Cooking in the Backcountry

Going on outdoor adventures is one of my most favorite things to do in life, and for me, one of the greatest aspects of it is cooking outdoors. Rather than dining on a flattened sandwich, a warm meal is the perfect ending to a day spent enjoying nature's finest. Cooking a meal over a fire or with a minimalist camping stove away from the comforts of our modern kitchens brings us closer nature and closer to our primitive ancestors. Sure, few of us will ever be in a situation requiring us to stalk and kill an animal or forage for nuts and berries to survive, but there is something primal about sitting around a fire as the moon rises, miles from anything, and preparing a meal with a few good friends. Watching a fire as it slowly consumes your pile of firewood branch by branch has a certain calming effect. It's intimate. Many of my favorite and deepest conversations happened in this very situation.

A lot of people think that backcountry meals are limited to peanut butter sandwiches or bland freeze dried prepackaged meals, but that is simply not true. In the past, I have cooked beef stroganoff, chicken and rice dishes, a variety of soups and stews, steak, pork tenderloin, fresh bread, and even brownies. None these types of meals are particularly difficult to prepare. They just take a little planning. From my own experience (and I'm sure many others would agree), single pot dinners work best of all. With single pot meals, you and your friends can plan a hearty meal and waste little time cooking it, whereas cooking individual meals leads to lots of dirty dishes. There are two ways to accomplish this. You can either carry a small stove and some type of mess kit, or you could cook over a fire. I have done and enjoyed both, and they each have their advantages. I tend to use a stove more often for the convenience, but I have to admit that cooking over an open fire or on a bed of coals is fun. You can grill meats over a grate, cook the fish you just caught on a flat rock, or make use of any number of aluminum foil creations, such as a skillet made with a Y-shaped stick wrapped with aluminum foil, enclosed foil pockets, or even a foil pot. You really are limited only by your imagination. For the outdoor MacGyvers out there, I have even seen a design for an aluminum foil reflector oven. Talk about ingenuity!

I am particularly fond of soups and stews for warming the bones on those chilly nights, which we all know are the best times to be camping in the first place. There are no bugs, and you have a great reason to build a fire. Stews are easy to cook because most of the work can be done at home. All you have to do is throw all of your ingredients in a bag and hit the trail. Use freeze-dried ingredients wherever possible to prevent spoiling and to reduce weight. The following is a recipe taken from The One Pan Gourmet cookbook.

Basic Soup

• 1 tablespoon oil (optional)
• 1/2 pound meat (optional)
• 4 cups water
• 4 chicken or beef bouillon cubes
• 1 small tomato, 2 to 3 tablespoons tomato paste, or small handful of sun-dried tomatoes
• 1 carrot, chopped (freeze-dried)
• 1/2 cup freeze-dried peas
• 1/2 cup freeze-dried potato slices
• 1 teaspoon celery seeds
• 2 tablespoons dried parsley
• 2 tablespoons dried onion flakes
• pepper to taste
• garlic powder to taste

It's a very versatile recipe that leaves itself open to many interpretations depending on the meat you choose and what additional spices you add. I always find it fun to reuse a recipe like this and see how many different variations you can create.

There are many outdoor cookbooks available, but my three favorites are shown below. Not only are they filled with great recipes but also with great knowledge like how to build a fire for optimal cooking, how to clean a fish, how to plan meals, and what to include in your spice kit--essential for turning a good meal into a great one.