Life_in_4Lo
Explorer
I'm just bringing a plate and fork to SnT. With you and the norcal crew, I think I'll be enjoying life :chowtime: :luxhello:
Desertdude said:
Best camp meal?
- Thread starter DesertRose
- Start date
60seriesguy
Adventurer
I like to bring frozen home-made chili (my own recipe for Sonora Chile Negro"), Portuguese caldo verde (hearty soup with spinach, chicken, potato, linguiso sausage and porto wine) and green chile chicken stew for dinner when I camp. Serve it with some thick crusty bread on the first night, then white rice or couscous on the following nights.
If I'm bringing a grille grate I'll pre-marinade trip-tip steaks (I make my own cumin and ancho chile-based dry rub), serve them with coal-roasted sweet potatoes and maybe some picked veggies.
I like oatmeal for breakfast when I camp, but nothing wakes you up on a cold morning like some Texas-style pinto beans in a bowl, with fresh tortillas and bacon.
Lunch on expeditions is usually on the go and we prefer baby carrots and celery sticks, cheese, cut up dry sausages and pretzels/crackers. Minimal preparation and can be eaten while driving.
If I'm bringing a grille grate I'll pre-marinade trip-tip steaks (I make my own cumin and ancho chile-based dry rub), serve them with coal-roasted sweet potatoes and maybe some picked veggies.
I like oatmeal for breakfast when I camp, but nothing wakes you up on a cold morning like some Texas-style pinto beans in a bowl, with fresh tortillas and bacon.
Lunch on expeditions is usually on the go and we prefer baby carrots and celery sticks, cheese, cut up dry sausages and pretzels/crackers. Minimal preparation and can be eaten while driving.
Desertdude
Expedition Leader
BajaTaco
Swashbuckler
Oh man, this thread is incredible. I am getting sooooo hungry.
One of my favorite camp meals of all time has to be one that we had in Baja... (who would have thunkit). Maybe it was so good because there is a fun story to it. We were camped out at this place and had been exploring another nearby beach when a couple pangeros (or "pescaderos" - mexican fishermen) came into shore on their panga. They were looking for some help, as they were almost out of fuel and the hull of the panga (her name was "Laurita" ) was cracked. They didn't think they would be able to make it home. I siphoned about 10 gallons of gas from the Toyota and gave him some D-cell batteries for his flashlight. As I was out of money at the time, I gave him the 30 pesos I had to buy some more fuel if they could find any along the way. We fed them some sandwiches and drinks, and I fetched a repair patch kit from my supplies. This guy was so grateful and INSISTED that he repay us. He opened up his stash box and produced a portion of tuna and eight lobsters. The tuna was enormous and probably weighed about 50 lbs. There was no way we could even fit it into a cooler. So we gave it to a friend, Jose, who we had met and was living there at the time. He had a propane fridge and he said it would feed him for weeks. We also gave him a jumbo lobster and we kept two biggies and 5 little ones. We had a big pot to make the lobster in and enjoyed a langosta feast on the beach with a gorgeous sunset and almost full moon. We had the rest the next night in the middle of the desert on the way to a remote oasis. (see pic)
One of my favorite camp meals of all time has to be one that we had in Baja... (who would have thunkit). Maybe it was so good because there is a fun story to it. We were camped out at this place and had been exploring another nearby beach when a couple pangeros (or "pescaderos" - mexican fishermen) came into shore on their panga. They were looking for some help, as they were almost out of fuel and the hull of the panga (her name was "Laurita" ) was cracked. They didn't think they would be able to make it home. I siphoned about 10 gallons of gas from the Toyota and gave him some D-cell batteries for his flashlight. As I was out of money at the time, I gave him the 30 pesos I had to buy some more fuel if they could find any along the way. We fed them some sandwiches and drinks, and I fetched a repair patch kit from my supplies. This guy was so grateful and INSISTED that he repay us. He opened up his stash box and produced a portion of tuna and eight lobsters. The tuna was enormous and probably weighed about 50 lbs. There was no way we could even fit it into a cooler. So we gave it to a friend, Jose, who we had met and was living there at the time. He had a propane fridge and he said it would feed him for weeks. We also gave him a jumbo lobster and we kept two biggies and 5 little ones. We had a big pot to make the lobster in and enjoyed a langosta feast on the beach with a gorgeous sunset and almost full moon. We had the rest the next night in the middle of the desert on the way to a remote oasis. (see pic)
DesertRose
Safari Chick & Supporting Sponsor
WOW - I am now very very hungry, and of course, craving lobster - thanks a lot Chris!!
YOUR story reminds me of perhaps our second-greatest camp meal . . . we were camped off the coast of Vancouver Island, along Johnstone Strait, having kayaked out there to see the orcas (this was years ago, before it became too filled up with people). It was my birthday, so we paddled out to a fishing boat (it was salmon season) to buy some. The fishermen were Tlingits, and they told us they wouldn't have anything til one or two in the morning, and their coolers were as-yet empty. We paddled back hungry and disappointed. Next morning, we woke up to find 2 enormous fresh-caught salmon lying on the rock by our camp kitchen - with a shiny new penny on each fish. No boat in sight - they were long gone, so we never could find them. We found out later it's a Tlingit custom to give copper as good-luck - especially on special occasions like birthdays. That fantastic gesture will always live with me as a measure of the best of what it means to travel and connect with other people.
Not to mention being exceedingly delicious and feeding our group of four for 4 days straight - burp. :eatchicke
YOUR story reminds me of perhaps our second-greatest camp meal . . . we were camped off the coast of Vancouver Island, along Johnstone Strait, having kayaked out there to see the orcas (this was years ago, before it became too filled up with people). It was my birthday, so we paddled out to a fishing boat (it was salmon season) to buy some. The fishermen were Tlingits, and they told us they wouldn't have anything til one or two in the morning, and their coolers were as-yet empty. We paddled back hungry and disappointed. Next morning, we woke up to find 2 enormous fresh-caught salmon lying on the rock by our camp kitchen - with a shiny new penny on each fish. No boat in sight - they were long gone, so we never could find them. We found out later it's a Tlingit custom to give copper as good-luck - especially on special occasions like birthdays. That fantastic gesture will always live with me as a measure of the best of what it means to travel and connect with other people.
Not to mention being exceedingly delicious and feeding our group of four for 4 days straight - burp. :eatchicke
The BN Guy
Expedition Leader
What do you guys think about making up a lil Cooking Expeditions West Style cookbook/document that we can put somewhere on the site and download and share?
Just a thought. :eatchicke
Just a thought. :eatchicke
DesertRose
Safari Chick & Supporting Sponsor
The BN Guy said:
Now you're talking my language!
I'd love to do that.
There are lots of ways we can do it . . . people can submit recipes and we can compile into a downloadable PDF . . .
It could also be an electronic database, but that would probably be too much work . . . I'm liking the PDF idea best. It's easy to create them with a table of contents with hyperlinks and photos.
What are your thoughts for format/usability?
Pictures would be very great, too.
I would think we'd want to try to get the best of everything, from the very simple to the very fancy - and everything in between. An additional thought...we could ask for donations to help run the forum?
Roseann
The BN Guy
Expedition Leader
I agree a PDF format would probably be most usable by most everyone.
And who wants to handle this monumental task?
:hehe: Just found some old recipes...Wendy's Chili, Wendy's Frosty, Benihana's Fried Rice, Red Lobster biscuits , and Red Lobster Cheese Biscuits. Thought I lost them!
And who wants to handle this monumental task?
:hehe: Just found some old recipes...Wendy's Chili, Wendy's Frosty, Benihana's Fried Rice, Red Lobster biscuits , and Red Lobster Cheese Biscuits. Thought I lost them!
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DesertRose
Safari Chick & Supporting Sponsor
DesertRose said:
I'm already volunteering!
Let me think of some framework for submissions we can throw out there and perhaps recruit some "judges".... OR
Jonathan and I were thinking of hosting an ExPo weekend down here at our place; we could have a cook-off and feature the winners, entries, and selected other ones?
Anyone have any other suggestions?
If I have to prepare a dish, it will be seasoned crickets in a big wok.I offer to add some of my recipes for the chapter on easy clean-up/quick meals. Here is the first:
1. find can opener, screw driver or sharp rock.
2. find the least revolting canned good from food storage container in the back of the truck.
3. open up the can and dig in
4. lick spoon clean
5. crush can and place in trash bag
6. enjoy your beer while everyone else is still cooking/eating/cleaning up
:jump:
Although my submission is a joke (but my reality w/out the family), I think this is a great idea.
Ross
1. find can opener, screw driver or sharp rock.
2. find the least revolting canned good from food storage container in the back of the truck.
3. open up the can and dig in
4. lick spoon clean
5. crush can and place in trash bag
6. enjoy your beer while everyone else is still cooking/eating/cleaning up
:jump:
Although my submission is a joke (but my reality w/out the family), I think this is a great idea.
Ross
DesertRose said:
pangaea
Adventurer
In all seriousness, have any of you ever tried intake manifold cooking? Maybe its something unique to the Land Rover crowd, but it's a great lazy way to have a hot meal at the end of the day.
Basically, you take your food, wrap it in tin foil. Or if you have a tin can, pull the label off and fit it into a nice nook inside the engine compartment. For V8s, the area between the intake manifold and the PS bank of cylinders works well. Anyway, put the food in there around lunch time, and stop to turn it maybe once or twice during the day, at the campsite, you have nice piping hot meal ready to go, with minimal effort.
:chowtime:
Basically, you take your food, wrap it in tin foil. Or if you have a tin can, pull the label off and fit it into a nice nook inside the engine compartment. For V8s, the area between the intake manifold and the PS bank of cylinders works well. Anyway, put the food in there around lunch time, and stop to turn it maybe once or twice during the day, at the campsite, you have nice piping hot meal ready to go, with minimal effort.
:chowtime:
goodtimes
Expedition Poseur
Manifold cooking is definately not unique to 'rovers. In fact, on most of my day trips, I'll wrap "something" up in tin foil and lay it across the injector rail on my jeep before I leave. Nothing like hot sloppy joe's on the trail...or hot chicken burrito's, or hot....anything.
Scott Brady
Founder
Yeah, I have cooked many-a-burrito on my manifolds. In fact, the Trooper did not have a good way to put the food on the manifold, so I made a "burrito bucket" over the exhaust manifold.
Those who know me have seen me do that quite often :chowtime:
Those who know me have seen me do that quite often :chowtime:
DesertRose
Safari Chick & Supporting Sponsor
expeditionswest said:
I can see it now - we should have a cooked-on-vehicle category for our cook-off... and a chapter on it in the cookbook! would love to see a burrito bucket.
Scott - any thoughts on a forum section on Expedition Provisioning and Cooking?
On a cooking forum i occasionally look at, there is a Camping Food section with subsections on Dutch Oven, Campfire, etc.
Anyway, just some ideas, as it looks like food and cooking is an important part of expeditions for some people, and sharing ideas and knowledge in a more organized way would be great. (Also love GeoRoss's methods - lot to be said for that!)
Glad to have you back from SEMA Scott and good luck at the gathering; wish we could be there....we're in San Diego for the African Conservation Fund meetings.....
Roseann