[Paddlewise] 3 questions to chew on

Keith Wrage wrote:
<snip>
>>>>>Question 1:
What would you plan for menus for your trip?
two areas to consider:
- basic it-keeps-the-fire-burning foods - may not taste like much
but lightweight, easy, quick, and involves minimum clean up<<<<<

For the basic stuff (which generally describes my breakfasts and lunches),
I generally take some kind of indestructible cereal (like granola or
muesli), in serving size amounts added to sandwich baggies, add powdered
milk (although -- don't gag -- I've been experimenting with dried soy-milk,
which is better than you'd think!), and then in camp I just add water
either to the baggy itself for an eat-and-go meal, or if it's a lazy
morning I'll get out a bowl.

A fancy breakfast would only be on a day we don't move camp.  My favorite
treat would be something like Monkeybread (do a search on the internet for
probably several thousand recipes for this), cinnamon rolls (cooked in an
GSI aluminum dutch oven) or blueberry pancakes.

Lunches are usually no-cook stuff like bagels, pitta bread, homemade trail
bars (<-- that by itself is probably a subject we could develop a thread
for), hard cheese (like parmesan), jerky, and lots of fluid to wash all
this stuff down.

Easy dinners would be dehydrated stuff.  My favorites are dishes like
tamale pie, where you cook it all at home, spread in on dehydrator trays
and dry it to maybe a third of its original volume.  Preparation is easy (I
try to start reconstituting it before dinner, sometimes even while still
paddling) and the "yums" to "weight-and-volume-and-hassle" ratio is pretty
high.  Only slightly more work is some variation on spagetti (where the
sauce is also dry-able unless it has too much oil in it, like puttanesca)
with garlic bread (the real stuff, if you can swing it), a cabbage salad
(cabbage, as all self-respecting paddlers know, is virtually immortal) and
a nice glass of pinot noir!  We used to prepare desserts like the Jello
cheesecakes, but we've all gotten pretty tired of these and don't really
need stuff that heavy, so we've moved to ligher faire like biscottis or
pudding.

As far as the stuff the cardiologists try to steer you away from, a good
puttanesca (as mentioned above -- weighing in at probably 1/3 olive oil)
would probably fill the bill (except I guess olive oil is now regarded as
being not that bad, so maybe not!).  An expensive but delicious appetizer
is to bring a big old platter of frozen shrimp (has to be eaten first
night) with dipping sauce.  But in general, there's not much that you can
prepare at home that can't be synthesized in camp (where that "outdoor
taste" advantage balances out the lack of a true oven, etc.).

I don't have too much to add to the "favorite cooking system" part of the
question, except I really like using a dutch oven -- at least when you're
not in a hurry.  Also, if you're in an area where the fishing is good, a
nice way to prepare it is "indian style", where you fillet the fish, press
it between a lattice-work of sticks, wire it shut (I bring a little roll of
copper wire for this purpose), and plant it maybe a foot or two away from a
fire (varies a lot on how hot the fire is).  I've given up on those
backpacker espresso machines as being too much hassle and mess.  But --
where do you get the inflatable french pastry chefs?  Do they come in both
female and male versions?

Evan
Woodinville, Washington



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