Camp and Trail Part 9

Now some canned goods make you feel you are really getting something worth while; and others do not.

_Corn_ is probably the most satisfactory of all. It is good warmed up, made into fritters, baked into a pudding, or mixed with lima beans as succotash.

[Sidenote: Good and Bad Canned Goods]

_Peas_ on the other hand are no good. Too much water, and too little pea is the main trouble, which combines discouragingly with the fact that a mouthful of peas is not nearly as hearty or satisfying as a mouthful of corn.

_Tomatoes_ are carried extensively, but are very bulky and heavy for what you get out of them.

_Canned Fruit_ is sheer mad luxury. A handful of the dried article would equal a half dozen cans.

_Salmon._--A pleasant and compact variation on ordinary fare. It can be eaten cold, as it comes from the can; or can be fried or baked.

_Picnic Stuff_, such as potted chicken, devilled ham and the rest of it are abominations.

_Corned Beef_ is fair.

To sum up, I think that if I were to go in for canned goods, I should concentrate on corn and salmon, with one or two corned beef on the side.

[Sidenote: Desiccated Foods]

As I mentioned at the beginning of this chapter modern desiccation of foods has helped the wilderness traveler to some extent. I think I have tried about everything in this line. In the following list I shall mention those I think good, and also those particularly bad. Any not mentioned it may be implied that I do not care for myself, but am willing to admit that you may.

_Canned Eggs._--The very best thing of this kind is made by the National Bakers' Egg Co., of Sioux City. It is a coa.r.s.e yellow granulation and comes in one-pound screw-top tin cans. Each can contains the equivalent of five dozen eggs, and costs, I think, only $1.25. A tablespoon of the powder and two of water equals an egg. With that egg you can make omelets and scrambled eggs, which you could not possibly tell from the new-laid. Two cans, weighing two pounds, will last you all summer; and think of the delight of an occasional egg for breakfast! The German canned eggs--Hoffmeir's is sold in this country--are rather evil tasting, do not beat up light, and generally decline sullenly to cook.

[Sidenote: Erbswurst]

_Soups._--Some of the compressed soups are excellent. The main difficulty is that they are put up in flimsy paper packages, difficult to carry without breaking. Also I have found that when you take but two kettles, you are generally hungry enough to begrudge one of them to anything as thin as even the best soup. However, occasionally a hot cupful is a good thing; and I should always include a few packages. The most filling and nouris.h.i.+ng is the German army ration called _Erbswurst_. It comes in a sausage-shaped package, which is an exception to the rule in that it is strongly constructed. You cut off an inch and boil it. The taste is like that of a thick bean soup. It is said to contain all the elements of nutrition.

Knorr's packages make good soup when you get hold of the right sort. We have tried them all, and have decided that they can be divided into two cla.s.ses--those that taste like soup, and the dishwater brand. The former comprise pea, bean, lentil, rice, and onion; the latter, all others.

[Sidenote: Soup Tablets]

Maggi's tablets are smaller than Knorr's and rather better packed. The green pea and lentil make really delicious soup.

Bouillon capsules of all sorts I have no use for. They serve to flavor hot water, and that is about all.

_Desiccated Vegetables_ come in tablets about four inches square and a quarter of an inch thick. A quarter of one of these tablets makes a dish for two people. You soak it several hours, then boil it. In general the results are all alike, and equally tasteless and loathsome. The most notable exception is the string beans. They come out quite like the original vegetable, both in appearance and taste. I always take some along. Enough for twenty meals could be carried in the inside pocket of your waistcoat.

_Julienne_, made by Prevet. A French mixture of carrots and other vegetables cut into strips and dried. When soaked and boiled it swells to its original size. A half cupful makes a meal for two. It ranks with the string beans in being thoroughly palatable. These two preparations are better than canned goods, and are much more easily carried.

_Potatoes, saxin, saccharine, and crystallose_ I have already mentioned.

[Sidenote: Quant.i.ty]

That completes the most elaborate grub list I should care to recommend.

As to a quant.i.tative list, that is a matter of considerably more elasticity. I have kept track of the exact quant.i.ty of food consumed on a great many trips, and have come to the conclusion that anything but the most tentative statements must spring from lack of experience. A man paddling a canoe, or carrying a pack all day, will eat a great deal more than would the same man sitting a horse. A trip in the clear, bracing air of the mountains arouses keener appet.i.tes than a desert journey near the borders of Mexico, and a list of supplies ample for the one would be woefully insufficient for the other. The variation is really astonis.h.i.+ng.

Therefore the following figures must be experimented with rather cautiously. They represent an average of many of my own trips.

[Sidenote: Grub List]

ONE MONTH'S SUPPLIES FOR ONE MAN ON A FOREST TRIP

15 lbs. flour (includes flour, pancake flour, cornmeal in proportion to suit) 15 lbs. meat (bacon or boned ham) 8 lbs. rice lb. baking powder 1 lb. tea 2 lbs. sugar 150 saccharine tablets 8 lbs. cereal 1 lb. raisins Salt and pepper 5 lbs. beans 3 lbs. or doz. Erbswurst 2 lbs. or doz. dried vegetables 2 lbs. dried potatoes 1 can Bakers' eggs.

ONE MONTH'S SUPPLIES FOR ONE MAN ON PACK HORSE TRIP

15 lbs. flour supplies (flour, flapjack flour, cornmeal) 15 lbs. ham and bacon 2 lbs. hominy 4 lbs. rice lb. baking powder 1 lb. coffee lb. tea 20 lbs. potatoes A few onions 2 lbs. sugar 150 saccharine tablets 3 lb. pail cottolene, or can olive oil 3 lbs. cream of wheat 5 lbs. mixed dried fruit Salt, pepper, cinnamon 3 cans evaporated cream gal. syrup or honey 5 lbs. beans Chilis Pilot bread (in flour sack) 6 cans corn 6 cans salmon 2 cans corned beef 1 can Bakers' eggs doz. Maggi's soups doz. dried vegetables--beans and Julienne.

[Sidenote: Don't Figure Grub List too Closely]

These lists are not supposed to be "eaten down to the bone." A man cannot figure that closely. If you buy just what is included in them you will be well fed, but will probably have a little left at the end of the month. If you did not, you would probably begin to worry about the twenty-fifth day. And this does not pay. Of course if you get game and fish, you can stay out over the month.

CHAPTER VIII

CAMP COOKERY

[Sidenote: Secret of Camp Cookery]

THE secret of successful camp cookery is experimentation and boldness.

If you have not an ingredient, subst.i.tute the nearest thing to it; or something in the same general cla.s.s of foods. After you get the logic of what const.i.tutes a pudding, or bread, or cake, or anything else, cut loose from cook-books and invent with what is contained in your grub bags. Do not be content until, by s.h.i.+fting trials, you get your proportions just right for the best results. Even though a dish is quite edible, if the possibility of improving it exists, do not be satisfied with repeating it.

This chapter will not attempt to be a camp cook-book. Plenty of the latter can be bought. It will try to explain dishes not found in camp cook-books, but perhaps better adapted to the free and easy culinary conditions that obtain over an open fire and in the open air.

After _bacon_ gets a little old, parboil the slices before frying them.

[Sidenote: How to Make Bread]

_Bread._--The secret of frying-pan bread is a medium stiff batter in the proportion of one cup of flour, one teaspoon of salt, one tablespoon of sugar, and a heaping teaspoon of baking powder. This is poured into the well-greased and hot pan, and set flat near the fire. In a very few moments it will rise and stiffen. Prop the pan nearly perpendicular before the blaze. When done on one side, turn over. A clean sliver or a fork stuck through the center of the loaf will tell you when it is done: if the sliver comes out clean, without dough sticking to it, the baking is finished.

In an oven the batter must be somewhat thinner. Stiff batter makes close-grained heavy bread; thin batter makes light and crisp bread. The problem is to strike the happy medium, for if too stiff the loaf is soggy, and if too thin it sticks to the pan. Dough should be wet only at the last moment, after the pan is ready, and should be lightly stirred, never kneaded or beaten.

Biscuits are made in the same way, with the addition of a dessert-spoonful of cottolene, or a half spoonful of olive oil.

Cornbread is a mixture of half cornmeal and half flour, with salt, baking powder, and shortening.

[Sidenote: Unleavened Bread]

Unleavened bread properly made is better as a steady diet than any of the baking powder products. The amateur cook is usually disgusted with it because it turns out either soggy or leathery. The right method, however, results in crisp, cracker-like bread, both satisfying and nouris.h.i.+ng. It is made as follows:

Take three-quarters of a cup of either cornmeal, oatmeal, Cream of Wheat, or Germea, and mix it thoroughly with an equal quant.i.ty of flour.