What Do Yall Cook at Camp ?

[LampLighter]

We eat fries, ( the red necks call them taters) fried or grilled onion, either deer sausage, deer tenderized pieces ( they beat them with one of those toothed hammers) or fried fish.

I never cook because I get back so late due to being so far back in the woods. However the red necks always cook, and I eat that. I chip in the day before. If I don't eat with them, it's definitely sometin easy. I like Steak & potato soup from the can with some Tony Chacerie's on it. OR, green beans with sausage and Tony's on it. Everybody in La & MS has a can of Tony's. I don't lounge around at night. It is eat, repack clothes, pack, whatever, set the clock and in bed. I get up at 2:45 am :eek:

If I hunt the north end, it's 45 min by truck, then 1 1/2 hr by foot :eek:

[ncboman]

I'm usually by myself on hunting trips so I often cook several day's worth of hamburgers or pork chops at one time when I cook. A can of beans and/or some rice and warm the burgers works for me. ... or some sausage and eggs for a break.

Much better is to camp with Twanger. Walt cooks some good viddles. :D

[LampLighter]

I guess everybody eats at McDonalds. :mad::mad::mad:

[GF.]

Man, it's been so long since I had a camp..... :rolleyes:

Best camp dinner I probably ever ate consisted of one big, sweet yellow onion, a good-sized hunk of real bacon, and several thick slices of the liver out of my first bow-kill, which was that fork mulie I walked up on with the old Howatt.

But that was a grouse trip. I always ate real well on grouse trips, because I'd set up the Grouse Palace (10-man arctic squad tent) with the woodstove (built out of a.50 cal ammo can and drag a forest service picnic table inside. Then, depending on how my day had gone, I'd eat a grouse or one of the salmon that run up out of Lake Superior in early October. That first weekend with a 10 in the month column was a regular deal for me for about 4-5 years.... Plant was usually shut down for a union-contract holiday, so I'd take the time off w/out pay and make a 4-5 day trip out of it.

:cool:

Usually, up in MN, we had our 'camp' at a little (4-cabin) lake 'resort' owned by my buddy's family, and his Grandma was only too happy to have her boy, a coupla grandsons and a tagalong like me to cook for. My buddy's Grandpa was always happy to see us, too, especially since he heated the house with wood, and we always left his wood-bin in the basement stacked to the ceiling. Folks in their 80s sure do love boys in their 20s and 30s :D


This year, though, I will be in a camp again, though not for deer (oh, woe is me!:D ) I don't know what we'll be eating, though... have to settle that with little bro. It'll probably be freeze-dried somethin' or other, I suppose, because it's a pretty good haul up to the bivvy site. That's not my idea of real food, though; usually, the portions are undersized, there's too much salt, and it's overall just not particularly satisfying, let alone anything that fond memories will be built around. On the brighter side, there's very little trash and usually no leftovers to bring in the bear...

I do have a mind to drag some veni steaks out there with me, but I'm not sure how to get that on an airliner. Do you think they'll let me carry on a coupla frozen bricks? Not sure if I'd want to just check that or not...

Anyway, back-pack camping sort of limits the options on the foodables, but I'll let you know what we come up with if anything kind of unusual works out.

[Wismon]

I get up at 2:45 am :eek:
LampLighter, is that how you got your name?:D

[Twanger]

Sadly I have not been in a hunting camp for a couple of years now, but do like to cook. Usually will cook a lot of venison from the previous year... Saute'd butterflied backstrap with mushrooms and onions is a favorite. Grilled backstrap or choice rump cuts wrapped in bacon. Hard Times Chili mix using venison and some bacon fat prepared in advance and served over Fritos, spaghetti, or rice. We also make, or have made venison sausage and using this will prepare Zataraine's dirty rice or Jambalya for a great hot one-pot meal.

[DaveHawk]

During the day protein bars, apples, sunflower seeds and energy drinks. The evening I don't mind to cook.

[postoak]

No camp -- 35 minutes to my hunting site. But in previous camps, stew was big.

[dave-t.]

I have a horrible story about stew. One of those, nobody will ever forget/live down types.:o

I'll break a doz eggs and throw in some cooked sausage, maybe some onion, and mix it together in a ziplock. Don't take long to our a little out in a pan and get it going on a cloman while the cofee is brewing.

Broccoli and cheese soup is nice on a cold day, just make it the day before and bring the pan or tupperware container. Chilli, ham and beans are other things you can warm up.

Lots of prepackaged snack food, box of cookies, etc. I have a sweat tooth.

Usually have some venison to cook before the trip is over.

[Altjaeger]

I tend to ask each individual in camp to take a turn providing meals to the group so we get a variety. Sides are usually canned and warmed on a Coleman stove. Main dishes range from steak and pork chops over coals to Zatarain mixes such as red beans and rice with sausage, gumbo or jumbalaya. I also occassionally pre-smoke a brisket and heat of coals in a heavy duty foil wrap or precook a venison stew/chili requiring only reheating.

One quicky favorite is "quicky chili pie" which is simply hot chili over fritos and garnished with cheese, jalapenos and onion.

Breakfast is the one meal we do not cook leaving everyone on their own other than the pot of fresh perked coffee or hot water for chocolate. Most go for breakfast bars, fresh and dried fruit mixed with trail mixes in the pre-dawn.

[LampLighter]

Quote:
Originally Posted by LampLighter
I get up at 2:45 am




LampLighter, is that how you got your name?:D


No. see WWW.frankserpico.com

[ncboman]

I love stewed potatos when I have time to mess with it.

Corned beef hash from a can is also a favorite quick meal.

[Hink]

A pretty decent pre-prepared meal is a pot of cut up boiled taters, one big can of mushroom soup, and ground beef chunks. It goes good over biscuits or bread and is pretty filling. Its best on those evenings when you are dead tired and just want something quick when you get back in camp.

[LampLighter]

Boiled potatos :confused: I think I might add that to my green bean sausage/onion quick fix meal. In fact, I am going to add that. :)

[Hink]

My stepson is real fond of baked beans and I've found that a couple of big cans in the slow cooker with some of those little smokies and the right about of bbq sauce, ketchup and mustard and they are pretty good. Make up two cups of white rice and mix it in with it and you've got a very filling dish. I plan on adding this one to the deer camp menu this fall.

[Altjaeger]

Boiled potatos :confused: I think I might add that to my green bean sausage/onion quick fix meal. In fact, I am going to add that. :)



Just for convienance in the field I use canned new potatoes in camp.

[Altjaeger]

My stepson is real fond of baked beans and I've found that a couple of big cans in the slow cooker with some of those little smokies and the right about of bbq sauce, ketchup and mustard and they are pretty good. Make up two cups of white rice and mix it in with it and you've got a very filling dish. I plan on adding this one to the deer camp menu this fall.

My quickie version minus rice is to use Bush's Grillin beans and sliced sausage ( little smokies would be even more convenient) pan heated and served.

[LampLighter]

Now about cookware. I tried & tried, but I got fed up with cast iron. I did everything i was told but it flaked and did not season. I'm done with it. We found a pan at Bed Bath & Beyond made of ceramic. Not cheap, but wow what a dream pan.

[Altjaeger]

I use cast iron at home, but not in camp. I may if I learn to use the dutch oven make an exception for it.

In camp I have a set of cheap teflon ware bought at walmart. I it is a set of two sauce pans and a small kitchen dutch oven with lids, plus a frying pan for $19.95 two years ago. Two weeks ago it was still there. It is clear lid with a small hole to release steam, I expect it will last 2-3 more years before I go buy a replacement set at a similar price, perhaps adjusted for inflation.

[Hink]

Not when you can wipe out a tefal skillet or pot with a paper towel and nothing sticks to it. I have the luxury of parents who sold the motorhome but stored the gear in the garage. Mom had the same stuff in the motorhome that she did in the house. The cheaper stuff you can pick up at the grocery store does a good job too but doesn't seem to wear as well.

Now my old metal pots and pans and skillets that I used back in the day with my slide in truck camper took forever to get cleaned up. Made the whole thing a lot like work. lol When I brought them over to put in the camper mom said oh you don't want those nasty things in there. I just smiled. What can you do?

[ncboman]

I always try to have a can or two of chicken n dumplins (http://www.castleberrys.com/brands_sweetSue.asp) along.

Pretty good power food that's quick and easy. :)

[LampLighter]

Since I hunt so far back in the woods, it does not pay for me to even come out to the truck for Lunch. I usually bring an MRE back there. I have a couple cases from hurricane Gustev. The guard was giving them away. :cool:

Otherwise, in Oct. 07 I brought a bacon sandwich and I had to deal with a bear who wanted my sandwich. Sometimes I bring my sterno fold-up stove and a can of soup if I tire of MRE's.

[ncboman]

Yeah, hunting way back in the woods or hunting thru the midday hours presents a problem if you doan carry food in once the days shorten up. I usually just doan eat in those cases but I'm use to it. Usually I just eat one meal a day anyway.

[Hink]

The long hunts are what turnips are for. Its whats for lunch or dinner.

We have been trying to get the camp cook to bring us a hot shoreside lunch but she's not budging far from the fire. We even offered to get a new boat just for bringing lunch.

[Wismon]

You eat a meal every single day? Wow, some people around here live high off the hog. You're going to get fat in short order.

But, I am curious, which meal is it? And is it a big un? Do you do that for health reasons or are you just so busy as an entrepreneur that you don’t have time for more than one meal per day? Do you take any of that GMC/Nutrasystem/ground pig testicle/human growth hormone stuff that weight lifters take, or anything of the sort?

Me be curious.

[ncboman]

Do you take any of that GMC/Nutrasystem/ground pig testicle/human growth hormone stuff that weight lifters take, or anything of the sort?


I read your posts on Hunt America.com so I doan need any of that stuff. :D

[Wismon]

I read your posts on Hunt America.com so I doan need any of that stuff. :D
Well you doan seem to read them very well or you else you might have answered the question. Which meal is it? Not that it’s any of my business, of course, but, well, you brought up the topic, not me.

[ncboman]

supper,

and I usually eat supper late in summer, after dark.

[Renegade]

I usually have a summer party at camp for my friends and their family. It used to be lots of booze with a little food too. Now as we got older it's more like lots of food with whatever booze you brought. Kegs are a thing of the past.

But anyways, I usually smoke some meat, deep fry something, or whatever. This year I made some Frogmore Stew. I haven't had this since the early 80's when I was touring with Uncle Sam's Misguided Children and stationed at Parris Island. The town of Frogmore is right down the road and this stew is their claim to fame. Some folks from down south call it or a variation of it a "low country boil".

It was a big hit at the party. What it is, is some sausage (that I smoked a couple hours beforehand), red potatoes (skin on), corn on the cob cut into 3" pieces, and shrimp, all cooked in a steamer basket submerged in water containing lots of Old Bay seasoning. Although I think also using some liquid crab boil would have been better.

You start with the potatoes, boil for 10 minutes, then add the sausage and boil another 10 min., then add the corn for 10 more, then finally the shrimp last for the final 10 minutes. Then dump it into a large platter or pan, supply some dipping butter and cocktail sauce and have at it.

[Bushman]

3-4 packages of instant flavored oatmeal for breakfast I've found hangs in there better than most things that I have tried. A good beef or ham sandwich goes into the pack for lunch along with hot Mountain Dew in the Thermos. I enjoy a good medium rare rib-eye as much as anyone, but I don't eat that kind of thing at supper when I'm hunting. I take a tip from the marathon runners and pack in the carbs instead. I'll avoid the apples, onions, raisins, beans and mushrooms for the flatulence factor. A hearty pot of stew goes pretty good or a pan of lasagna that we could warm up has been a camp favorite. In deer camp we always had a big feed of deer heart and liver smothered in onions the first night if someone shot a deer that day. Reason enough to take a heart shot or forget the bag for the liver. We had one old guy in camp that wasn't real high on the liver and onion menu that first night and protested with "But dems guts!"

[dave-t.]

I'll fry a heart once or twice a year. The younger the better.:cool:

A favorite of the cowboys I hunt with are mountain oysters. They are ranch hands, and get them really fresh, still warm even. Good stuff.:)

[LampLighter]

I Ain't eatin NOOOO internal organs- period.

[ncboman]

I Ain't eatin NOOOO internal organs- period.

So you admit to eating external organs.

I see.

Were you abused as a child? :D

[LampLighter]

Actually yes. Beaten with a rake. I broke that mother _uck__ in half.

[Bushman]

Speaking of "mountain oysters" I was watching Man vs. Wild last night on the History Channel and Bear Grylls got to try the delicacy from a freshly killed goat. First time that I ever saw him puke on camera and I've seen him eat some pretty gross stuff over the years.

Dad always told us that when times got lean he would get wiener water soup. I never knew to believe him or not. Easy recipe but that doesn't sound good either.

[Altjaeger]

I have not seen that staff of life - coffee - mentioned.
Camping from the vehicle which pretty well covers all my deer hunting it is brewed in one of two old aluminum perculators ( 12 cup and 24 cup) I have on top of a Coleman type stove. When packing lighter kayaking and if i were packing ight it would be Folgers single serving bags. However, I am considering a small french press for experimentation.

[ncboman]

coffee. :rolleyes:

I have not yet mastered perculatin coffee at camp, actually haven't tried. I heat up the water and make do with Folgers instant. :rolleyes:

Usually this is when I think of my wife. I am a spoiled man. :D

[dave-t.]

Bushman, I'm betting we do a better job of prep work on the mountain oysters than Bear did. ;) Spiced, floured and deep fried, they're better than chicken livers.

[GF.]

Better than chicken livers ain't sayin' much, IMO... (Where's that puke smiley???)

That said..... I was in a pretty high-zoot restaurant down in Houston and there was an appetizer tray that included calf fries. Tons better than the bull fries I've had - the bigger ones can be pretty mushy; I don't know if that's a seasonal condition or not. (One of the ladies asked what 'calf fries' were and the kid waiting on us said - perfectly straight-faced - "It's beef, ma'am." And she enjoyed hers...)

If anybody gets a bull next week, maybe I'll save 'em and give 'em a try. I'll try just about anything once....

Talked to my brother about camp food. There's a bear up there that has left a paw-print on the tipi, so they keep a real clean camp. Mountain House straight out of the pouch so there are no dishes to clean up and no food-scented dishwater to dispose of. So that's it for the evening, and we'll do a lot of trail food during the day, which is why I finally got around to making jerky again.

I was wondering about the coffee, though. Kinda dependent on that stuff....:o

In the grouse Palace, I used to have a a blue granite-ware percolator, though I pretty much dispensed with the internals so that I had all that space for other stuff. Just a handful or grounds or so and set it on the woodstove to simmer until it tastes about right.

Hmmmm... A few friends once gave me a backpacker's espresso maker that goes right on a little campstove. Maybe I'll tote that along if I can find it this evening....

Anybody know if unflavored coffee attracts a lotta bears? I wouldn't risk the sweet-smelling stuff even if I liked it, but I don't know. A lot of good, dark-roast coffee smells as much like smoke as anything else, so maybe that's safe enough to have hung up in the food pack....

BTW - nothin' wrong with internal organs, except that now they don't advise liver consumption in CWD states and they advise against it in CT due to cadmium levels in the soil. Damn shame, too, 'cuz my little bro makes a wicked Elk-liver paté..... I've heard some say that kidneys are incredibly tasty right of o' the gutpile, 'cuz they don't need any salt. I guess that sort of tests some folks' 'ick' factor, though...

[LampLighter]

At the camp I have a regular coffee maker. In the woods, I do not try to produce it. I do without.