Recipe Ideas...

[woodwalker]

'Evening all,
After doing a quick 5 minute review of where I am, bushcraftwise, I realised that my main weakness is that my wilderness/bushcraft/backwoods cooking skills are distinctly lacking. The things I have managed are trout (standard ray mears stuck between a stick on wood skewers style) and bannock which its hard to go wrong with using the upturned cooking pot oven method.
However other than that I am a bit unsure as to what I should learn next . So does anyone know of any good but not incredibly difficult recipes that would help me on my way to culinary excellence (perhaps... )

Cheers guys,
woodwalker

[Ogri the trog]

Woodwalker,
With the weather on the turn, some good hearty stews would keep the cockles warmed. Doesn't have to be anything fancy - some veg, some meat (if you wish) a stock cube to thicken the liquid and Robert is your Aunties husband. Let it simmer for most of the day and by the time the light is waning, it'll be a good one. You can get fancy with herbs and culinary finery but with cooked spuds, carrots, maybe an onion and a few chunks of meat, all you'll need is one of your bannocks to wipe the plate clean.

ATB

Ogri the trog

[British Red]

Righto, heres the first one: Reds infamous chilli!

Serves about 6

Take 1 very large or two medium onions and dice finely.
Add 4 cloves of crushed and finely chopped garlic
Add a good few ounces of finely chopped mushrooms

Soften and brown the onions, mushroom and garlic on a low heat in a pan containing a little olive oil

Add 1 1/2lbs of lean miced beef (Aberdeen Angus free grazed for preference) and finely chopped de-seeded chillis to taste (I use about 4 good sized birdseye chillis but you can add anything from mild green to scotch bonnets)

Fry off on a medium heat until the meat has turned brown and is cooked through

Remove from heat

Now add 2 lbs of peeled de-seeded and finely chopped tomatoes. This is best achieved by getting your billy can full of boiling water and cutting a fine cross in the top of each tomato. Drop into boiling water for 10 seconds and then plunge into cold water. The skin just peels right off. Chop into quarters and de-seed with knife point. Add quarter to half a pint of water.

Alternatively use 2 large tins of chopped tomatoes and leave out the water!

Add a good dollop of home made or shop bought tomato puree.

Now add a pound of prepared beans of your choice (I like red kidney and haricots - YMMV)

Now this is my "secret" ingredient -add two peeled and finely chopped sweet dessert apples and a good handful of soft sultanas.

A good grind of salt and black pepper and a really good sprinkle of cayenne for seasoning

Return to a gentle heat for a good couple of hours until the apple dissolves and "sweetens" the chilli against the heat.

Serve with tortillas, cheese, shredded lettuce and sour cream, plain boiled rice or whatever.

For the vegetarians, finely diced yellow, red and orange red peppers can be substituted for the meat



Red

[British Red]

Something chinese thats easy to whomp up and is BBs signature dish at meets - Chinese Lemon Chicken



(Serves 4 - adjust to numbers)

Take 4 chicken breasts. Split each into 2 natural fillets and place in ziplock bag.

Using a log as a rolling pin and a stump, roll each fillet out to 1/4" thick.

Take fillets from the bag and (on a plate) slice each into 1" strips across the grain of the meat (short not long strips)

Put chicken back in ziplock and add a tablespoon of soy sauce. Shake to coat chicken.

Add 4 tablespoons of cornflour to bag and shake well to coat all chicken strips (you may need to use
washed hands to help).

Trim the roots and tips off a bunch of (about 8) spring onions. Cut diagonally to 1/2" pieces. Add a crushed finely chopped garlic clove.

Using a RAZOR sharp bush knife, thinly rind a lemon (use a grater if new to this) and juice the lemon into your cup (cut in half, stick your fork into the cut and gouge around to break the lemon up. Squeeze through fingers to catch pips into cup).

Add a 1/4 pint of chicken stock to cup (I use half a stock cube and 1/4 pint of water in the field). If you like a sweet taste add a tablespoon of sugar and / or a tablespoon of dry sherry. Add a tablespoon of cornflour and blend to a smooth paste.

Put about 4 tablespoons of olive oil in your wok / pan (it needs to be 1/4" deep). Get it hot. Fry off all your chicken strips a few at a time until golden brown. Place the fried strips on kitchen paper as they are done to remove oil.

Wipe your pan out. Add a spoon of clean oil and fry off your spring onions and garlic for 2 minutes till soft.

Add the stock / cornflour mix and return chicken to pan. Stir until thickened adding more cornflour if needed.

Serve on a bed of boiled rice.

Red

This is the sort of stuff we eat - don't know if its what you had in mind? Basically anything runny is easy . I save small bottles to transport things like oil ( you can always substitute butter), sauces etc. Small Body Shop shampoo bottles are fantastic. Small screw top plastic pots for spices or 2" square ziplocks (£2 the hundred on e-bay) etc. I have a complete spice and condiment set that weighs 5oz. Try eating a wild leaf slad (beech, hawthorn etc.). Then add oil and balsamic vinegar. I know which I like - gives me a laugh whipping the honey, oil and mustard salad fressing out of my possibles pouch too

[locum76]

a small pot of marmite can be a good thing to take along for adding flavour to stews, especially veg stews. gives you the savouryness (sp) of the brown bits you get on fried meat.

if that fails, tis obviously glorious on toast in the morning.

[stuart f]

Hi Woodwalker, why not try making kebabs using Salami from the supermarket,just slice it, then onto skewers you,ve made earlier from wood around camp (remember to use none poisonous species of wood) with wedges of onion, tomatoes, peppers or mushrooms. Cook over your fire and serve with half of a bannock,now you say why half of bannock,well you take the other half and pour a good slug of Whiskey onto the bannock,then let it soak into the bread,now whilst the bread is still a bit wet with the Whisky sprinkle a load of sugar onto it,then over the fire, the sugar carmalises on the bread and so you have desert. By the way eat it while its still warm. Oh you can use store bought nan bread instead of the bannock if you wish.

Hope it gives you some ideas.

[Ogri the trog]

Marmite is the Devils Earwax!



Ogri the trog

[woodwalker]

WOW! There's a whole mass of good stuff here.
I think I will be tuking into a feast in the non-too-distant future. I like the mini pot idea too, I remember it was mentioned at the wilderness gathering. However in terms of salad, I could never find the sort of "crunchy" part for it, although I tried adding hazenuts which tasted fine but were a little obscure in context. I made it to go with this bread which I baked over the summer (forgot to inclde that in the above post ).

...So... What sort of killer salads do you guys know of? I'm totally open to suggestions.

thanks very much,
woodwalker

[locum76]

Marmite is the Devils Earwax!



Ogri the trog

yes but the devils earwax tastes so good.

[Spikey DaPikey]

yes but the devils earwax tastes so good.

no, it dont

horrid stuff

[Klenchblaize]

Now the woods are looking a tad more autumn-like its time to revisit my passion for hunting “old flicker tail” with a rifle. The grey squirrel also happens to comprise the main ingredient in my favorite belly-warming campfire recipe. That’s right, Klencher's interpretation of the famous Brunswick Stew dish from the US. A meal just perfect for one-pot cooking and bound to keep you in the woods longer than SWMBO would like.

Here is how I do it and the ingredients used. Clearly a little advance preparation, in terms of certain vegetables etc. is required - including remembering to stuff them into your backpack before setting off!

First shoot or trap 2 or 3 squirrels depending on your appetite. I could eat the meat from 4 on a really crisp day but I’m that kind of guy! Clearly you can substitute one or all for rabbit but such is the delicate flavour of squirrel (it certainly does NOT taste of rabbit), this would be a pity.

Other stuff:

2 chopped onions
2 chopped celery sticks
2 cloves of garlic
Tomatoes – either tinned or fresh
Butter beans or pulses of your choosing – a mixture being best for texture
Salt
Black Pepper
Worcestershire Sauce
Lard or olive oil

First get some water on the boil whilst gutting and skinning each squirrel.

Now remove meat from bones with that grossly over-priced Ray Mears knife bought on e-bay recently! Don’t try for every last shred as it’s simply not worth the effort and anyway the carcases, chopped into three or more pieces, are popped into the boiling water for that all-important base stock.

Whilst the boiling water is getting to work on the bones, heat the lard in a skillet and brown all meat including the tiny kidneys and liver. If you have a rabbit you might also wish to use the offal from this too. (Note: Discard any that are spotted or simply look unhealthy.)

Set aside meat and wilt onions until these too have a nice brown glaze.

Check that your simmering carcases have started to cloud the water, which should take no more than 15 minutes. Then throw everything into your pot, stir vigorously and season as you wish adding water to ensure full coverage and simmer for at least 1.5hrs. Check regularly on rate of reduction and top up with water only if necessary and, of course, in determining your preferred viscosity! Do not overdo the Worcestershire Sauce as already stated squirrel, whilst not always tender, has a very unique and subtle flavour.

The hardest part of this exercise, in my opinion, is tending the fire to ensure correct cooking. See elsewhere for guidance on how to make an adjustable cooking pot support which is invaluable.

The perfect accompaniment to this warming dish would be a couple of bannocks but anything that’ll mop-up the juice will do.

Happy simmering!

[John Fenna]

Does no one eat out of date, dubiously aquired, army surplus rations any more?delicious and very cheap alternatives to real food....

[British Red]

Yup = specially the desserts - yum!

[swyn]

I will try your recipe, Klenchblaize. Thanks for writing it out. Started to see a few squirells about now. Hardest bit is getting my knees to function properly in this weather.... been too used to the heat!..... Also must practice with my aim.
Cheers from Swyn

[bilko]

a small pot of marmite can be a good thing to take along for adding flavour to stews, especially veg stews. gives you the savouryness (sp) of the brown bits you get on fried meat.

if that fails, tis obviously glorious on toast in the morning.

I take a pot of Bovril away with me sometimes for a warming beefy drink thats realy easy. Thing is i never even thought about adding it to meat "DOH"!

[Ralph]

You could try bannock with different things in it, or use a tilted pan to cook it.
Or, you could try all sorts of things cooked aboriginal style in the embers or hung over the fire. I'd better leave this post, I'm starving now.