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Recipes

This section is the opportunity for all you accomplished wilderness chefs to share your camping recipes. You're invited to submit your favourites for everyone to see. In order to best describe your culinary magic, please follow this format . . .

  • Name your recipe
  • Identify it as either snack, breakfast, quick lunch or full meal .
  • List ingredients in both Imperial and metric if possible.
  • Describe how to pack the ingredients.
  • Instruct as to the cooking procedure at camp.
  • Give your name and email address.

If you have an original photograph of the finished dish, send it along too.

Email your recipes to AlgonquinAdventures.com.


Breakfast Recipe

Apple / Cranberry Sauce ... submitted by Blair Bishop ... "After the fresh food has run out, this light weight sauce makes both a great filler for crepes and a super topping for pancakes or toast."

    Ingredients
    - 1/3 lb dried apple rings per person.
    - 1/8 lb dried cranberries per person.

    Packing
    - Pack the cranberries in a plastic bag with 1/4 tsp. of cinnamon.
    - Pack the apple rings in a separate plastic bag. Keep both waterproof.

    Cooking
    - Place dried cranberries in pot.
    - Cut dried apple rings into quarters.
    - Place both in pot.
    - Cover with water.
    - Add sugar, brown sugar or honey to taste (optional).
    - Simmer until apples are tender. Take care not to run out of water. Stir regularly. Don't allow to scorch.
    - Serve hot, warm or cold.
    - Enjoy.


Meat Recipe

Beef Jerky or "Jurky" ... submitted by Bill and Betty Lennips ... "Europeans have brine-cured their meat like this for centuries."

Here's Bill cutting up some beef jerky.

    Ingredients
    - 1 "eye of the round" (about 3 lbs. of fresh beef)

    Preparation (at home)
    - Fill a stainless steel pail with water to accommodate covering the meat properly.
    - Stir in enough pickling salt to make a fresh egg float.
    - Place meat in the brine after removing most of the fat. Don't cut the meat at all. The 'eye' is the central muscle of the hind quarter and is about three- four inches diameter by 10 to 14 inches long. It's recommended to use the whole chunk. But, if you want to use only part of that, cut it directly across.
    - When taking the meat out of the brine, rinse it off with cold water. Then thread a strong line through one end to hang it up to dry.
    - It cannot spoil at this stage but keeping flies off it makes sense.
    - Let it dry in an aerated, cool (room temperature) place. Two weeks will cure it. Turning a fan on it will make it ready in one.
    - Darkness or light makes no difference whatsoever.

    Cooking
    - This jerky may be carried in a backpack for any length of time in any temperature without spoiling.
    - Keep it like that until it is all used, cutting off slices of meat (across the grain) as needed.
    - Sliced thin like potato chips, it makes wonderful tasting portage snacks that restore salt to the body.
    - It's also great on regular sandwiches, but it should always be sliced thin.
    - Also, smaller chips can be boiled into soups in place of bouillon.


Bread Recipe

Baked Bread ... submitted by Bill and Betty Lennips ... "Ten days on the trail and you'll be wanting some freshly baked bread."

Bill kneading the bread dough. If your canoe is 'fiberglass', don't sit on it! Chuck in some raisins or dried cranberries and you'll be famous forever. Here's how it's done.

Spend a warm and windless day in camp. Rebuild your firepit so it allows your baking pan to sit in the center with two inches space all around. Maintain a tight but hot fire creating lots of solid coals. Short but solid maple wood works best. The idea is to really saturate the rocks with heat.

On a flat saucer, pour a quarter inch of warm untreated lake water. Throughout this process all water is untreated as sterilizing tablets may kill the yeast. Dissolve one third teaspoon of sugar in this and pour a half package of quick rise yeast on top. Too much sugar will kill the yeast. Cover with a damp cloth and set close to the fire .. about 100 degrees Fahrenheit is OK.

Prepare your baking pan. We use our trusty six quart roasting pan as it allows the option of making buns. Maybe you prefer to carry a regular bread pan. Or perhaps you prefer the traditional "hobo bread" made in a topless quart container. Just make sure you grease the thing properly with margarine to keep the loaf from sticking.

Monitor any insulating wood to make sure it doesn't ignite. For a regular size loaf scoop two cups of flower into a warm bowl. Add some melted margarine, two 'three finger' pinches of salt, and two spoons of sugar. Mix well. Add your "started" yeast: it should now look like thick porridge, stir again and add warm water until lumpy.

Sprinkle flower onto a flat surface. If your canoe is of strong construction, its bottom is good. Dump out your dough and knead "with vigor", adding water or flower as needed to create a dough that is smooth and just dry enough to keep from sticking to your hands. When done, plunk the thing into your baking pan (unless you plan to add fruit - then see next step). Push down nice and tight, and smear margarine on top. Cover with damp cloth and set in nice warm place to rise. Go play until the lump is twice it's original size and looks like a puffball. Be on guard for chipmunks.

One kneading is all it gets unless you're a purist or want to add fruit. In that case let rise just in the bowl (covered, warm place) until the lump is about 1 1/2 it's original size. Re-knead adding the fruit, then place into the pan and the warm place. If you plan to use fruit ease up on the sugar because too much sweetness will kill the yeast. The resulting bread is quite coarse but the larger than normal cavities are great for extra butter and jam.

When properly risen, place the pan in your 'oven'. Handle carefully because you can actually 'collapse' your creation by jolting it. Scrape all the coals out of the fire pit but keep them handy and alive. If you can't hold your bare hands inside the pit for more than three seconds it should be hot enough. Place three hot walnut size stones on the bottom of the pit to elevate the pan. Seal the entire pit as good as possible with stones, bark, etc.. Another variation of the oven is an open bottomed one made of birchbark (taken from fallen deadwood) placed above a layer of hot coals. With this type, the baking pan does not require a lid during the baking process. Heat radiation should do the rest.

Go play again but check regularly for heat. Add coals to the oven if extra heat is needed. But prevent them from touching the pan. Check readiness by stabbing a wood sliver into it's center. When it comes out clean and dry it's done. Flip loaf from pan and cover with a damp cloth to keep the crust from getting too hard. Send up a smoke signal and we'll be along with the maple syrup.


Dessert Recipe

Reflector Oven Peach Cobbler ... submitted by Jay Maul . . preparation time 30 to 60 minutes . . makes cobbler for 5 to 8.

    Equipment
    - 1 reflector oven.
    - 1 frying pan with removable or folding handle (approx 2" deep by 8" to 9" in diameter).
    - 1 large stirring/serving spoon.
    - 1 two-quart mixing pot.
    - 1 pair of "Hot-Pot-Tongs" a.k.a. a pair of pliers or channel lock pliers .

    Ingredients
    - 1½ cups of dehydrated sliced peaches (If you're dehydrating your own, you'll need about 3 fresh peaches or ...
    - 3 cups of frozen peach slices. Be sure to dip peach slices in a Fruit Fresh solution before dehydrating to maintain the fruit's color).
    - 1 four-serving size box of peach Jell-O.
    - 1 single serving packet of granulated sugar.
    - 3 cups of Bisquick Mix (add 1/4 cup of powdered milk mix to Bisquick flour - amount required to make drop biscuits per the instructions on the box).
    - 3½ cups of water.

    Directions
    1. Soap outside of frying pan and inside of reflector oven to make cleanup easier.
    2. Place oven in front of fire to preheat and dry soap before you begin cooking.
    3. In 2 qt mixing pot, add Bisquick/powdered milk mixture. Stir in 1 ½ cups of water. Mix well. This should produce a thick batter, too thick to run off the spoon but not a dough. If necessary add more water to achieve the correct consistency. Cover, to keep "things" out of it and set aside (away from the fire).
    4. In the frying pan, combine 2 cups water and Peach Jell-O. Heat and stir until the Jell-O dissolves. Add the dehydrated peaches and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally to keep from scorching.
    5. Remove boiling liquid from the fire. Note: be careful where you set it as not to get the soap from the pan on a surface of anything that may cause the soap to get into a lake (ie. the bottom of an upside-down canoe table). A clean pan lid works well as a trivet. Remove or fold in the pan handle at this time as you will need to turn the cobbler 360 degrees while baking.
    6. Spoon the Bisquick batter into the frying pan. Cover the liquid as evenly as possible.
    7. Sprinkle the granulated sugar over the Bisquick.
    8. Place in reflector oven to bake. Rotating a quarter turn periodically to ensure even cooking. Liquid bubbling up around the edges is a good indication that the fire is the proper temperature. A large quantity of "pinkie finger" diameter wood seems to produce the best results. Experience has shown that cooking time is decreased when you use a "flame" cooking fire rather than a bed of coals or larger (bigger that your thumb) diameter firewood.
    9. The aroma of the cobbler will usually draw inquiring noses to the cooking area, it is helpful to put them to work whittling tooth picks to be used to see if the cobbler is done.
    10. Cooking time will vary depending on your fire but should range from 20 to 40 minutes. Insert a "Toothpick" to determine when it's done (when it comes out clean in most areas). Note: some cooking will continue after the cobbler is removed from the fire, so if it's a little under done in one or two places, that will fix itself.
    11. Remove from fire and allow to cool, (See note in set 5 above).

    Hints
    A. Bringing along a pair of elbow length leather gloves can make cooking over an open fire much easier. Remember that these should be put up with your "smellables" at night as mice, chipmunks and squirrels have been know to view them as appetizers.
    B. Be careful to fully support your reflector oven. Placing a large stone under it can help avert disasters.
    C. Be sure to have plenty of firewood prepared (collected, broken up and sorted) before you begin. You'll need a lot of small stuff.
    D. Any brand of biscuit mix and gelatin can be used

    Variation
    Dehydrated apples can be substituted for peaches. When doing this, substitute the peach Jell-O with 2 envelopes of instant hot apple cider and 2 packets of Knox unflavored Gelatin.


Recipe #5

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