Food for thought- Building extreme hunger

[fourx]

Gado-Gado- Indonesian salad- is top of the Summer list of easy, fresh and tasty hot weather light meals-it certainly is on ours down here during long hot steamy Aussie summers
Easy- just boil some eggs and peel them, also some green beans- ( some of your peppers as well, Glenn, but that is not authentic..)  ..slice up the cold eggs thin, add the cold cooked green beans, some bean-sprouts ( mung are good), some chopped green onion and diced cucumber and a little shredded lettuce- drizzle Sate sauce over the top of everything, and serve with cold beer. For a really authentic touch, see if you can find some large Indonesian crackers ( Krupak Udang)..these are like the chinese prawn crackers that puff- up you deep fry them -only they are far bigger and far more prawny.
This is a perfect way to cool off on a very hot day. If you can get real Indonesian sate sauce, try for the Ayam brand .

[glenn kangiser]

Sounds interesting.  I will have to do some research just to figure out what some of that stuff is.

[benevolance]

Glenn

Nothing wrong with simplistic cabbage rolls.... I think the thing that makes you a great cook is getting something that is good out of what you have to work with...

So it is not a big deal if there is not fancy presentation or it does not look like the picture in the cook book....If it tastes good and is relatively simple then it is genius!

I agree and disagree on the salt.... I mean I do not use it much...I know Bread needs salt I have tried to bake without salt and it does not work....

But any prepared food has way more salt than we need....Anything canned is loaded with salt...

In my house we just leave a shaker on the table so if a guest wants a little salt  it is there for them...

Someone mentioned tobassco sauce  Well I have a problem with some of those type sauces... They are bullies....a few drops and they take over the pallate completely...And instead of all kinds of great unique natural flavours all you have is the taste of the Tobassco.

We love spice in our home...We love things like Curry Chicken and Pork... We also cook with a lot of Pepper on our roasts and chickens

Speaking of which I am going to throw out a question o nthe best way to coook fish on the campfire...As my wife and I are going fishing for a week  next week....I hope that if the fish gods are willing we will be eating fresh speckled and Brook trout on the open fire in Maine

I love to cook fresh fish on the grill....Usually I get tin foil or aluminum foil...Take some lemon squeeze it on the fish...add salt and pepper...some onion and a pat of butter...

-Wrap it up 2 layers so the juices cannot escape and throw it on the grille...Turn  religiously every couple minutes and in half an hour you have melt in your mouth fish..the onion lemon and spices  really go through the fish as it becomes a sponge inside the foil when heated...

When I was little boy we went camping once and we fished... We just went back into the wilderness my dad brother and I ....we cut alder bushes 3 feet long and wrapped fishing line on the end...and had homemade fishing rods....We turned them over and over rolling them in our hands to let out line in the river as we fished...

We caught enough for supper and then some.... My dad got a fire going.... he took a branch and  kind of made the whole fish (cleaned of course) a Ka-bob... skewered it with the branch and  hand turned it on the flames for us...Kind of like you roast hot dogs or marshmellows...

when it was cooked he cut it in half with his knife lengthwise and then pulled out the bones mostly intact... and we just ate it with our fingers...

I remember thinking it was the best fish ever.

I have also seen fish cooked on a big flat sandstone rock...They threw the rock in the glowing bed of coals and then threw the cleaned fish on the rock...and turned it until it was blackened...

I ordered Fishing kayaks for the wife and I from L.L. Bean....
http://www.llbean.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CategoryDisplay?page=dirigo-angler-12-kayak-package-by-old-town&categoryId=41171&parentCategory=9001&cat4=1103&storeId=1&catalogId=1&langId=-1&feat=1103-sub2

We pick them up in Freeport next friday...We are leaving on Wednesday

We are staying in remote campgrounds....No electricity hook ups...On water surrounded by forest...In northern maine in Baxter state park....

the fishing up there is supposed to be incredible...The roads are all dirt and open only seasonally... They were not even open to the public until the logging companies agreed to let the public on their roads after 1971.... So outside from some campgrounds there is nothing out there for miles and miles... It is truly wilderness...

I am so looking forward to it...

Want to spend 4-5 days just kayaking and fishing...Hope to catch enough for supper each day ...we will have to see I guess... Taking some Corned beef and potatoes along in case

But Ideas for campfire cooking are appreciated...I welcome recipees or ideas to make this a better trip.... we are taking lots of bug spray with us (O;

I have been to Maine plenty times before and I know how the bugs are bad.

We cannot have fish 3 times a day for a week....So other easy campfire meal ideas are appreciated... One of my favorite meals is Campfire corned beef hash...Just boil some potatoes in a pot...Dump the corned beef in after you drain the potatoes and then cook it until it starts to crisp up a little...If you have time to cook some carrots and or turnip and add them with the potatoes it is even better!!!

this may sound blasphemy.. but one thing we like to do is take along the bisquick bottle where you just add water shake it for 5 minutes and then pour the pancake batter into the pan.... and you get pancakes... I showed my wife that the pancakes turn out better if you add half water and half milk...They are half decent....

So we will likely have egg omelet for breakfast one morning... I love to cut up onion peppers throw some spices in the pan with 3-4 eggs per person and  get er done!
-pancakes another...There is always cereal or granola bars open to any breakfast ideas???

A couple nights (hopefully 3-4 ) we will be eating fresh fish....So fish recipees for the campfire would be awesome....Likely have corned beef and hash one night....

I might start looking for a fish stew recipee that is fun and easy...Just cooking fish on the open flame or wrapping it in foil and baking it on the fire will get repetitive....

[glenn kangiser]

I like the fish like you posted, with salt and butter over the camp fire - ideally a hardwood fire, the maybe an extra larger piece of foil over it to get some of the smoke flavor into the fish.

Ummmm, carcinogens.   Yum.

[PEG688]

In northern maine in Baxter state park....



You might be interested in this thread from WBF, I didn't read it but it does pertain to Baxter State park . Might be of interest to you, have a good trip , bring a camera  


 http://www.woodenboatvb.com/vbulletin/upload/showthread.php?t=66230&page=2&highlight=Baxter+State+park

[benevolance]

Maybe daddymem can give me a New England recipee for fish chowder?

I guess the wife and I will be taking like a 20 pound bag of potatoes and a couple bags of carrots into the wilderness with us...Some onions too...a couple cans of beans  eggs cereal milk and some corned beef in case we catch nothing....

I was talking to the owner of the campground and they told me the fishing was awesome....Though I bet they say anything to rent the camping spaces out...

told me the speckled and rainbow trout get up to a couple pounds and there is landlocked salmon too....

I can hardly wait.... Though I am not a very good fisherman...My wife easily outfishes me every time we go....She is awesome

[benevolance]

thanks for the link Peg!

We need to get disposable cameras...I am not going to take my digital camera into the Kayak on the water....IT was not that expensive...But I am poor and if I ruin it there will be no new one until christmas...

we are taking the laptop and the digital so that we can take pictures and then download them into the comp...And clear the camera....I still have the factory smallish memory chip I got with the camera...I am too cheap to spend 30 bucks on a better chip.... 8-)

[benevolance]

glenn

Something about food cooked with the woodsmoke  taste in it....

Might be bad for you...Sure does taste amazing...

Wife was a little worried about multiple days in the bush....as far as food went.... Told her we could make pine needle tea ..Chew Spruce gum and look for wild tubers to  eat if we had to...

But one meal of wild tubers and she would leave me....They are rather gassy vegetables...and I fart enough as it is...

[glenn kangiser]

Grubs, Peter.  Don't forget grubs.  Look rather disgusting but are many times , good for you.

[benevolance]

lets just hope the fish are biting

[MountainDon]

I'll be thinking of you Peter when we're back up in the mtns next week charcoal grilling rib-eyes or salmon, roasting potatoes and carrots.    We also take a freezer full of home made frozen entrees/diners; spinach stuffed manicotti, elk pot roast, cheese and potato pirogies, cabbage rolls and what not.    We also do a super vegetarian pizza (squash, onion, mushrooms, peppers once in a while in the oven). There's also our fall back meals of mac'n'cheese or corned beef and potatoes. Not too bad.  :-/  We usually take a pan of fresh baked brownies up with us too; ice cream too.  

Hope you catch your fill of fish. The rivers here are stocked with trout but I'm not a fisherman. I've been lucky to taste a few though and they do taste mighty fine when freshly caught.

[benevolance]

Don

I am not much of a fisherman either...I do love to cook and eat it though...It is amazing...

So when I go fishing I am happy once there is enough fish caught for supper that night...

I see these people catch a dozen fish each and I think it is a terrible waste to keep more than you could eat for a meal...

Your cuisine is much much fancier than mine...we usually make homemade beef stew in the woods... we are going to try to make a fish stew cooked on the open fire...Potatoes onions corn spices...

I think other than the pancakes from a bottle and the omelet we will eat cereal and granola for breakfast each morning....Keep it simple in the morning...

i have a cook ware set 20 piece that has a kettle with a coffee percolater in it so we can have fresh coffee each morning...I have the 99 cent toaster attachment for the coleman stove...

I am leaving the coleman stove at home...I bought a $20 portable propane barbeque....and the hook up hose to use a 30 pound bottle... We will have the small mini bottles for the propane lantern...

For breakfast in the morning we will cook on the gas grill... For quick easy use...At night I want to cook out on a real open fire... I went to the scrap yard and got some heavy duty grate...looks like fridge grate only three times as thick... if we have to I can set it on the fire ring with the coals burned down for cooking on.

We have been looking at recipee ideas and thinking about meals and we just about have it sorted out...We have half a dozen ways to cook fish...All we need now is the fish

[MountainDon]

...and the hook up hose to use a 30 pound bottle... We will have the small mini bottles for the propane lantern...

I like to use one of those "trees" that install on the top of a propane bottle. You can feed a two appliances off  one and put a lantern on top. I've found it handy that the bottle fits nicely in a wire milk case for easier handling/transport.

Re my menu; I have the luxury of having the RV freezer and fridge. As well we have a couple of those super insulated coolers (Coleman Xtreme). They are amazing in their keeping capability. I sometimes use one of them with dry ice to keep frozen stuff really frozen and the other with two to three frozen jugs of water/ice for other fresh foods.

[benevolance]

Dry ice...What a great idea I wonder where you get something like that? It would be great for me... last a couple maybe 3 days.... I just bought a new coleman cooler

[MountainDon]

One of my local grocery stores sells it. Also the local big dairy, ice cream country shipping department. You can also look up places at  

http://www.praxair.com/na/us/praxairSL.nsf/StoresLoc

http://www.airgas.com/customer_service/site_locator.aspx?LocationType=DryIce

http://dryicedirectory.com/usa.htm

Like propane it's heavier than air, but the CO2 gas is odorless and can kill you.  :'(  Puts you to sleep and you never know what hit you.   :-/

Can also be used to kill vermin/bugs whatever in cans you want to store bulk grains or other foods for long term storage. The ice sublimates to CO2 gas, displaces the oxygen up and over the edge of the container and pretty soon there's no oxygen in the can. seal the lid when the dry ice is gone or removed. Only works for things that the extreme cold won't hurt.  

[glenn kangiser]

You are a fountain of knowledge, Don.  Thanks for the dry ice food storage info.  

[MountainDon]

Peter, you can also use the dry ice to freeze all those extra fish your wife is going to catch so you can take them home.  

I remembered more uses for CO2 when I got up this AM, specifically CO2 as a gas. I have a CO2 tank and regulator...



It has lots of uses; good for re-seating a tire bead that's slipped off a rim when 4-wheeling, runs air tools if no high volume air compressor available, filling the air space in a partially full/empty can of paint when you're not sure when/if you're going to open it again. The paint keeps better with the oxygen gone.

And dry ice is fun to play with. Put a piece in a punch bowl for some party fun (especially cool if you drop a light stick in there too and the lights are turned down), exploding plastic pop bottles :-/,  insert some small pieces of dry ice in a balloon (carefully)... tie the balloon closed... toss in swimming pool... it sinks and then slowly rises to the surface and if there's enough dry ice in there it blows up,  

And of course it'll cool off your Jack Daniels or whatever real quick.

CAUTION: dry ice or liquid CO2 is extremely cold and can cause permanent injury to body tissues. Do not try these things unless you are a professional!!

[glenn kangiser]

I want to figure out a way to use it to break rocks-- maybe an expansion tube hooked to a bottle of CO² stuck in a drilled hole full of water.  Would it freeze and break the rock :-? -- can't easily get dynamite and Dexpan is expensive.

[MountainDon]

Hmmmm??  I have a feeling the hole would have to be pretty deep to prevent the ice from simply pushing out the hole... and the CO2 itself would likely cause a problem with making voids and causing problems... Dilemma.

Never heard of Dexpan but looked it up and looks like neato stuff. What's it take to start seeing results? An hour or so??   Would never do to get a box of it accidentally wet.

[glenn kangiser]

Directions say overnight - depends - you don't want it to go too fast because it will boil out if not hard on top.  I bought a box but didn't have an 1 1/2 inch drill - got one now -- have to try it some day.

[glenn kangiser]

Eating things from the garden today -- Yellow crookneck squash with salt and butter.  Yum.



Wait a minute -- thats not a yellow crook neck -- it's a frog -- and I didn't eat him -- he's eating bugs.

There's my yellow crookneck.



Made Stewed Tomato ('s) -used one only --  tonight for dinner.  One of these rascals-



Brandywine heirloom --almost a six incher, cut up - rough looking parts to the compost pile but the rest is dinner.  I cut it up in a bowl added a couple pats of butter, Salted it with RealSalt - from a Real Utah Salt mine,




and then I nuked it for a couple minutes with plastic wrap over it. {How else will I get my radiation and dioxin for the day? :-?) Took it out of the microwave - pulled off the plastic and broke up a fistful of Keebler's Club crackers in it.  Double yum.  Nothing like the flavor of home grown home made stewed tomatoes.


http://www.realsalt.com/?gclid=CNvKrZyhq40CFShKYQodBmEfuQ

We bought it there on a trip one time and have ordered it shipped ever since --far superior to regular salt.



This stuff is all way too healthy. (Except the frog -- he looks like an overweight American frog.  I'm gonna have to put him on a diet)

[fourx]

Sounds good- but the frog looks nervous . OK, food from the garden? Tonight, it's vegetable soup, with onions, turnips, potatoes, thyme, parsley, carrots and swedes- all home grown, and just picked, with cheese and onion damper. Damper is like what Canadians call Bannock, a yeastless loaf made using self-raising flour.

[benevolance]

We absolutely love the squash on the grill...Slice it in half lengthwise... a pat of butter is used to stick the 2 halves back together.... Spice it according to taste on the  sliced open front...

Cut relief slices into both sides of the squash to ensure even cooking...Or poke it with a fork like mad

wrap in aluminum foil and throw on coals..Turn a few times and it is time to eat...

We are going to do squash as the side one night in the woods for sure...

[benevolance]

Never had the salt from the great salt lake Glenn...

Perhaps it is worth a try

Not a big salt guy like you though...

My salt as a boy came from Pugwash Nova Scotia...One of the larger salt mines in North America. The deposit is 1500 thick solid salt... They mine it for Road salt mostly... It is awesome...I went to the mine one time...Like an underground city...

They stockpile like a million tonnes in the summer to ship to new england for clearing roads in the winter...They produce almost 2 million tonnes a year of Salt...It is the second largest salt mine in Canada.

The underground caverns are so vast there is a UKE junkyard down there... You know those massive trucks that look like tonka trucks...They  use them down there...and they have broken down ones and parts trucks down there.....Never forget the sense of wonder to see a Uke Junkyard underground.

[MountainDon]

Salt. Being on a reduced sodium diet we don't use much, just a little in cooking. But we do have a box of that very stuff here; found it in store there in UT. The salt cellar doesn't even make it to the table except for company. We do use another Utah product though, potassium chloride, sometimes known as "lite" salt or salt substitute, and also known as potash. Large potash deposits in UT too. Pass the potash, please.