Park '99, near Manchester, Tennessee. They are quick to fix and will satisfy the "sweet tooth" of campers anytime.Spiced with More Tall Tales

_COOKIN' WITH KRAUT

Steps:

• Marriage changes everyone who says, "I DO"! Few will argue that these changes do not occur, and in all honesty one must agree that change is good! (Sometimes though it takes a while to see the Good.) For we men, these changes run the gamut from putting the seat back down to wearing color-coordinated clothes. Somewhere on the list, food choices show up sooner or later. Like a balky mule, some menu items cause the changee to curl his lip and others cause him to wonder why it took so long to make the change. Much to my wife's relief, sauerkraut fell into the later category!Years ago Mom would fix sauerkraut and wieners for us kids. It was a quick fix when she got home from work late. Few things were simpler! Slice up a package of wieners and throw them in a pot with a couple of cans of store-bought kraut and dinner was done. While a game warden, I'd throw a couple of cans of kraut and some pre-cooked sausages in my chuck box as a backup meal in case a trip extended longer than planned. Until I met my wife, kraut fell into the lowest 20% of foods I liked. It was palatable and would do in a pinch.Being Czech, she started eating kraut as soon as she quit taking her food through a nipple. By the time we met, she held an advanced degree in judging the quality of kraut and how to cook it! From her I learned the sour in sauerkraut doesn't have to be overpowering. If using store-bought kraut, she prefers fresh over the canned. First thing, she pours it into a colander and rinses it two or three times with warm water. Much of the sour taste ends up going down the drain. Kraut prepared after rinsing takes on the seasoning of the dish being prepared without an overpowering 'sour' taste. Store-bought kraut is a thing of the past around our house now though! Last year a neighbor taught us an anaerobic method of making homemade kraut with no muss, no fuss, no foul odors, and no skimming of scum. It seems that no matter how many quarts we put up, they disappear in just a short time. Whether planning a meal at home or a menu for a camping trip, I've changed the rating on kraut to the top 20%!Spiced with More Tall Tales - Fish and Fowl

_STEW

Steps:

• My pocket dictionary defines stew as "to boil slowly" or "a dish of stewed meat and vegetables served in gravy". So even for those folks whose cooking talents are stretched by just trying to boil water, they only have to add some meat and veggies to make a stew. In other words, beginning Dutch oven cooks and stews were made for each other. Someone with a new Dutch oven, wanting to cook something, is just like a student pilot landing an airplane. Any landing you walk away from is good, some are just better than others! For first time Dutch oven cooks, that translates to if your dinner guests do not leave the supper table in search of immediate medical attention, it must've been okay! As with flying and many other things for that matter, the results usually improve with a little practice.You can make a stew as simple as Tony Latham's "Warden Stew" or create a masterpiece containing exotic vegetables and spices. If you're bored with just plain old cooking and you want to try "ethnic cooking" there is no better place to start than with a stew. For example, take your Great-great-great Grandmother's stew recipe which she brought West in a covered wagon and add some oriental vegetables and seasoning to create a stew with a distinctive, new taste.Most of us who hunt big game, when rummaging around our freezers, leave those packages of meat labeled "stew" until everything else has been used. At least the way I cut up my animals, the amount of stew meat always exceeds what I'd call prime cuts.Though you can't cut chunks of elk shank with a fork when fried in butter, to me it's no reason to leave it till last. Cooked slow in a Dutch oven with your favorite veggies and spices, an old elk shank will produce as many oh's and ah's as tenderloin sauteed in butter and garlic! A good mathematician could fill a fair sized room with nothing but stew recipes by calculating all the combinations and permutations of possible ingredients for stew. So if you fancy your self a creative person, take your new Dutch oven and a "Stew" recipe and create a master piece! Around my house or camp, stew tends to end up as a "kitchen sink" dish. i.e. everything except the kitchen sink is likely to be thrown in the pot. As a result no two are the same. Besides being easy to make, nothing tastes better when one comes in from the cold than a steaming bowl of stew and a chunk of homemade bread. On more than one occasion the last night in camp, dinner consisted of some leftover meat and everything else left in the bottom of the camp box with some baking powder biscuits to soak up the juices. What ever the occasion, whether at home or in camp, A Dutch oven stew will fill'em up and keep'em smilin'A Back Country Guide to Outdoor Cooking Spiced with Tall Tales - Camp Chili, Stews, Soups and Sauces

_BROTHER-IN-LAW DUCK

Steps:

• Throw the mud duck in a roaster that was last cleaned out by your hound dog. Mix all of the ingredients, except caster oil and beer. Stuff the duck with this mixture. Give the duck a good dose of castor oil and then pour beer over all. (Beer is very important since brothers-in-law go into a frenzy when they smell it.) Cook in oven on low heat for 1 hour. Garnish and serve piping hot. If this does not stop your brother-in-law from coming to your house and drinking up all of your beer or asking for seconds or thirds, there is only one sure ingredient that you can add next time. It is illegal and you may have to do some time for it, but it probably would be worth it. Add ARSENIC! LOTS OF ARSENIC!!A Back Country Guide to Outdoor Cooking Spiced with Tall Tales - Fowl & Fish

_CAMP CROCK POT

Steps:

• A few years ago in September, I'd horse packed into Bear Valley, Idaho to check archery hunters. I broke camp and pulled out fairly early in the morning. Over a half mile out from the trailhead I could hear a motor running. When I got there I found a big camp had been set up next to where I'd parked my truck and trailer. By the time I'd unpacked and grained the stock this generator was beginning to get on my nerves. The best description I can give of this camp would be to call it an "aluminum wagon train". There were three travel trailers of varying sizes and two pickups with large cabover campers all parked in a circle. All five "wagons" were connected by extension cords of different lengths to a trailer mounted generator. When I walked up everyone was sitting around in the September sunshine swapping stories and sipping drinks which clinked with ice cubes. Setting on a camp table were two large crock pots which the camp cook told me contained the only game they'd gotten. Dinner, he said, was going to be "Blue Grouse Fricassee". He continued by saying, it sure was nice to come back to camp after the evening hunt and have dinner ready to go. Now I can't argue with that, but I prefer camping in a place which doesn't sound so much like a construction site! Don't get me wrong, because I like some of today's amenities in camp, but running a generator of that size just to power a couple of crock pots falls into the "overkill" category. Not only did I have to raise my voice somewhat to be heard, but every other camp within a half mile had to put up with the noise as well. Other than battery power in my flashlight, the closest I've been to having an all electric camp was the time I pitched camp along side a currant bush thicket. These bushes didn't produce any voltage but the "juice" produced from a couple of cups of berries, with a little sugar added, made for some awful good french toast. But.... read on if you'd like the convenience of a crock pot without the aggravation of having to listen to a generator all afternoon.When you set up camp, dig a hole about two feet deep right next to where you put your campfire. (Keep the dirt in a pile close by cause you're going to need it later.) This hole should be about twice the size of your Dutch oven. That night while you fix supper, start a fire in your hole and let it burn down before you hit the bed ground. Next morning as soon as you get the coffee going, start both fires and pile on a fair amount of wood. While you're cooking breakfast, get the number two cook to put all the makins' of a stew or a pot roast in a Dutch. Make sure he seasons it and adds a little more cooking liquid than usual. Put the lid on and spin it around just to make sure it doesn't have a gap from being on crooked. Take a couple of feet of baling wire and wrap one end on the bail of the Dutch oven. (Make sure you don't use the handle on the lid.) About the time breakfast is over both fires should have burned back to coals. With your camp shovel, scoop a small depression in the coals in the hole. Set your Dutch oven in the depression and shovel the coals from your camp fire onto the Dutch until it's covered. Now shovel all the dirt you saved when you dug the hole over the coals on top of the Dutch oven. You should have 6" - 8" of dirt over top the coals. If you did it right, the wire tied to the bail should indicate where the Dutch oven is. Douse any left over coals in your campfire, so when you leave there are no live coals left to be a fire danger.That evening when you get to camp, dinner will be piping hot and ready to serve. Carefully shovel off the dirt and coals until you're down to the lid of the Dutch oven. Using the wire you wrapped on the bail gently lift the Dutch out and set it down. I keep an old whisk broom in my camp box to brush the remaining dirt and coals off the lid. (Most folks will appreciate the meal better without a shovel full of grit added just prior to serving!) Anyway...there you have it, a "camp crock pot" with out having to pack around a generator and an extension cord.A Back Country Guide to Outdoor Cooking Spiced with Tall Tales - Camp Chili, Stews, Soups and Sauces

_SOMETHING SOFT FOR DINNER

Steps:

• If you like to eat, taking off on a back country trip with someone you don't know well who says he will do the cooking, presents the same chance for success as going on a blind date arranged by your sister. But...as an old boss of mine used to say, "Life is nothing but a series of missed opportunities!" You have to take the chance, but it's unwise to let your expectations get too high. Anyway...In late August, 1983, my boss passed some information on to me about two fellas who had drawn permits to hunt bighorn sheep along Idaho's Middle Fork of Salmon River and were allowing two other guys to go hunting in their place. Such a transfer is, of course, contrary to Idaho Code. Al told me to put together an operation which if successful might educate these guys and generate a little income for the state judicial system at the same time. I enlisted Russ Kozacek and Paul Valcarce to help with the operation. The plan went something like this. Paul and I would fly a float boat into Indian Creek and float down to the mouth of Loon Creek and meet Russ with his pack string. Russ and Paul would head up toward Norton Ridge where our informant said these guys planned to hunt. I would set up surveillance on a trail junction should they miss the guys up on the mountain. Russ and I split picking up the camp groceries and cooking duties. I would take care of everything along the river, and Russ would provide for Paul and him while on horseback. No problem!?!?!Russ readily admits that he and I come from different camp cooking schools. Russ graduated with honors from the school that teaches folks to fix the simplest, quickest recipes that result in the fewest dirty dishes. The ability to boil water is high on the list of criteria required to graduate from this particular school that shall remain un-named here! The grub in his camp isn't fancy but there is always enough. That is, until this trip.At the appointed time we met at the US Forest Service tent frame located about a half mile below the confluence of the Big Loon Creek with Middle Fork.Let me digress here and tell you a little more about where we met. At this time the USFS stationed a person at the tent frame during the summer float season. The fireguard had pulled out just a week before we arrived. Among other duties, this person kept the one-hole outhouses located at float camps supplied with toilet paper. More than once I'd stopped to re-supply when my own stocks of this vital commodity ran low.While Paul and I sorted his stuff, Russ started putting things in two different piles. One pile they would take with them on the trail, and another pile to leave with me at our base camp. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Russ pick up some of the "Woodsy Owl" drawstring garbage bags to stow stuff in out of the tent frame. Coincidentally, the fireguard kept his extra TP in the same bags hung on a nail next to the door. With all three of us working, it didn't take long to get the pack stock loaded. After agreeing on radio codes and check-in times, Russ and Paul pulled out.I squared my gear around after they left, then pulled a paperback book out of my duffel and began the surveillance. I fixed a chicken and pasta dish in my 10" aluminum DO and sat on the porch maintaining surveillance as long as I had reading light. Then it came time to light a lantern and move inside. I reached into the "Woodsy Owl" bag for a roll of TP prior to taking a stroll up the hill to the privy. Only when we compared notes several days later did we determine that we'd made simultaneous discoveries! I reached in expecting to grab a soft round roll, not a foil wrapped package containing freeze-dried beef stroganoff! Meanwhile, up on Norton Ridge, Russ ended up being the one to grasp what I was looking for! Later, there was considerable confusion over WHO was responsible for the switch! In my case I substituted a copy of the previous year's fishing regulations for what I needed, while Russ and Paul split a can of kipper snacks and a couple of granola bars found at the bottom of a saddle bag.If there is a moral to this story it's this. Even if you're not the cook, at least check to make sure the cook packs the grub!Spiced with More Tall Tales - Meats

_PITCH IN AND PITCH OUT

Steps:

• Two things act as magnets on little boys, mud puddles and pitch. I'm not talking about the card game "Pitch," but sap from coniferous trees. When the folks took us kids camping, despite repeated warnings and dire threats by Mother, I usually managed to get the sticky stuff on my hands, clothes, and in my hair within thirty minutes of getting to camp. I did it to my folks and my son did it to me. As an old cowboy buddy of mine told me when my boy was born, "You don't pay for your raising till you raise one of your own!" That particular saying has proven true on many other occasions! Anyway...Like many situations in life there is 'the easy way' and 'the hard way' to remedy the situation. Normally the first line of defense in most situations requiring cleanup is soap and water. Besides being sticky in the first degree, pitch immediately attracts dirt. Pitch on a kid's hands will just smear and spread with soap and water. Anything the kid touches ends up sticky, which if he handles enough stuff will wear the pitch off his hands! That is an option, but one most mothers would rather not exercise. Unless you take a set of full body restraints to camp, don't even think you can successfully comb a wad of pitch out of your kid's hair!For a quick fix, dig around in your camp box for your charcoal starter fluid. Any other petroleum distillate, such as white gas, kerosene, etc. will dissolve pitch, but charcoal lighter seems to be the least harsh. Just squirt a little bit in your hands and rub the spot, then wash with soap and water. To clean clothes, first change into something clean and soak the spot with the lighter fluid and work it into the fabric. Repeat a couple of times then hang on a limb to dry. Getting the stuff out of one's hair is a little more difficult. Soak a washrag and gently massage the pitch to dissolve and repeat if needed. Soak another washrag with warm water and rinse. Of course, I shouldn't have to say this, but if it's after dark, use a flashlight or other source of light, not firelight or gas lantern!Spiced with More Tall Tales - Breads

_HOW TO COOK A COOT

Steps:

• If you're not a duck hunter or married to a duck hunter, just skip this recipe. Personally, I've never tried to cook a coot, primarily because I've never even shot at an "Ivory Billed Mallard". Remember, this is the guy who will eat every thing except grits and green lima beans. In this modern age, it seems to me, too many people blame events in their childhood for the mistakes or failures they make as adults. Some rightly so, but I can't help but feel a lot of it is over done!So where is all this leading, you ask yourself? Yup! you guessed it, my childhood. Since my dad first took me duck hunting at age three, the list of things I've done in life longer than I've duck hunted is fairly short. Memories of those first duck hunts are still vivid. Back in that distant past, I learned that the preferred duck of those who wait at home while others duck hunt, to be mallards. Those of the green headed variety! My dad, being a pretty fair hand with a shotgun, seldom got skunked in those days. He'd been there before, but it was a new experience for me, just four years old. About the only thing flying in the marsh that day were coots, which Dad had several different adjectives to describe. I didn't understand why dad didn't shoot them as they patterned by. At that time I obviously thought-ducks are ducks! Wrong! How long I pestered Dad to shoot them, I can't remember. What I do remember is him saying, "Mother didn't like any kind of ducks except those with green heads" and it wouldn't be very smart to take something home she didn't like. Though I was just four years old, that part I understood! I'm sure Dad first passed this recipe on that day. Over the years, Dad repeated this recipe so many times I've memorized it without ever having cooked it.A Back Country Guide to Outdoor Cooking Spiced with Tall Tales - Fowl & Fish

_TWO RELUCTANT COOKS

Steps:

• Someone once said that there are two kinds of people leaders and followers! To paraphrase that from a camping perspective there are cooks and eaters! Every camp cook I've known started out as an eater, but somewhere along the way made the switch to camp cook! Rather than explore what motivates folks to become camp cooks, I'll take you on a journey with two friends who made the switch.Along in the late '70's and early '80's, a group of us began running rivers in the West. The core of the group traced their roots to college days. With sheepskins in hand we had scattered all over the West and took jobs with resource management agencies. The nature of our work dictated we spend a fair amount of our time camping and being bachelors, (sometimes intermittently) there wasn't anyone around to do the cooking but ourselves. When we started running rivers, the cooking chores did not present any problems. As time went by the group grew larger. The new additions seemed in awe of the creations set before them each day by the cooks. It didn't take too long before this became a real drag for the one or two people cooking! A division of labor seemed in order.Anyone who has cooked for a large group realizes the immensity of the challenge for a neophyte. To help these folks ease into the camp cooking world, we started by assigning them to do lunches. It's tough to mess up a lunch of cold cuts, gorp, and lemonade. Even then the responsibility of providing a meal that doesn't require any cooking for a large group will cause some consternation! Making the jump to a dinner meal tends to raise the anxiety level. Jim Van Ark and Pat Weber joined the group as passengers/eaters, and by June, 1991 had graduated to running their own boat when we launched for a Grand Canyon trip on the Colorado River. In the jargon of river runners, 'pucker factor,' does not refer to something immediately preceding a kiss. A river running buddy of mine once defined it as...the greater the pucker factor, the more swings it takes with a four pound hammer to drive a straight pin into a spot you normally wouldn't try to place a pin! Of our group, only Tom Beck had ever floated this stretch of the Colorado. Fear of the unknown infected the rest of us. Each rapid produced episodes of anticipation and apprehension that contributed to the collective pucker power of the group. Though we didn't test the 'pucker factor' of individuals, my guess is that Jim and Pat would've showed up on such a list as either, "Win, Place, or Show." Downloading of adrenaline commenced each afternoon when we pulled into our campsite! Though on the evenings Pat and Jim cooked, their download didn't start until after dinner. Somewhere below Granite Rapids their confidence caught up with their skills, both on the river and in the kitchen. My trip diary makes special mention of the clam linguini and upside down cake they served for dinner on Day #13.Spiced with More Tall Tales - Fish and Fowl