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Whether its desert glamour camping or subzero firewood gathering, we come prepared. Neither of us made Eagle Scout or anything, we just love to plan. Also, we like to eat a fat-ass variety of complex carbs in the wilderness.
So, on a recent three-day camping trip to Los Padres National Forest -- a massive pine sprawl east of Santa Barbara, and 6,500 feet up -- Hot Knives put some thought to our humble, nerdy tips for proper campfire cooking. Put simply: sturdy vegetables, beans n' franks, and sealable containers. If you're looking for more detail, we made some lists below.
This time out, we fixed 4 or 5 real meals in between hanging with rattlers and scoping a watering hole. Sourdough blueberry griddle cakes and flame-grilled bran muffins ruled mornings with cowboy coffee. Hardy veggies like kale, sweet corn and summer squash traveled well. A 2-pound bag of Jalapeños went along way. We used both the cast iron on the campfire - especially awesome for the pancakes - and a propane camp stove for more delicate stews - summer veg risotto and chile. We even harnessned the sun for a snack (more on that, and full recipes, soon.)
As for packing...We like to have oversized storage bins that we can throw the dinner mess in once the sun sets and the booze kicks in. Next in importance is, of course, knives and a camp stove cooking kit. Also, plenty of towels please. The list goes on. It was only when one of our camping companions scoffed at the spice jar of cumin and fennel seeds we were unloading that we realized we might be over-packers. We still don't think so. Though overeaters is a different story altogether.
Supplies
- Storage crates with sealable lids
- Clean kitchen towels
- Knives
- Cutting boards
- Plates and utensils
- mugs and cups
- Water (2 gallons for cooking and cleaning)
- Cooler with ice (should fit 4-5 gallons)
- Soup pot
- Sauce pot
- Mixing bowls
- Tupperware
- Cast iron
- Wooden spoon
- Garbage bags
- Coffee percolator
Staples
- Veggie hot dogs
- Jalapeños
- Watermelon
- Pinto beans
- Canned tomatoes
- Kale
- Squash
- Potatoes
- Garlic
- Beurre Échiré
- Onions
- Crusty French bread
- Olive oil
- Lemons
- Limes
- Beer
- Sourdough start
- Scotch
- Bourbon
- Tequila
- Chips in a bag with foil coating inside
Can people think of anything we're missing? Stuff you would bring? And does anyone know where we're going with that last staple on the list?
Like discoveries in other experimental fields, the ones that happen in the kitchen are often rooted in mistakes. When way too many black peppercorns got dumped into hot oil for a pre-bean fry, it seemed they were lost. What to do with a pile of soggy greasy peppercorns?
We got to thinking about pepper and what it is: the aged berries from an epic spice tree originating in Indonesia. Black peppercorns are actually sun cured green peppercorns, and white ones are just black peppercorns that have been soaked, skinned and dried again.
While we didn't follow through with the initial idea to make our own white pepper, we figured we could re-dry the soggy dudes in a low oven to revive them. The result ruled: the pepper reabsorbed the tasty oil and intensified its new and improved flavor. Ever vigilant for ways to put liquor we love back into the food we eat, we postulated that we could do the same with Bourbon, Mescal, and just about any other type of liquor.
The result is the same; by investing a pony of your favorite sauce, you can elevate the contents of your pepper mill to dizzying heights. You also will make your house smell like a distillery for an hour or two, and your roommates, if you have them, will be wandering round looking for phantom whiskey spills, but this technique will make soups, salads, fresh cheeses and eggs have that hair-of-the-dog flavor that you've been missing. Booze infusion is the new Umami!
3 Tsp. Whole Black Pepper
1 Shot Booze
Equipment
Small Sauce Pot
Baking Sheet
Parchment Paper
1. Heat the sauce pot on medium heat and lightly toast the pepper for 3 to 5 minutes.
2. Dump in your shot of booze. We've had great success with Bourbon, and Mescal but use whatever you like. The liquor should begin cooking off immediately, but you don't want it to burn, so turn the heat as low as you can to keep the liquid bubbling.
3. When the liquid is completely evaporated and absorbed, turn off the heat. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper (do yourself a favor and go buy a roll its really indispensable) and spread the peppercorns out evenly.
4. Bake in a low oven, around 250 degrees, for thirty minutes. You want the pepper to be completely dry. During the infusion process the peppercorns will swell with liquid and loose their dried look, when they've dried completely they will look exactly as they did before you subjected them to a whiskey bath.
5. You're done! Let the pepper cool and find something to put them on!
The situation goes something like this: Last week, a fall chill settled and you started getting psyched about the season by fixing a big fat pot of soup, and this week, go figure, it’s 80 degrees. Now what, right? Or… maybe you did an internet search for “hot soup” “vegan” and it brought you to some weirdo recipe page called Hot Knives and you followed the directions for a borscht stew, or an asparagus soup, that looked kind of good but you ended up with enough of the stuff for ten people and you’re pissed because — like most people not in a cult — you don’t live with ten roommates and you hate to see food go to waste. Well, fortunately, you can’t blame us, because there are plenty of good ways to make use of your leftover stews and soups.
One of the best is what we call stew eggs. It’s not vegan, but it is homey and cheap and an easy way to eat your way through an entire batch of soup. Basically you’re going to use some of the stew dregs to turn an egg or two into something fancier, or use a colorful soup to transform beaten eggs into a designer omelet with nothing else but a pan and some butter or margarine.
Stew Eggz
Bring a small sauté pan up to high heat, add a Tbs. of butter and distribute evenly letting it bubble for 30 seconds or so. Then simply measure out your stew with a slotted spoon — about 1/4 cup for each egg — leaving most of the liquid behind. Toss it into the hot pan and sauté the same you would omelet fixings, for about a minute. Add egg, cook and season as needed and serve in a burrito (so good) or on a sammy like the beet-stew egg mcmuffin here.
Soup Omelets
Using leftover soup for breakfast eggs is even easier. You know how sometimes you add a dash of milk or soymilk to fluff an omelet? This is like that, except it spikes it with garlicky broth. Most recently we turned our cream of asparagus soup into “Green Eggs and Ham.” Just crack and beat your organic beauties in a large bowl and mix in about 3 Tbs. of soup for each egg. Beat until you have a soupy mixture. Then bring a sauté pan up to high heat with margarine and just pour it on, watch it cook and flip.
We like to think that if we had a mantra, it’d be reuse, reduce recycle (that, and beer, beer, beer) so obviously this philosophy extends beyond these dishes or these ingredients. Of course there are plenty of vegan options with reusing soups and stews. The most common is using strained soup broth to cook beans or rice. But if you think of something crazy, let us know!
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