Campfire Cuisine

Published in The Albany Times Union, July 2005

By Stacey Morris
Special to The Times Union

Campfire Cuisine
Imaginative Recipes for the Outdoors Let You Eat Simply or Like a Gourmet

Even if you’ve never been camping, you’re probably familiar with the list of old stand-by’s that have been associated with camping cuisine.

Fried eggs and bacon, franks and beans, freeze dried meals brought to life with a splash of water, topped off with roasted marshmallows on a twig (or s’mores for the more adventurous).

However, there are a few campers out there who’ve tired of the unimaginativeness of it all.

And instead of complaining about the lackluster fare cooked over a campfire or RV stovetop, they came up with a cache of head-turning recipes.

Fortunately for the rest of us, they’ve compiled the gastronomic treasure trove into cookbooks.

Life-long camper and grandmother Joan Prins has written two cookbooks, “Beyond Hot Dogs” and “Cooking Down the Road.”

The first evolved out of recipes the Hudson Falls resident had amassed over her 40-plus years of camping.

“I’ve always been crazy about cooking and every time my family and I went camping, I’d try people’s cooking and write the recipe down on a napkin or piece of paper table cloth.

When word got out about Prins’ collection of camping recipes, a friend suggested she publish them, rather than dig through her pile of paper napkins every time a request came in.

Her first book, “Beyond Hot Dogs,” is a 108-page compilation more than 400 recipes.

It includes recipes for appetizers, entrees, recipes for children, soups, salads and desserts.

The second book, “Cooking Down the Road...and at Home, Too,” evolved out of an avalanche of recipes sent to her by readers of Prins’ first book.

Both books embrace Prins’ philosophy of keeping camping cuisine tasty, but above all, simple.

“I’ve looked at many camping cookbooks and when they’d have 40 ingredients in one recipe or fancy ingredients, I’d think ‘what kind of camper uses that stuff’?

“Campers use things that are quick and simple so I deliberately use simple ingredients in the cookbooks.”

Among Prins’ favorite recipes are: “Coffee Can Buffalo Wings,” “Speedy Donuts,” “Grilled Cheesy Loaf,” “Ham and Corn Fritters,” “Horseradish Pot Roast on the Grill” “Quick Trifle,” “Stovetop Bread Pudding” and “Orange Pineapple Cloud.”

“Nobody in the world enjoys cooking out as much as the American people,” Prins writes in her book. “Don’t limit your outdoor enjoyment to summer! Spring and Fall are ideal times for camping, especially when the campfire is used for cooking.”

“I try and dispel the myth that camp cooking has to be plain or boring,” she said. “If you’re camping, you have to use what’s in your cooler or at the campground store and they don’t have anchovy paste or Shitake mushrooms.”

True to her word, the recipes in her book don’t venture beyond what’s in the average family’s cupboard.

And then there are campers like Rick Greenspan and Hal Kahn who live by the philosophy of ‘why deprive yourself of crepes, sushi and soufflés just because you’re camping?’

Their book, “Leave No Crumbs,” is filled with recipes ranging from chocolate cake and buttermilk scones to Japanese cold noodles and trout sashimi.

“We push the envelope,” explained Greenspan of the duo’s out-of-the-ordinary camping fare. “You may not need a chocolate cake with icing out there, but, well, you do.
“It’s the ultimate aphrodisiac...if you don’t believe us, just try it...and call us in the morning.”

Two tools that the authors recommend for successful camp cooking are a Sierra Cup (a lightweight drinking cup made of two kinds of metal so hot beverages may be held comfortably) and a dehydrator.

“The Sierra Cup is a good tool for campers to have,” explained Greenspan. ‘And dehydrators are great because you can use quality ingredients that take the place of freeze-dried camping foods.”

For recipes such as pumpkin-sage soup and spinach and roasted peppers risotto, the majority of the dish is made at home.

Spaghetti sauce and chicken casserole alike come out like a fruit roll-up. All that’s required is to bring along bags of dehydrated dinners in waiting and a few other ingredients.

“Using a dehydrator is good if you want to make quick meals,” he said. “All you do is add hot water.”

Greenspan points out that some recipes can be made on the campsite, such as bread and cake.

“All our baking recipes can be made over the fire by putting a pot in the coals,” he said. “The heat from the coals bakes the cake or bread from the outside in, like old-fashioned coffee can bread.”

Greenspan, a resident of the San Francisco Bay area, said recipes in his book aren’t as time consuming as they might look.

“It’s just something people aren’t used to doing,” he said. “There’s no reason why you can’t eat the same stuff you do at home, why have only franks and beans while you’re on a camping trip?”
Greenspan said “Leave No Crumbs” is geared for all types of camping, from canoeing and high peaks hiking to staying put on a campsite for a week.

“If you’re hiking ten miles a day and you don’t have much daylight left once you reach your destination, then you’ll want to bring along dehydrated meals,” he said. “If I’m camping with my family for the week at a particular site, then we make things like pancakes and crepes.”

Greenspan said the book has gone over well with campers, including one who recently returned from a camping trip in Nepal.

“People are invariably surprised at what they’re able to cook over a fire,” he said.

Prins gets plenty of opportunity to use her recipes. When not camping, she can often be found at Whispering Pines, her son’s campground in Greenfield, helping plan the recreational activities.

Prins said the simplicity of her recipes is attracting another audience: college students.

“I’ll have campers order my cookbook, love the recipes and order more for kids going off to college,” she said.

“Sometimes people will call and order a dozen to give as presents,” said Prins. “That makes me feel good.”

“Leave No Crumbs,” retails for $14.95 and is available at Amazon.com .

“Cooking Down The Road” and “Beyond Hot Dogs” sell for $10 each and includes shipping. If both are ordered together the cost is $18. Call Prins at 747-7822 for more information.

From “Beyond Hot Dogs,” by Joan Prins

Turkey and Dumplings
2 cans Campbell’s chunky turkey soup
1 cup Bisquick
1/3 cup milk
In pan, bring soup to boil. Combine biscuit mix and milk with fork. Drop 5-6 spoonfuls on boiling soup. Cook, uncovered, over low heat for 10 minutes. Cover. Cook 10 minutes more.
— Mary Adelphi
Concord, Mass.

Beer Bread
3 cup self-rising flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1 can of beer
Combine flour and sugar. Add beer and stir only until well mixed. Let set 5 minutes, and then pour into greased pan. Bake at 400 degrees for 50 minutes in camp oven over coals.
— Butch Chase
Kingsbury.

From "Cooking Down the Road,” by Joan Prins

Roast in the Coals
(It won’t be salty – It won’t be dry!)
3 1/2 to 4 pounds sirloin tip roast
1 6-ounce jar prepared mustard
1 cup salt
Prepare fire so you have a good bed of hot embers. You should have a large, wide fire so that coals can be raked up as needed.
Smear meat with mustard and pat salt into mustard until it can hold no more.
Lay roast in coals, raking embers around it. Turn roast after 45 minutes. Cook another 45 minutes for rare (140 degrees), 60 minutes for medium (160 degrees) and 75 minutes for well done (170 degrees) on meat thermometer. Remove from coals and knock off black crust.

From "Cooking Down the Road,” by Joan Prins
Icebox Pie
1 can Eagle Brand condensed milk
1 small can frozen pink lemonade
1 small carton Cool Whip
1 ready-made graham cracker crust
Mix milk, lemonade and Cool Whip. Pour into crust. Cool.

From "Cooking Down the Road,” by Joan Prins
Reuben Casserole
1 16-ounce container of sour cream
1 medium chopped onion
1 quart drained sauerkraut
8 to 9 oz. corned beef, chopped (in package) or 2 cans, sliced
8 ounces Swiss cheese
Dark rye bread crumbs
2 tablespoons melted butter
Mix sour cream and onion; spread in 9 x 13-inch pan. Spread on sauerkraut. Layer with corned beef. Add chopped Swiss cheese. Top with breadcrumbs. Drizzle with butter. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

From "Cooking Down the Road,” by Joan Prins
Bourbon Beans
1 28-ounce can Brick Oven baked beans
2 teaspoons freeze-dried instant coffee
3 tablespoons bourbon
4 pineapple slices, halved
1 tablespoon brown sugar
Mix beans, coffee and bourbon. Place in casserole. Stand pineapple halves around edges. Sprinkle with brown sugar. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

From "Cooking Down the Road,” by Joan Prins
Rarebit Soup
1 can tomato soup
1 can cheddar cheese soup
1 can milk
1 can water
Croutons
Mix soups, milk and water. Heat and serve with croutons.

From “Leave No Crumbs,” by Rick Greenspan and Hal Kahn
Brownies
Makes 8-10 brownies

4 squares semi-sweet chocolate

4 heaping spoons of ghee (clarified butter) plus more to grease the pan

2/3 Sierra cup sugar

2 eggs or powdered egg mix equivalent

½ spoon brandy or vanilla

2/3 Sierra cup flour

½ Sierra cup chopped nuts

Have hot coals ready at a campfire, clearing a space in center for pot. As the coals cool, brownies will bake.

Melt chocolate and butter together over low heat. Pour the chocolate-butter mixture into a large pot and stir in sugar, eggs, brandy and flour. Stir until evenly mixed then fold in nuts. Coat a fry pan with a thin layer of clarified butter.

Pour mixture into pan, smoothing it in a circular shape at an even depth all around the pan. Bake for 20-25 minutes. Brownies are done when a knife comes out clean. Allow to cool and cut into squares.

From “Leave No Crumbs,” by Rick Greenspan and Hal Kahn

Chicken Casserole

Serves 4-6

¼ cup seasoned flour (flour mixed with savory, chives, basil, tarragon, paprika, pepper and salt)

1 4-pound chicken cut in large pieces

6 tablespoons olive oil, plus more if necessary

1 onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, diced or mashed in a press

3 celery stalks, chopped

1 carrot, sliced into ¼-inch rounds

1 ½ cups chicken stock

Salt and pepper

1 cup sliced mushrooms

10 pimiento-stuffed olives, halved

3-4 Sierra cups water to rehydrate

At Home:

Preheat oven to 350

Pour the seasoned flour in a brown paper bag. Throw in the chicken parts, close the bad and shake vigorously. Pour 4 tablespoons olive oil into a large, heavy-bottomed pot or Dutch oven. Brown the dusted chicken in oil for five minutes per piece. Remove and set aside.

Sauté the onion, garlic, celery and carrot in same oil, adding more if needed, till vegetables are softened, about 5 minutes. Return chicken to pot with vegetables. Add broth to barely cover. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Bake covered for 1 ½ hours or until chicken is tender.

Variation: add 1 cup cooked rice to casserole during last 15 minutes of baking

Meanwhile, sauté mushrooms in remaining olive oil in small pan. Five minutes before the chicken is done, add mushrooms and olives to the casserole. Allow casserole to cool. Remove chicken parts and de-bone. Return chicken to pot, stirring.

Spread on lined trays and dehydrate 12 to 24 hours, until completely dry and crunchy. Freeze in airtight bags until you’re ready to head out. It will last up to one week in the wilderness. Do not open and eat while driving to the trailhead, otherwise you many be too full and contented to go any farther.

At camp:

Rehydrate with the water to cover. Bring to a boil then simmer for about 20 minutes. The chicken takes a long time to rehydrate so if you have the time, let it first sit in a pot of water till ready to heat for dinner.
.

Close this window