European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - July 22, 1993, Darmstadt, Hesse G m Camp stove cuisine take your culinary talents to the great outdoors by George the Allentown morning Call what i hate most about camping is cooking. What i like most about camping is cooking. I m not trying to confuse you. It s just that i have none of a Kitchen s conveniences while camping but the memories of some meals i be had outdoors can t be equated from any Chrome and porcelain culinary Temple. I be had great meals atop a Mountain Well above the treeline and incomparable dutch oven Cornbread deep in an abandoned Gold mine in new Mexico. Beef tenderloin a la Brochette with White wine sauce from a recipe of the famous Luchow s restaurant in new York City cooked entirely Over a fire in less than two hours was my most recent Effort on a rain soaked weekend. Real pies made from scratch and baked in cardboard ovens Are almost routine. Strips of Venison marinated in a Ketchup sugar sauce then stir cooked on a Grill Over a flaming charcoal fire at 10 30 . In a Snow Squall is a great snack so is whole roast Piglet cooked slowly for hours in a Rock lined pit on a hot August night. These meals give meaning to the words let s go out for dinner.". Now about that beef tenderloin a la Brochette. It s not a Trail meal but it is a excellent site camping meal. You la need a Good bed of coals either from Wood or charcoal. You la be using skewers 10 to 14 inches Long so you la need either forked Sticks or logs on either Side of the fire to support them. The ingredients Are wild Rice with raisins Small cubes. Of beef or pork tenderloin cooked As a Kabob along with quartered Small onions squares of Green Pepper whole mushrooms with or without the stems and Cherry or Plum tomatoes. Strips of Bacon Woven around the food on the skewer works Well. The sauce is one can of Cream of mushroom soup about 10 ounces of red or White cooking wine and one pint of sour Cream simmered slowly Over the coals. If you want a thinner sauce add up to one soup can of water. To make it simple and quicker substitute minute Rice for the wild Rice and use beef Bouillon cubes or powder As Stock to color and flavor the Rice. Include with the Rice one chopped onion the seeds and hearts chopped of the Green peppers used on the skewers any extra peppers chopped Small chopped stems of the mushrooms used on the skewers and if you have it about a Pound of butter. Add about i Box of raisins. When ready to Cook add the appropriate amount of water from directions of the Rice Box. Soap the outside Bottom of your pot to make cleanup easier. You can rest the pot on the coals or suspend it several inches above them. The latter is better because it gives you better control of the heat. This is minute Rice so you Don t want to Cook this part of the meal first. The kabobs Are simple. Start by skewering an end of one strip of Bacon letting it Dangle. Add a cube of meat bring up the Bacon strip and skewer it again effectively wrapping half of the meat cube in Bacon. Add whatever vegetable you want again weaving the Bacon Over it and Back onto the skewer. Continue this alternating items and weaving Bacon around them. Place the skewers on the supports. One skewer is a bit More than adequate for one person. With the skewers Over the fire Check the sauce pot stirring to keep anything from sticking to the Bottom and Start the Rice cooking. All that s left to do is stir the Rice and sauce and turn the skewers As the meat and vegetables Brown. Be hot Coffee and the Crisp morning air make fora can to beat it combination above and below. Careful to not overcook the Rice. Remove it from the fire when done and keep a lid on the pot. The meat cubes Are Small so they will not take Long to Cook but the tomatoes probably will Darken before the meat is done. Don t worry about it. Don t forget to remove the sauce from the coals when the meat is done. Spread a bed of Rice on your dish remove items from the skewers carefully even one piece at a time to prevent tomatoes from bursting and arrange them in the Rice As if they Sid off the skewer in line. Pour sauce on the meal to your taste. You have a great meal with a great sauce. All you have to clean is one skewer per person one plate per person a Rice pot the sauce pot and any utensils you used for preparation and eating. I mentioned dutch ovens and cardboard ovens above. Again with site camping take boned skinned Chicken breasts. Coat them with your favorite bottled salad dressing. Place in an oiled dutch oven and Cook. Twenty minutes is probably the maximum time. You could acid potatoes and other vegetables. This tastes really great and All you have to clean is the dutch oven. A dutch oven works Best in coals but i be used them on propane stoves. If you do have a Good bed of coals be sure to cover the oven s lid with coals As a dutch oven Cooks from All directions including from the top Down. What about cardboard ovens get a Box measuring about 15 inches in each direction. Cover All sides inside and out with aluminium foil. Turn the Box on one Side so its top becomes the oven door. About Halfway up the Box poke two steel rods reinforcing rods Cut to size work Well through the Box s sides to form a shelf. A Small aluminium pan on the Bottom holding 1015 charcoal briquettes will generate 400-500 degrees of heat. Place whatever you Are cooking in a cooking dish and place it on the shelf. Close the door but Check food often so it does t overcook. Stripes Magazine Juty 22, 1993 i
