Man a Better Camp Cook Than Woman
The reason why as a rule a man will make a better camp cook than a woman is because he has [[110]]had no experience as a cook in the use of modern conveniences. The woman who cooks splendidly in the home, with gas range and electric cooking utensils always at hand, is likely to be lost when out camping in the woods she tries to prepare breakfast with the limited equipment of a camp cooking kit, or a camp fireplace. She is still more in the wilderness as an efficient worker if she has nothing more than an open camp fire to work with. But, man or woman, the camp cook can live and learn, and the simpler and cruder the facilities with which to work the more zest there will be in getting the cooking done well. And food never tastes quite so good as when flavored with a dash of wood ashes and the pungent savor of wood smoke from a camp fire.
A camp meal for a party of three or four is comparatively simple to prepare, and it can be speedily and effectively served as well. It need not be elaborate, but it should be hot. Circumstances oftentimes demand that the whole process of preparing and serving breakfast be brief. When the fish are jumping one had almost rather do without his cup of hot coffee than spend twenty minutes making fire and bringing the water to a boil. But when one learns how, he finds that such delay is not necessary. A substantial breakfast of eggs, bacon and coffee can be prepared in from ten to fifteen minutes, and the fire built, even in the rain, within this time limit. Few motorists know the essentials of a successful fire for cooking. A fire that could be built [[111]]within the limits of an ordinary soup plate will cook quicker than the bonfire that the motor camper usually builds. What is needed is not a big fire for warmth or for drying out wet clothing.