CHAPTER VI
CAMP FOOD
- HOW TO MAKE ASH CAKE, PONE, CORN DODGERS, FLAPJACKS, JOHNNY-CAKE, BISCUITS AND DOUGHGOD
- MAKING DUTCH OVENS
- VENISON
- BANQUETS IN THE OPEN
- HOW TO COOK BEAVER TAIL, PORCUPINES AND MUSKRATS
- CAMP STEWS, BRUNSWICK STEWS AND BURGOOS
CHAPTER VI
CAMP FOOD
Parched Corn as Food
When America gave Indian corn to the world she gave it a priceless gift full of condensed pep. Corn in its various forms is a wonderful food power; with a long, narrow buckskin bag of nocake, or rock-a-hominy, as parched cracked corn was called, swung upon his back, an Indian or a white man could traverse the continent independent of game and never suffer hunger. George Washington, George Rodgers Clark, Boone, Kenton, Crockett, and Carson all knew the sustaining value of parched corn.
How to Dry Corn
The pioneer farmers in America and many of their descendants up to the present time, dry their Indian corn by the methods the early Americans learned from the Indians. The corn drying season naturally begins with the harvesting of the corn, but it often continues until the first snow falls.
Selecting a number of ears of corn, the husks are pulled back exposing the grain, and then the husks of the several ears are braided together ([Fig. 165]). These bunches of corn are hung over branches of trees or horizontal poles and left for the winds to dry ([Fig. 166]).