RECIPES
Bread and Cereals
Biscuit, Baking Powder
For 4 persons
1 large cup flour
1 heaping teaspoonful baking powder
1 teaspoonful salt
Crisco, bacon fat or butter and lard mixed, piece size of an egg
Milk
With knife chop the fat into the dry mixture thoroughly, add slowly the milk, stirring gently with a spoon. Make the dough soft and spongy but not thin enough to run. With a very little fat grease the bottom of a pan. Drop the dough from the end of a spoon onto the pan in quantities the size of a Uneeda lunch biscuit and about ¾ of an inch thick, leaving space between them. Bake in a reflector oven before a hot fire for 20 minutes, or cover tight with another pan and bury in hot ashes under a fire.
Bread for Hikers.—½ white flour, ½ yellow meal; 1-5 powdered milk; 1/10 powdered egg; salt and baking powder; bake in frying pan tightly covered and buried in ashes.
Cereals
Cornmeal
1 cup meal
1 teaspoonful salt
Pour boiling water onto the meal a little at a time, beating fast and hard. When the mixture is the consistency of mush, cover the kettle, place it in the outer kettle and cook all night.
Cereals prepared in this way are much more digestible and palatable than when boiled quickly over a hot fire and stirred constantly.
Hominy can be cooked in this way, using I cup hominy and four cups of water; small amount of salt.
Rice also may be cooked this way. Wash the rice carefully, ½ cup to 3 cups of water, 1 scant teaspoonful of salt.
Bring water to boiling in small kettle, add salt, add oatmeal very slowly. Boil over fire 5 minutes stirring occasionally; cover tight.
Place the pieces of wood in the larger kettle, stand cereal kettle on them and pour hot water to the depth of 3 inches into larger kettle. Cover, hang over slow fire for all night. Do not uncover until ready to use.
Dumplings
¾ cup of flour
1 scant teaspoonful baking powder
1 teaspoonful salt
Enough milk to make a spongy dough
Add baking powder and salt to flour. Add milk slowly, drop mixture from end of spoon onto the boiling stew, cover tightly and cook for 15 minutes.
Toast
Cut the bread not less than ½ inch thick. Brown over coals, not flames. Use a fork, wire toaster, or two green wood sticks.
Cocoa
1 heaping teaspoonful sweetened cocoa
¾ cup water
½ cup milk
Boil the water, put cocoa in cup, add part of the boiled water, mix thoroughly. Add to rest of water, boil 2 minutes, add milk, heat to boiling point but do not boil. Be careful not to burn. If condensed milk is used, mix cocoa and two teaspoonfuls of condensed milk together and add the water, bring to the boiling point.
Desserts
Apple Cake
For 4 persons
Make a baking-powder biscuit dough (see rule) and spread it in an oblong pan having the dough about 2 inches thick. The pan should be greased slightly. Peel and core and cut in quarters 2 large apples. Slice these thin, and place on the dough in rows, each slice held in place by pressing it down into the dough a little. The slices should be near together. Sprinkle ¾ of a cup of sugar over the top, add small pieces of butter and a little grated nutmeg. Bake in a reflector oven in front of hot fire until the apples are soft—about ½ hour.
Apples, Fried
For 4 persons
2 large apples
Small piece of butter or bacon fat
Wash apples, remove stems and blossoms, cut across the core in slices ½ inch thick; heat pan, melt fat in it, put in apple slices, brown on one side, turn and brown on the other. Or, grease a broiler, place the slices on it and broil the apples over hot coals until tender and brown.
Apple Slump
For 4 persons
Peel and cut in eighths, 4 apples. Put in a kettle with 1 cup of water, ½ cup of sugar, ½ cup of molasses; cover and place on the stove or over a slow fire. Make a dough as for dumplings (see rule). Drop the dough onto the hot apples. Cover tight and cook 20 minutes. Serve with cream, milk or hard sauce. Blue berries, huckleberries, peaches, can be used in place of apples, omitting the molasses and adding a little more sugar.
Dried Fruit
All dried fruit should be thoroughly washed in cold water, covered with fresh cold water and allowed to soak all night, stewed slowly over a low fire or on the back of the stove for an hour. Add, if necessary, sugar; stew 15 minutes longer and set away to cool. Do not stew fruit in tin receptacles; use enamel or agate.
Indian Pudding
For 5 persons
½ cup of Indian meal
¾ cup of molasses
1 teaspoonful of salt
Mix thoroughly, add to 1 quart of scalded milk, cook in double boiler ½ hour, stir often. Pour into buttered baking dish; allow to cool. Pour 1 cup cold water on top of pudding. Do not stir it in. Bake in a slow oven 3 hours.
Rice Pudding
For 4 persons
Butter a bowl or deep dish, pan if necessary; put into it 1 quart of milk, 1 tablespoonful of washed rice, 1 teaspoonful of salt, ½ cup of sugar, small piece of butter; cover and cook in slow oven, stirring occasionally, for 3 hours. Remove cover last ½ hour.
Meat, Fish and Meat Substitutes
Bacon
Sliced bacon can be broiled by placing it on the end of a sharp stick held over the fire and turned over and over; or put into a very hot frying pan. Be careful that the fat does not catch on fire. If staying in camp for another meal, save the bacon drippings and use them for frying potatoes, cakes or use for shortening.
Beans, Baked (The Real Boston Article)
For 4 persons
1 large cup of pea beans or navy beans
½ lb. salt pork
1 scant tablespoonful molasses
2 teaspoonfuls salt
Pinch of soda
Wash and pick over the beans, cover with cold water and soak over night. Place on the stove and boil very gently for two hours; drain off the water, put the beans in a deep dish with a cover, or in a pan; wash the pork and cut the rind side into small squares or strips. Put in the pot so the rind is above the beans; add 1 dessertspoonful of molasses, the salt and soda, cover with hot water, cover the pot and place in a moderate oven for 4 or 5 hours. It may be necessary to add more water during that time, as the beans should be covered with water for the first 3 hours. For the last half hour the cover can be removed from the pot. If baked in an open pan, cook for 3 hours; keep the beans covered with water for 2 hours and then brown during the next hour.
Beef, Shriveled
1 lb. of shaved beef
Small piece of butter
Heat the fry pan, melt butter in it, tear beef into small bits, put in pan, stir with fork until shriveled and very hot. Serve at once.
Cheese and eggs
For 4 persons
½ lb. cheese
4 eggs
Salt
½ cup of milk
Butter size of an egg
Melt the butter in the frying pan, add the cheese which has been sliced thin, stir until the cheese is melted, adding the milk gradually; add the salt and the beaten eggs. Cook for 5 minutes. Serve on toast or crackers.
Codfish, Creamed
Buy boneless cod, in boxes. Cover it with cold water. Soak over night. In the morning place on stove and boil ½ hour. Pull apart into small pieces, add cream sauce, and serve.
Scrambled Eggs
Butter size of hickory nut
1 egg
1 tablespoonful of cold water
Pinch of salt, dash of pepper
Heat in frying pan, melt butter in it, break egg in cup (be sure of its freshness). Add egg to melted butter, add water, salt, pepper, stir with fork, holding pan over fire until egg is flakey but not stiff.
Kidneys and Bacon
Split the kidneys, cut the bacon slices in two, scrape and sharpen a green wood stick 2 feet long and ½ inch in diameter at the smaller end. Put onto the stick alternately the pieces of bacon and kidney, hold over the fire, turning constantly for 5 minutes. Half a kidney and one piece of bacon between a split hot roll makes a delicious sandwich.
Komac Stew.
For 4 persons
4 large tomatoes, or one small can of same
3 eggs
2 good-sized onions
Green pepper
Butter size of walnut
Salt, pepper
Bread or crackers
Heat the frying pan hot, melt butter in it; peel and slice thin onions and fry them for a few moments in the hot fat; add the well-washed green pepper cut fine; fry. Peel the tomatoes, cut in pieces, add to the onions and pepper, add salt and dash of pepper; cover, stew slowly ½ hour. Add one by one the eggs, stirring them in well. Serve at once on toast or crackers.
Macaroni with Cheese and Tomato Sauce
Cook slowly for 2 or 3 hours, keeping covered.
Drop into 3 quarts boiling salted water ½ lb. of macaroni or spaghetti broken into 4-inch lengths; stir occasionally with a fork to keep from sticking. Boil ¾ of an hour, pour through a colander, drain off all hot water, pour cold water over macaroni, while in colander, return it to the kettle it was cooked in.
Pour tomato sauce over it and when hot, serve. Have ready ½ lb. cheese grated fine; put it on top of the macaroni.
Campbell's tomato soup, to which has been added chopped onions and a chopped pepper, salt and a pinch of soda, makes a very good tomato sauce and can be prepared in a short time or:
Brown three thinly sliced onions in butter the size of an egg.
Sardines and Tomato Sauce
For 4 persons
1 can Campbell's soup heated to boiling point in a frying pan. Very carefully so as not to break them, lay sardines from one box in the sauce. When hot serve on squares of toast or on crackers. A little dash of red pepper and a bit of salt improve the taste.
Stew, Irish
For 4 persons
1 lb. of lamb for stew
3 onions
3 carrots
2 large potatoes
Salt and pepper
Water
Cut the meat in small pieces, wash it; peel and slice the onions, scrape the carrots and slice crosswise; wash, peel and slice potatoes; place all in the kettle, cover with cold water, add 2 teaspoonfuls of salt and a dash of pepper; cover and cook slowly 2 hours; 3 hours is better, but not necessary. Be sure and cook the stew in a kettle large enough to allow room for cooking the dumplings on top of the stew.
Salads
Cucumbers
Should be green, dark, firm, not too large around, but long and slender. Keep in the ice box. When ready to use, peel with a sharp knife from the blossom end down to the stem end. The reason for this is that the stem has in it a bitter flavor which, if drawn over the cucumber, spoils the taste. After peeling slice very, very thin, and cover with iced water, stand in a cold place. Just before serving, drain off the water and pour a French dressing over them.
Lettuce
All salads should be picked apart, wilted or yellow leaves removed, thoroughly washed in cold water, the water shaken from the leaves, and placed in a cheese cloth or a knitted bag and laid on the ice. Salads will keep for several days if prepared in this way. It is necessary, however, to look it over every day and take out any leaves which begin to look wilted or to have yellow edges.
Tomato Salad
Tomatoes should be peeled with a very sharp knife; or, when there is time, by pouring boiling water over them and gently rubbing off skins, and setting on the ice to cool. Wash and slice not too thin, serve with dressing.
Sauces and Dressings
Cream Sauce
If cream sauce is to be made in small quantities, the butter should be melted, the flour added, the two rubbed into a smooth paste, the milk added slowly while the pan is on the fire. Season with salt, stir constantly so that no lumps will form. As it is difficult to make large quantities of cream sauce in this manner, it may be necessary to heat the milk in a double boiler and thicken to the consistency of rich cream with flour and butter rubbed to a smooth paste. Cook for fifteen minutes, salt to taste. For 4 or 5 persons use butter size of an egg, 1 tablespoonful flour, and 1½ cups milk. Cream sauce is used with carrots, codfish, potatoes, cabbage, dried beef, etc.
Boiled Salad Dressing
For 8 persons
Mix together:
2 even teaspoonfuls mustard (dry)
1 even teaspoonful salt
Butter size of an egg
Yolk 1 egg
Add:
2/3 cup cold milk and bring to a boil stirring constantly; add ¼ cup of vinegar into which is rubbed 1 teaspoonful of corn-starch; boil until thick and smooth.
French Dressing
Put into a bowl 1 teaspoonful of salt, add 1 teaspoonful of vinegar, mix well. Add ½ teaspoonful of prepared mustard, a dash of paprika, dash of pepper and ½ cup of olive oil. Beat thoroughly; if possible, add a small piece of ice which will make the dressing thick and smooth. Pour over the salad to be served and serve at once.
Tomato Sauce
To one No. 10 can of tomatoes, brought to the boiling point, add three chopped green peppers, making sure no seeds are used, and seven or eight large onions sliced thin, both having been browned with a little fat in a spider. Add salt (scant tablespoonful) and a scant tablespoonful of sugar, a pinch of soda to counteract the acid and cook very slowly for three hours. This sauce can be used with macaroni, spaghetti or rice, or served with fish or baked beans as a vegetable, the long cooking making it thick.
Soups
Potato and Onion Soup
Peel and slice thin 1 potato and 1 onion. Put in a kettle and cover with cold water. Boil for ½ hour. Add milk, salt and a dash of pepper, a little chopped parsley and green pepper.
Steero Bouillon
One cube of Steero placed in a cup. Fill the cup with hot water, stir until dissolved, add salt. Instead of water, the liquid from a can of tomatoes could be used.
Vegetables
Beets.
For 3 persons—1 bunch or 5 beets.
Wash with a brush, cut off the tops leaving at least 1 inch of stems on the beet. Do not cut the roots. Drop into boiling water and cook for 1½ hours. Drain off all water, slip off the skins which come off very easily. If too hot to handle, pour cold water over the beets. Slice crosswise, add butter and salt and serve. Beet tops, if young, can be used as greens.
Cabbage, Boiled
Remove outer leaves, cut in quarters, shave, not using the hard center, drop into boiling salted water, enough to cover the cabbage and boil hard for one hour. Drain, add a piece of butter and serve.
Carrots, Creamed
1 bunch or 5 carrots for 4 or 6 persons.
New carrots are sold with the tops on. They should not be withered nor dry. Loose carrots are sold by the quantity and are less expensive. Cut off the tops, wash and scrape, cut in slices crosswise, cook in salted boiling water ½ hour. Drain off the water, pour cream sauce over carrots and serve.
Corn, Boiled
Husk it, remove all silk, cut off the butt close to the ear, cook in boiling salted water for about fifteen minutes, if there is a small quantity; longer if there is a great deal.
Corn, Roasted
Dip the ear of corn, husk and all, in cold water; bury in hot coals under a fire, roast for 20 minutes.
Onions
Peel, boil in salted water two hours, drain, season, serve. Or slice raw into a buttered dish, season, add a small quantity of water, cover and bake three hours.
Peas
2 quarts for 4 persons
Shell, drop into boiling water not salted. Boil for 25 minutes. Fresh peas are very green and have a sweet taste; the pods are green and tender and should look full and fat.
Potatoes
Baked
Wash thoroughly large potatoes; (and if there is a large quantity, put in a big pan as they are more easily handled), and bake in a hot oven from one to one and one-half hours, according to size, and temperature of the oven.
Boiled
In preparing a large quantity of potatoes, it takes too much time to scrape them, and to peel them is wasteful. In camp it is far better, if they are to be served plain boiled, to wash and scrub them thoroughly, and peel only a narrow strip around the center. Potatoes should be covered with boiling, salted water, cooked until tender, the water drained off, and allowed to remain in the kettle on the back of the stove for a few minutes to thoroughly dry out before serving. Put the largest potatoes into the pot first.
Escalloped
Peel and slice raw; place in layers in a buttered pan or dish with butter and salt between the layers. Cover with milk (the dish should be covered also); place in a slow oven for three hours; uncover the dish for the last fifteen minutes of the time.
Lyonnaise
Melt a piece of butter the size of an egg in a frying pan. Add two onions sliced thin and two good-sized cold potatoes sliced; cover, cook slowly stirring with a fork occasionally. Serve when brown.
Spinach
Pick over, reject the leaves that are yellow, wilted, or very coarse; wash thoroughly in several waters, drain, cut off the roots; put in a boiler with just enough water to keep from sticking, cover tight turning occasionally with a long fork. Cook for about an hour. When tender drain off all water, chop with a knife, season and serve. For a garnish use hard-boiled eggs, sliced.
Squash
Large, yellow squashes should be cut in two, and the seeds removed. Place in pan and roast in a hot oven. When tender remove the brown skin that has been formed on top of the squash, add butter and salt and place the halves on a platter to serve. Or the squash can be scooped out of the shell, seasoned and served from a dish.
String Beans
Buy only those that are crisp and green or crisp and yellow. The latter are called wax beans. Both kinds should be young, that is, having only beans of small size in them. Remove all strings by taking the stem end in the thumb and fore finger, break off near the end and take off with it the string on one side of the bean. Do the same thing at the other end of the bean. Break the bean once or twice, according to size, or split the entire length with a sharp knife. Wash and drop into boiling salted water. Boil for 1½ hours.
Scalloped Tomato
Butter a dish or pan, put in it alternate layers of tomatoes and bread cut in dice. The thick part of a can of tomatoes or sliced raw tomatoes can be used. Put pieces of butter on top of the bread crumbs, salt, sprinkle sugar on top, put a layer of bread crumbs over all, cover, and bake in a hot oven three-quarters of an hour. Save the tomato liquid (if canned tomatoes are used) for soup or sauce. Do not allow it to stay in the tin.
Stewed Tomatoes
Add a pinch of soda and simmer for an hour or more; season with salt, butter and a little sugar. Bread cut in very small squares can be added to thicken the tomato.
Tomato and Rice
To one quart can of tomatoes add a teaspoonful of salt, a teaspoonful of sugar, soda the size of a pea, and one tablespoonful of raw rice well washed. Bake for three hours in a deep dish, stirring occasionally with a fork. Serve as a vegetable. It is particularly nice with beef.