Welcome to the blog for Colgate University's interdisciplinary course on food. This is the place to keep up with what students in the course are experiencing in their work at Common Thread Community Farm and through their everyday encounters with food.

Sunday, September 4, 2016

Backcountry Cooking

This August, I led my last Wilderness Adventure pre-orientation program for incoming first-years through Colgate Outdoor Education. Personally, one of the most exciting and important elements of entering into the backcountry, especially with people experiencing the outdoors for the first time, is cooking. It’s not only important to be able to feed yourself and your group in order to sustain high spirits as well as mental and physical energy, but also it becomes an activity used to bring members closer together. One of my favorite memories from this last trip was having all of my participants dividing and conquering dinner prep and cooking jobs to create a meal that everyone contributed to in one way or another. Their sense of self-accomplishment and camaraderie from cooking was felt by all as they ate dinner watching a beautiful Adirondack sunset.

Despite popular belief, cooking in a wilderness setting does not have to limit the quality of food in exchange for quantity and carbs. Yes, there are staples to a backcountry diet, according to outdoor activity and season. But cooking with a camp stove can produce some of the most flavorful and satisfying of meals when a little bit of thought and effort is put in. Here is a rundown of a day’s worth of meals while on a kayak-camping trip.

    Breakfast - Bagel and Egg Breakfast Sandwich: This breakfast must be eaten on the first morning out in the backcountry, or eggs will go bad. Freeze eggs in a Nalgene bowl prior to trip departure. They should be thawed by the first morning and ready to use. You want to start with the bagels. Split them in half, and toast them face down in a fry bake (camp version of a frying pan) with some melted butter. Remove from the pan. With a little oil in the pan, put in dehydrated hash browns. Toast the hash browns until golden, then add small increments of water, covering with a lid directly after. Season these with salt and black pepper while cooking. After they are mostly cooked and re-hydrated, add cut up pieces of cheddar cheese, place the lid back on, and wait for the cheese to melt. Scoop cheesy hash browns onto open face of the toasted bagel and set aside. Add more oil to the pan, then pour in the eggs, either to fry or scramble. Add to your bagel when cooked. Top with a bit more pepper, and Frank’s hot sauce if desired.

    Lunch - Sweet Protein Pita: Into a pita sleeve, spread peanut butter/almond butter/sunflower butter, with apple slices, drizzled with honey and sprinkled with cinnamon.

    Dinner - Vegetable Stir-Fry: We take Minute-rice to cook in the backcountry and it has an easy to remember rice to water ratio of 1:1. No one likes burnt rice, especially when you are in the wilderness and want to pack out as little food as possible, so constant watch and consistent stirring is crucial. First boil the water if it needs to be purified, then add the rice. Boil the water off and if rice is still uncooked, add small increments of water as you continue to let it cook. In a fry bake, add oil. Work with ingredients that store well, such as broccoli, carrots, peppers, chickpeas, onions, etc. Start with the things that take the longest to cook, so, broccoli and carrots. Then add the onions and peppers. Chickpeas go in last because they really just need to be heated up. (Prior to trip departure, open can of chickpeas and place in a seal tight Nalgene bowl because no one likes to open a sharp aluminum can in the wilderness). Season to your liking. Red pepper flakes go really nicely with this. Let people personally add their soy sauce, which surprisingly(?) doesn’t have to be refrigerated! Not sure if that’s a good thing or not. 

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