CLASS: Outdoor Cooking (taught by Rainmaker and Moonwriter, in Moonwriter’s campsite). Four techniques were taught: one-pot cookery (Rainmaker’s famous Mulligan stew), camp-style Dutch oven cookery (roasted chicken with dirty rice), foil cookery (ground beef and veggies), and stick cookery (biscuit twists).
Rainmaker's special recipe for Mulligan Stew:
*****
Mulligan Stew
Some people know this as “Stone Soup”. Sometimes you may simply not know how many people you will need to feed. For those occasions, plan on serving a Mulligan Stew. Have every hungry diner bring three items: a one-person serving each of a vegetable, a starch, and a protein (for children under 10, plan on the parent just bringing a vegetable or a protein. You, as the cook, will have the fire, stove or coals ready, and will also have a large pot ready for cooking, plus a can opener, a large spoon for stirring and a ladle for serving. The flavor of this stew depends entirely on the type of food brought by your guests. I have made this many times, and have never had one that turned out tasting bad, although they sure were different!
Here are some suggestions for the vegetables:
• A cup of diced onion (unpeeled onions need no refrigeration even on longer trips)
• A cup of diced carrots (whole carrots, not the peeled baby ones, need no refrigeration on longer trips)
• A cup of diced parsnips (whole parsnips need no refrigeration on longer trips)
• A cup of diced celeriac/root celery (also needs no refrigeration)
• A 1-lb can of any vegetable: green beans, peas, peas and carrots, corn, cream-style corn, bamboo shoots, mushroom slices, artichoke hearts, beets, tomatoes, water chestnuts, small can of tomato paste, just to give some suggestions. Pretty much anything goes!
Some suggestions for the starch (I’m including legumes here, although they’d fit in all three categories):
• 1 cup chopped potatoes (potatoes need no refrigeration on longer trips)
• 1 cup pasta (break spaghetti into small pieces or use smaller shapes)
• 1 cup rice
• 1 cup couscous
• 1 cup quinoa
• 1 cup lentils
• 1 cup split peas
• A 1-lb can kidney beans
• A 1-lb can refried beans (great for thickening the stew)
• A can of pork and beans
Some suggestions for the protein:
• 1 cup diced summer sausage (needs no refrigeration on longer trips)
• a couple of sliced hot dogs
• a sliced kielbasa
• a cup of diced bacon
• a small can of ham
• a small can of chicken
• a can of beef stew
• a couple of small cans of Vienna sausages
• a couple of raw hamburgers (if refrigeration is available) or ½ lb raw or cooked hamburger meat
• NO tuna, please
Wait until everybody arrives with their food. Now you’ll have to sort a bit: some food, such as bacon, hamburger and onions, might be better if sautéed before liquid is added. Also sort your ingredients roughly by cooking time: Parsnips, rice, split peas and lentils take about 20 minutes, quinoa, celeriac and carrots about 15 minutes, chopped potato and pasta about 10 minutes, couscous about 5 minutes, while any canned food and hot dogs just need to heat through. Use the liquid from canned vegetables as your cooking liquid, add water only as needed.
Start by sautéing any items that need it, then add the cooking liquid and the items with the longest cooking time. Add items with shorter cooking time in turns, finally adding all the ingredients that just need to be heated through. Continue cooking until all items are heated through, and serve.
Another variation on this is “Stone Soup.” The “home chef” provides a kettle of broth, and everyone brings things to add to it.
*****
Moonwriter issues instructions. "This is the fire," she says, wittily. (l-r: Aaran, Wild Bill, and Watermusic look on.)
Moonwriter shows how to wrap foil dinners using a "drug store seal," while (l-r) Whiskerwind (in red), Aaran, Sagewomin, Mary Lee, and Lyonscribe look on.
While food bubbled in the Dutch oven, the foil dinners roasted over coals.
A good dinner was had by all!
No comments:
Post a Comment