A camp dining-table can be made by driving down
four forked stakes in the corners of an imaginary rec-
tangle. Connect the end stakes with cross-pieces, and
lay planks from one cross-piece to the other. Make it
just high enough to get the legs and feet under com-
fortably when sitting upon the ground, and build it
away from the fire. A camp chest makes a good table,
so does a large log with one side hewed level. Each
member of a party that I frequently camp with has a
tin or wooden box in which fishing tackle, cartridges,
s, etc., are carried. When dinner is prepared a
e of spare canvas is laid upon the grass, the tin
es and edibles are put upon this, then each m^ '
Camp Cooking Outfit. 49
brings his box to the particular corner of the cloth he
selects, sits on the grass, crosses his legs, and has each
his individual table in his own private box, the cover
of which is large enough to hold a tin plate, tin cup,
knife and fork, etc.
By all means wash the dishes immediately after each
meal. You can smoke your post-prandial pipe and do
this at the same time. Have a pot or kettle of water
heating while you are eating, and if the frying pan
is dirty, fill it with water and let it boil over the coals
awhile. Put your dishes into the largest pail, pour hot
water over them, tone it down with cold water so you
can handle them, and wash the dishes, the least dirty
first, with a sponge. Sapolio is good to scour them,
but sand is better. Soap is less often used by male
campers in dish-washing than it should be. It makes
the work much easier. When washed, rinse the tin-
ware in cold water, drain and dry with a towel. Wring
out the sponge in clean water, and hang it on a bush
ready for use again.
Remove all refuse and leavings to a good distance
from camp, and never allow the vicinity of the tent to
become littered up with tomato cans, old cartridge
shells, bones, feathers, corn-husks, etc.
CHAPTER II.
Soups. — General Remarks on Cooking Soups. — Soups made of
Meat, Vegetables, Deer's Heads, Small Game, Rice,
Fish and Turtle.
SOUPS should be made in camp as often as the
materials are at hand. They are wholesome and in-
vigorating, and not difficult to prepare ; and so many
different kinds can be made that no camper's appetite
need be cloyed by lack of variety. Most canned soups
are excellent, and the directions for cooking which
come with them should be closely followed.
The time given for cooking soups in the recipes
that follow may seem unnecessarily long, but if it is
done in a less time, it is at a loss in the flavor. Fast
boiling drives off considerable of the aroma of the in"
gredients used, the water evaporates fast and requires
constant replenishing with boiling water, which con^*
pels the cook to have an additional vessel always on
the fire. Constant skimming is necessary, and an
occasional slight stirring will prevent any of the
vegetables from burning on the pot where but little
water is used.
Campers do not (iommonly have fresh meat in camp,
unless in a portion of the country where venison,
Soups, 5 1
buffalo or bear meat form a part of the larder. With
any one of these, or with betf, we can make what I
will call
Meat Soup.
Use one pound of lean meat (cut into pieces the
size of an ^g'^ to a quart of water. Put on the fire
with the water cold, and let it heat gradually and
simmer rather than boil, skimming it constantly and
keeping the cover on the pot when this operation is
not being performed. If any cooked meat or bones
are to be added, this should be done after the soup
has cooked three-quarters of an hour. From four and
a half to five hours are necessary for the soup to cook.
Just before it is done, season with salt✪ Meat Soup and pepper. If
made in an iron pot it should be transferred as soon
as done to a tin or earthen vessel. In cold weather
this soup may be kept fresh and sweet for a week
and " warmed over " as long as it lasts.
Page 16 · 1 recipe record on this page
Presented as published in 1885. 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
A camp dining-table can be made by driving down four forked stakes in the corners of an imaginary rectangle. Connect the end stakes with cross-pieces, and lay planks from one cross-piece to the other. Make it just high enough to get the legs and feet under comfortably when sitting upon the ground, and build it away from the fire. A camp chest makes a good table, so does a large log with one side hewed level. Each member of a party that I frequently camp with has a tin or wooden box in which fishing tackle, cartridges, etc., are carried. When dinner is prepared a piece of spare canvas is laid upon the grass, the tin boxes and edibles are put upon this, then each man '
Camp Cooking Outfit. 49
brings his box to the particular corner of the cloth he selects, sits on the grass, crosses his legs, and has each his individual table in his own private box, the cover of which is large enough to hold a tin plate, tin cup, knife and fork, etc.
By all means wash the dishes immediately after each meal. You can smoke your post-prandial pipe and do this at the same time. Have a pot or kettle of water heating while you are eating, and if the frying pan is dirty, fill it with water and let it boil over the coals awhile. Put your dishes into the largest pail, pour hot water over them, tone it down with cold water so you can handle them, and wash the dishes, the least dirty first, with a sponge. Sapolio is good to scour them, but sand is better. Soap is less often used by male campers in dish-washing than it should be. It makes the work much easier. When washed, rinse the tinware in cold water, drain and dry with a towel. Wring out the sponge in clean water, and hang it on a bush ready for use again.
Remove all refuse and leavings to a good distance from camp, and never allow the vicinity of the tent to become littered up with tomato cans, old cartridge shells, bones, feathers, corn-husks, etc.
Soups. — General Remarks on Cooking Soups. — Soups made of Meat, Vegetables, Deer's Heads, Small Game, Rice, Fish and Turtle.
SOUPS should be made in camp as often as the materials are at hand. They are wholesome and invigorating, and not difficult to prepare ; and so many different kinds can be made that no camper's appetite need be cloyed by lack of variety. Most canned soups are excellent, and the directions for cooking which come with them should be closely followed.
The time given for cooking soups in the recipes that follow may seem unnecessarily long, but if it is done in a less time, it is at a loss in the flavor. Fast boiling drives off considerable of the aroma of the in" gredients used, the water evaporates fast and requires constant replenishing with boiling water, which con^* pels the cook to have an additional vessel always on the fire. Constant skimming is necessary, and an occasional slight stirring will prevent any of the vegetables from burning on the pot where but little water is used.
Campers do not (iommonly have fresh meat in camp, unless in a portion of the country where venison,
Soups, 5 1
buffalo or bear meat form a part of the larder. With any one of these, or with betf, we can make what I will call
Meat Soup.
Use one pound of lean meat (cut into pieces the size of an ^g'^ to a quart of water. Put on the fire with the water cold, and let it heat gradually and simmer rather than boil, skimming it constantly and keeping the cover on the pot when this operation is not being performed. If any cooked meat or bones are to be added, this should be done after the soup has cooked three-quarters of an hour. From four and a half to five hours are necessary for the soup to cook. Just before it is done, season with salt and pepper. If made in an iron pot it should be transferred as soon as done to a tin or earthen vessel. In cold weather this soup may be kept fresh and sweet for a week and " warmed over " as long as it lasts.
Records on this page
Meat Soup