Enameled ware is the easiest of all to keep
clean. It is the best material to cook fruit in. Its
tendency to chip and flake in cold weather can
be tamed by warming gradually, at such times, be-
fore exposing to fierce heat. It is not much heav-
ier than any other ware that is strong enough for
outdoor service.
]\Ien who must travel with very light equip-
UTENSILS. 27
ment should cut out all but the absolutely essential
utensils, and have them strong enough for hard
service. Ideal outfitting is to have what we
want, when we want it, and never to be bothered
with anything else.
CHAPTER III.
FIRES.
THE success of outdoor cookery depends
largely upon how the fire is built and how
it is managed. A camper is known by his
fire. It is quite impossible to prepare a good meal
over a higgledy-piggledy heap of smoking chunks,
a fierce blaze, or a great bed of coals that will
warp iron and melt everything else.
For a noonday lunch, or any other quick meal,
when you have only to boil coffee and fry some-
thing, a large fire is not wanted. Drive a forked
stake in the ground, lay a green stick across it,
slanting upward from the ground, and weight the
lower end with a rock or peg it down with an
inverted crotch. The slanting stick should have
the stub of a twig left at its upper end to hold
the pot bail in place, and should be set at such
an angle that the pot swings about two feet clear
of the ground.
Then gather a small armful of sound, dry
twigs from the size of a lead pencil to that of
your finger. Take no twig that lies flat on the
ground, for such are generally damp or rotten.
Choose hardwood, if there is any, for it lasts well.
Select three of your best sticks for kindling.
Shave each of them almost through, for half its
length, leaving lower end of shavings attached to
the stick, one under the other. Stand these in a
28
FIRES. 29
tripod, under the hanging pot, with their curls
down. Around them build a conical wigwam of
the other sticks, standing each on end and slant-
ing to a common center. Leave free air spaces be-
tween the sticks. Fire requires air, and plenty
of it, and it burns best when it has something to
climb up on; hence the wigwam construction.
Now touch off the shaved sticks, and in a mo-
ment you will have a small blast furnace under
the pot. This will get up steam in a hurry.
Meantime get two bed-sticks, five or six inches
thick, to support the frying pan. The firewood
will all drop to embers soon after the pot boils.
Toss out the smoking butts, leaving only clear,
glowing coals. Put your bed-sticks on either side,
parallel and level. Set the pan on them, and fry
away. So, in fifteen or twenty minutes from the
time you drove your stake, the meal will be
cooked.
A man acting without system or forethought,
in even so simple a matter as this, can waste
an hour in pottering over smoky mulch, or blister-
ing himself before a bonfire, and it will be an ill
mess of half-burned stuff that he serves in the
end.
When making a "one-night stand," start a small
cooking fire the moment you stop for camping and
put your kettle on. Then you will have coals and
boiling water ready when you begin cooking, and
the rest is easy.
Page 13
Presented as published in 1910. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
Enameled ware is the easiest of all to keep clean. It is the best material to cook fruit in. Its tendency to chip and flake in cold weather can be tamed by warming gradually, at such times, before exposing to fierce heat. It is not much heavier than any other ware that is strong enough for outdoor service.
]\Ien who must travel with very light equip-
ment should cut out all but the absolutely essential utensils, and have them strong enough for hard service. Ideal outfitting is to have what we want, when we want it, and never to be bothered with anything else.
CHAPTER III.
THE success of outdoor cookery depends largely upon how the fire is built and how it is managed. A camper is known by his fire. It is quite impossible to prepare a good meal over a higgledy-piggledy heap of smoking chunks, a fierce blaze, or a great bed of coals that will warp iron and melt everything else.
For a noonday lunch, or any other quick meal, when you have only to boil coffee and fry something, a large fire is not wanted. Drive a forked stake in the ground, lay a green stick across it, slanting upward from the ground, and weight the lower end with a rock or peg it down with an inverted crotch. The slanting stick should have the stub of a twig left at its upper end to hold the pot bail in place, and should be set at such an angle that the pot swings about two feet clear of the ground.
Then gather a small armful of sound, dry twigs from the size of a lead pencil to that of your finger. Take no twig that lies flat on the ground, for such are generally damp or rotten. Choose hardwood, if there is any, for it lasts well.
Select three of your best sticks for kindling. Shave each of them almost through, for half its length, leaving lower end of shavings attached to the stick, one under the other. Stand these in a
tripod, under the hanging pot, with their curls down. Around them build a conical wigwam of the other sticks, standing each on end and slanting to a common center. Leave free air spaces between the sticks. Fire requires air, and plenty of it, and it burns best when it has something to climb up on; hence the wigwam construction. Now touch off the shaved sticks, and in a moment you will have a small blast furnace under the pot. This will get up steam in a hurry.
Meantime get two bed-sticks, five or six inches thick, to support the frying pan. The firewood will all drop to embers soon after the pot boils. Toss out the smoking butts, leaving only clear, glowing coals. Put your bed-sticks on either side, parallel and level. Set the pan on them, and fry away. So, in fifteen or twenty minutes from the time you drove your stake, the meal will be cooked.
A man acting without system or forethought, in even so simple a matter as this, can waste an hour in pottering over smoky mulch, or blistering himself before a bonfire, and it will be an ill mess of half-burned stuff that he serves in the end.
When making a "one-night stand," start a small cooking fire the moment you stop for camping and put your kettle on. Then you will have coals and boiling water ready when you begin cooking, and the rest is easy.