Paddle Meals: Cool Tools for Camp Cookery

June-July 2004

This is an article from WaveLength Magazine, available in print in North America and globally on the web.
To download a pdf copy of the magazine click here: > DOWNLOAD

by Laurie Edward with Debbie Leach

Laurie Edward, the new Community Involvement Coordinator for Mountain Equipment Co-Op, shares some great ideas for our camp kitchens.

I have lots of time and energy for culinary creativity in the outdoors and I seldom leave home without my ‘field version’ of NOLS Cookery by Claudia Pearson (from National Outdoor Leadership School). The picture on the cover is what it’s all about—working really hard, then joyfully gathering around a camp stove knowing something wonderful is going to happen.

Gear has to be multifunctional. A 500 mL Nalgene jar is a great bowl and stores leftovers. My cut-down Lexan soup spoon fits inside (and never gets lost); the lid doubles as a chopping block for garlic.

You can’t skimp on a frypan! Take along a non-stick skillet with a well-fitting lid and an Ultralight Outback Oven for stove-top baking and amazing variations. I first used my oven for trail-baked goodies on the summit run to Glacier Peak in the North Cascades. You can use the ‘tent’ to insulate a pot of rice that has boiled to continue cooking off the stove. The diffusing plate helps food cook more evenly. Remove the temperature gauge—with experience, you’ll know how long things take to cook. And that Leatherman tool isn’t only for repairs—use the pliers as a pot grabber.

A new Espresso maker is going on my next weekend trip. Wherever we’re heading, I pick up coffee from the nearest roaster to add a local dimension—Midnight Sun in Whitehorse on Yukon trips or Saltspring for the BC Gulf Islands. A Nissan Titanium thermos may cost more, but it’s light enough for backpacking and luxurious for paddling trips.

CALZONES

Use a pizza recipe, spread the dough into a circle, fill with your cheese, pizza sauce, peppers, etc, then fold and pinch together. Fill up the frying pan with two calzone half-moons to efficiently feed two hungry paddlers at a time. When the calzones are mostly cooked, stand them on their sides in the pan to brown the edges.

EXTRAVAGANT CASSEROLE

Use the NOLS lasagna as the inspiration to use veggie burger or beans, cooked rice/pasta and random chunks of cheese.

fresh onion slices and a couple cloves of garlic

1 can tomato paste or one-half cup dried tomato powder

1 rounded teaspoon sugar

¾ to 1 pound of cheese, cut into slices one-half cup flour

2 heaping teaspoons baking powder

1 rounded table spoon powdered eggs

1 rounded table spoon powdered milk

1 rounded table spoon veggie broth powder

1 cup tomato sauce with a tsp or so sugar

2 cups cooked rice or pasta

2 cups of Hack’s veggie ground round or canned/cooked beans, seasoned with 2 heaping teaspoons oregano + 2 heaping teaspoons basil, or 1 rounded table spoon of Italian seasoning + ½ tsp black pepper

Sauté onions and garlic in the frypan with a bit of oil. Dump into a bowl with the tomato paste, sugar and 2 cups of water.

In a separate container mix flour, baking powder, eggs, milk powder and veggie broth powder with about 2½ cups cold water. Mix to pancake batter consistency.

Cover the bottom of the frypan with slices of cheese. This will form a great, gooey crust that doesn’t stick to the pan, even if it overcooks.

Cover with a layer of cooked rice or pasta.

Drizzle the batter mixture on as a 3rd layer to gel the casserole.

Top with veggie burger or beans.

Spread the tomato-onion-garlic mixture over the casserole.

Top with remaining slices of cheese.

Cover and bake in your oven (or twiggy fire) for 20 minutes.

FOOD

Variety is so important. Bring lots of garlic, onions and ginger. Tuck in little luxuries—coconut milk powder or chunks, and poppadums with oil to accompany a curry. Bring extra protein—lots of cheese, peanut butter and nuts—for feeding hungry paddlers.

For quick trips, packaged mixes like foccacia are great if you are short on ideas and time. It’s not cheating for overnight trips! When guiding trips, I rely on NOLS rations and do pantry-style cooking. I’m interested in trying Harvest Foodworks powdered vegetable shortening in my camp-baking this summer. Some packages that I often pack along are:

Quick long grain rice from Soft Path Cuisine.
Canasoy Vege broth powder—for a salty drink to warm you up at noon or the end of the day.
The Sea Change wild salmon jerky from Saltspring is delicious and ‘as natural as possible’. However, bears also like the product, so be bear aware!
Buffalo pemmican and diced Harvest Foodworks Diced Chicken (really good!)
Knorr pouches of soup—I often grab these for lunch at the Store.

Check out www.mec.ca for hundreds of food items with serving suggestions and an ingredient list. The site also advises you on meal planning and packing as well as tips for backcountry cooking.