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Post by Black Hand on Jun 1, 2019 12:34:32 GMT -7
I know I'm doubling-up but thought this topic deserved its own thread. Please add yours... FoodsI carry a variety - there is no need to go hungry or eat poorly in the woods. Dried Hominy (comes in a large can at the store - dried in the oven) Barley Wild rice Dried vegetable mix (Onion, Green onion, Carrots and Tomato paste) Coarse cornmeal Portable soup (i.e. Knorr soup cubes) Meat - Venison, Elk or slow Elk (Beef) Bacon Jerky Parched corn Dried apples Dried Plums Dried Blueberries Maple sugar Coffee/Tea Red pepper flake Ground Black pepper I have carried fresh meat and bacon for up to 3 days in hot conditions with no effect - in my pack or hanging in the shade, the meat stayed relatively cool. At no time did it smell as if it had "gone off" (my nose is especially sensitive and I would have picked up the slightest hint). A standard meal in the evening is stew containing meat (2-3 squirrels at times), barley, dried vegetables, portable soup and wild rice/hominy/parched corn (optional). Cooked in a small brass kettle, this pot will feed 3-4 when supplemented with roasted meat. Breakfast is usually bacon and savory cornmeal, while lunch is usually jerky & parched corn. Any meal might be supplemented with fresh fish or any other delicacy that might be along (we had bear-paws roasted in mud one time - see 2nd image below, smoked moose or pork, sausages, bear, roasted bison femurs for marrow, a delightful & delicious fruitcake, wild turkey, swan, etc...). I once made grilled cheese sandwiches - long day walking and we had a collection of stuff including bread, cheese and butter. This was a delicious pick-me-up, NOT PC/HC by any means, but I had NO complaints and they disappeared faster than I could make them.
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Post by Black Hand on Jun 1, 2019 12:41:32 GMT -7
Hot-water corncake: Fine cornmeal About 1/2-3/4 cup cornmeal Hot skillet with oil/fat Enough boiling water to make a stiff dough Fry in hot oil until crunchy on both sides Flip Sprinkle with sugar and enjoy! I made a corncake once where I soaked dried apples in the water and included the apple bits in the dough. It was a cornmeal/flour mix at the time, but the concept should work regardless. Fried in bacon grease, it was a delicious addition to my meal.
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Post by brokennock on Jun 1, 2019 19:59:01 GMT -7
That bacon fried apple corn cake sounds unique and delicious. Was there enough meat on the paws to make them worth the work? I'm usually not out more than a night, and haven't gotten to do that in over 2 years. I usually keep things real light and simple if out for a predawn to dark hunt or scout. Coffee, bullion, meat of some kind; jerky, precooked sausages, summer sausage, leftover roast. Bring hard boiled eggs or scotch eggs if I had time to really prepare. If I'd brought a piece of leftover roast or sausages I might bring an onion and a sweet pepper or two. This could often be supplemented with fresh fish or squirrel, in some places partridge. Not all very hc/pc, I know. I haven't mastered the whole parched corn, hominy, etc. thing. And I try to limit my grains and try to eliminate wheat.
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Keith
City-dweller
Bushfire close but safe now. Getting some good rain.
Posts: 990
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Post by Keith on Jun 1, 2019 21:23:16 GMT -7
All good posts, I don't think you can have too many posts & ideas for period trail foods & their preparation. When you are sitting under that canvas with the rain or snow falling, there is nothing better than enjoying some good basic trail foods & a hot drink. Food always tastes better to me in the wild. Keith.
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Post by brokennock on Jun 1, 2019 21:41:00 GMT -7
I agree on food tasting better out doors. The whole hc/pc tracking thing is new to me in comparison to an entire lifetime of camping and outdoor activities. From drive up tent camping with my parents from the time I was born till I was 17 or 18, to modern backpack camping and jamboree with the B.S.A. and other gov't sponsored outdoor overnights later on, even the simplest hot and wets seem better in camp. I've done my share of outdoor cooking, just not in a colonial period fashion,,,,, yet.
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Post by Sicilianhunter on Jun 1, 2019 21:54:04 GMT -7
Hand, I can only speak to what I have experienced yet so far when it comes to period fare and some of my conceptions that have yet to be proven in the field. Thinking along then lines of a 2-4 day scout/trek I would break things down into main proteins and staples. Proteins being either fresh or preserved meat or fish and staples running the gamut of carbohydrates and "additives". Some of the problem with actual period recipes is that they are foods that will not be consumed due to their assault on a 21st century palate. In order to make them palatable you may be required to stray so far from the original recipe that its hardly worth the effort, Portable soup for example... I enjoy reconstructing these recipes but they end up wasted if no one is interested in actually eating them. Maybe its our Mediterranean background but I also don't subscribe to the mentality of "all I need to keep moving on the trail is a cold handful of "fill in the blank..." personally I believe those same people don't value the true joy that a meal alone or shared represents. Furthermore I don't think this mentality makes them tough but simply too uniformed to produce a decent meal even under combat conditions. An army or a trapping Brigade travel on their stomachs. Now that I've digressed far and away from the original topic enough I will return: Proteins: -Fresh meat cooked by the second night without refrigeration barring incident should be fine ( take precautions in bear territory) So far I have made salt/sugar cured bacon and Boiled beef (of the two I would use up the boiled beef first) Salt cured fish is an alternative but anything deep cured will require several soaks which may be problem where water is scarce. Any fresh game that you could supplement is a bonus and should be eaten the day it is harvested (provided it is small game and/or fish)
Carbs: - flour (AP, corn or Wheat) - Corn meal (white or yellow) -Beans, Peas and Maize ( i can tell you that not only are Pinto beans not PC they are not candidates for the quick boiling method) * Lima * kidney * Great northern ^ Green split pea ^Black Eyed ~Hominy ~Dried Corn (in my case sun dried on the cob as I learned from LeLoup's video) -Rice
Supplements: - Muscavado sugar - Maple sugar - Chocolate - Red pepper - Salt - Dried Apple - onion (fresh or dried) - garlic (fresh, of course...) - potatoes - yams - olive oil - Brick tea (Bohea)
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Post by brokennock on Jun 1, 2019 22:08:59 GMT -7
Good post paisano. Although I don't find portable or pocket soup that unpalatable, especially if one adds some veggies and meat. But even straight up, when you're cold and damp, and so is everything around you, a cup of hot broth is nice.
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Post by Sicilianhunter on Jun 1, 2019 22:13:18 GMT -7
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Post by Black Hand on Jun 2, 2019 4:58:58 GMT -7
Good post paisano. Although I don't find portable or pocket soup that unpalatable, especially if one adds some veggies and meat. But even straight up, when you're cold and damp, and so is everything around you, a cup of hot broth is nice. Not sure what the period guys may have had against portable soup (maybe it had been stored poorly and was/tasted moldy), but the stuff I made tasted like soup and was in no way unpleasant. It is ultra-concentrated stock - that's it. Get rid of the brick tea - it is the bottom of the barrel stuff with regards to tea. Get yourself some good loose tea (my favorite is Young Hyson - a green tea).
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Post by Black Hand on Jun 2, 2019 5:06:43 GMT -7
I have a few (period) recipes for portable soup in the library (https://minuteman.boards.net/thread/3/interesting-useful-links-information) The portable soup I made - looks like caramel and tastes like soup.
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Post by Black Hand on Jun 2, 2019 5:11:33 GMT -7
Was there enough meat on the paws to make them worth the work? Not much meat at all - we did it for the experience, since they were considered a period delicacy by some. The problem was finding mud. You wouldn't think this would be a problem, especially next to a stream, but it was. The Bison femurs were delicious, but were carried for some distance up the mountain. There is something quite atavistic and satisfying about roasting bones in a fire and cracking them open to suck out the marrow (or as I call it - meat butter)...
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Post by Sicilianhunter on Jun 2, 2019 6:20:11 GMT -7
Good post paisano. Although I don't find portable or pocket soup that unpalatable, especially if one adds some veggies and meat. But even straight up, when you're cold and damp, and so is everything around you, a cup of hot broth is nice. Not sure what the period guys may have had against portable soup (maybe it had been stored poorly and was/tasted moldy), but the stuff I made tasted like soup and was in no way unpleasant. It is ultra-concentrated stock - that's it. Get rid of the brick tea - it is the bottom of the barrel stuff with regards to tea. Get yourself some good loose tea (my favorite is Young Hyson - a green tea). I'll probably go to loose/bulk tea after the brick is gone which may be a while there's a bit of it... Not as easy to brew as bulk tea as far figuring out the proportions
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Post by Black Hand on Jun 2, 2019 6:23:20 GMT -7
Why wait? I still have some brick tea somewhere that won't ever be used. Early on, I was convinced (at the time) that Brick tea was "period" and the way to go - neither of which was true...
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Post by Sicilianhunter on Jun 2, 2019 11:14:00 GMT -7
Just not important enough right now to change it I guess... Also just don't like to waste resources
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Post by brokennock on Jun 2, 2019 19:41:28 GMT -7
Just not important enough right now to change it I guess... Also just don't like to waste resources Maybe you can use the brick tea for stain or dye.
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