Kevin's Watch

*lifted from the Thelma and Louise thread in General SRD*

aliantha wrote:Menolly, if you want to haul a dutch oven and a solar oven along with you on the plane, feel free. I tend to stick to one-pot meals on the stove rather than digging a pit, etc., for the dutch oven.

That's quite all right. American has started charging for checked baggage, so I need to travel as light as possible. Besides, you were the one who suggested a solar oven in the other camping thread. I've never used one...

aliantha wrote:I *may* try some stuff out of this cookbook, which I bought a couple of years ago and haven't really used yet.

Ooo...that looks interesting.

aliantha wrote:I have, however, used this little gem with some success. I am told the Dutch Baby pancake (the recipe comes with, but it's also on the website) is really, really yummy.

We love Dutch Babies here. I make them all the time in my cast iron skillet in the oven. If we try it, I look forward to seeing how well this thing works.

aliantha wrote:And I'm starting to think we should move this part of the discussion to the Galley....

Done!!

Oh yeah, I'd forgotten I mentioned the solar oven.

Hmm, actually, what we made in Girl Scouts was a box oven. It requires an extremely-heavy-duty cardboard box of a decent size, a boatload of aluminum foil, and duct tape. Wine boxes are good because you can wrap the dividers with aluminum foil, too, and put them inside the box as extra insulation. Then you put your food inside in the dutch oven, pile coals around and on top of it, and let it cook. (You get 40-ish degrees of heat per coal, as you probably already know.)

As Magickmaker said, it didn't work too terribly well. I was in charge of getting the wine boxes and I kinda messed up; the ones I got had walls that were too thin to insulate properly. Also, one of these requires a fair amount of time to make, and I think we'll be pretty busy. So, while I'd be willing to try making a box oven again, to see if I could get it right this time , I'm recommending that we skip it this trip.

A solar oven differs in that the top is a sheet of glass or plexiglas, and instead of using charcoal as the heat source, you use the sun. I had a teeny-tiny one of these at one point, which I made nachos in once. I think I lost it in the last move....

Anyway: let's talk menus. danlo's on deck for campfire chili. But we should talk about the other meals. Dunno how haute we want our cuisine to be. The nice thing about that Campfire Cuisine book is that the recipes in it are a cut above, y'know, beans & wienies. But if you guys would prefer old-fashioned camp cookin', I'm okay with that.

I figure on doing the grocery shopping after I get to Denver.

Well...

I'm always up for bratwurst, but they're not cheap and I don't know if we'd have a pot to simmer them in the beer and butter.

The only things I am not a big fan of is meatloaf (which I don't think we have to worry about) and most beef stews. And I suspect we may be eating several times with everyone else, although as Luci suggested, having a big old campfire with everyone at the site might be fun, and we should probably plan on serving something then.

You guys have much more recent camping experience than I. Y'all decide, give me some recipes, and away we'll go.

We should probably steer away from red meat if possible, since Magickmaker doesn't eat the stuff. Tho I've already told her I'd be happy to provide her with the usual Girl Scout alternative (PB&J).

I'm planning to try a couscous recipe out of the Campfire Cuisine cookbook this week; will let you know how it turns out. Looks very easy -- just make the couscous and stir in some fresh chopped veggies, etc. I suspect it would be terrific with some kind of grilled meat and a salad.

I *like* the cookout idea. S'mores! We gotta have s'mores! I think it's a rule....

aliantha wrote:We should probably steer away from red meat if possible, since Magickmaker doesn't eat the stuff. Tho I've already told her I'd be happy to provide her with the usual Girl Scout alternative (PB&J).

I'm planning to try a couscous recipe out of the Campfire Cuisine cookbook this week; will let you know how it turns out. Looks very easy -- just make the couscous and stir in some fresh chopped veggies, etc. I suspect it would be terrific with some kind of grilled meat and a salad.

OK...how about lead bellies, aka loaded baked potatoes that we could cook directly in a fire? If there's any leftover danlo chili, we meat eaters could save it for those. Maybe some frozen broccoli florets that we can warm in some boiling water, and cheese-whiz or some actual grated cheese to top them with?

And maybe fish in foil packets with zucchini and yellow squash? A little oil, lemon juice and garlic squeezed over all before wrapping and cooking?

aliantha wrote:I *like* the cookout idea. S'mores! We gotta have s'mores! I think it's a rule....

And weinies. What's a campfire without cooking hot dogs on a stick? There are chicken dogs we could get for magickmaker, right?

She'll likely pass on the chicken dogs. She's got this thing about stuff that even *looks* like it might be red meat. (Welcome to my world. ) But *I'm* certainly good with hot dogs. And like I said, there's always PB&J for her.

The only problem I see with frozen broccoli is *keeping* it frozen, since we'll be operating out of a cooler. Raw broccoli would actually keep better -- we could get away with not refrigerating it at all for a day or so. Or buy frozen and cook it the same day.

I also like the baked potatoes, and the fish in foil packets, mmmmm.... But -- and I feel like a primo wet-blanket jerk, but I'm just doing the pros and cons thing -- cooking stuff in foil takes for-freakin'-ever if you're starting it raw. That would be okay if we were going to be at the campsite all day, or if we were going to take turns babysitting the fire. But I don't know that we're going to want to do that, since a lot of the action will be at Cag's and all of us will want to be there. If we did a midday cookout, either Saturday or Sunday, then we could get the fire going first thing in the morning and stick in the foil packets, then let everything cook while we prep the other stuff.

I ran into this on a GS campout, actually. We cooked corn on the cob in foil (which, btw, works excellently well), but I basically had to skip the horseback ride that everybody else did in order to tend the fire all morning. Didn't bother me -- I've had my lifetime quota of horseback riding -- but, y'know, just sayin.

The other option for foil-packet cooking is to precook the stuff, which works okay if you're car camping. But I'd have trouble keeping precooked food cold/frozen on the train for two days, and you may have a similar problem on the plane.

And this is why planning campout menus is so much fun....

Since I don't do it often, I do find it fun!

yumm...corn on the cob can be cooked on a grate over low coals in the husk in about 30 to 40 minutes. We just have to be able to soak the unshucked ears in water for an hour or so first.

I was thinking raw fish filets in foil wouldn't take more than 15 minutes a side, but I've only done them on a grill, not over a fire.

The frozen broccoli...yeah, I was thinking same day shopping. Maybe even on the way back to the campsite for that particular meal...

Just so long as you guys don't fill CovJr up with beans and franks cuz I don't want him stinking up the hotel room later.... Oh and NO SPAM. Ugh. Gross. . Except for those two requests I am gonna stay out of the campsite menu planning because I am already doing my share in SF with the bbq here. I'll contribute some ducats though.

I think three women in one tent can agree that beans would not be that good an idea...

Heehee! I will probably pass on the s'mores but I do like toated marshmallows.

<note to self: find a hardware store in Denver and buy some dowel rods -- they're somewhat more sanitary than using random sticks off the ground>

Length of cooking time depends on how hot the fire is, of course. BTW, I finally remembered to check the state park website -- looks like we'll have both a grill and a fire pit. So we'll have lots and lots of cooking flexibility.

Y'know, when I was typing that thing about the corn on the cob, I was trying to remember whether we used foil or just cooked them in the husk. I'm pretty sure we used foil. But I'd love to try it in the husk -- that's how I always do them in the microwave. We should *definitely* do corn....

If you've ever gotten "roast" corn at a midway that's grilled in the husk, that's how I do it.

At home I do it Alton Brown's way, and put the whole unshucked ears in a 350ºF oven to bake for an hour. No soaking needed. It's even better than on the grill...

Sounds delicious to me. I wouldn't mind cooking up some chicken mango sausages over the open flames. Ok, so I can't help myself.... Menolly knows how I am about planning events. I am a total yenta.

..it worked, ali...Jenn's in...

j/k Jenn...

I admit it. I'll wanna go to the grocery store with you guys....

YAAAAY!!! Road trip to King Soopers!

I am more than happy to swap my "event planner" hat for my "event consultant" hat....

*rubs hands in anticipation*

Wow. I'm still wrapping my head around the fact that I am going to Denver. This is gonna be fun fun fun.

Me too!!!

Though I'm going to be staying at the hotel (which particularly suits me, since I dislike camping - dirty and bad for the back) I'd be up for camp food. I've never done it.

Cameraman Jenn wrote:Heehee! I will probably pass on the s'mores but I do like toated marshmallows.

Oh yeah, that's right! Claire always told me I need to have s'mores, whatever the hell they are.