Camping and camp cooking

by Frank A. Bates

Partridge Fricassee:—Divide your birds into joints and roll them in flour; put in the fry pan a generous lump of butter, heat very hot and put in your pieces of bird. Cook for about ten minutes, then add water to keep from burning and cook slowly till the meat is tender. Take up the meat and put in a dish; turn in the pan enough water to make a gravy, thicken it with a little flour rubbed up in cold milk; salt it a little and pour it over the birds.

FISH.

There is such a difference in fish taken from different waters, that any general rule for cooking may lead to distaste and disappointment by reason of the poor quality of the flesh. Fish taken from sluggish, muddy waters are decidedly inferior to the same species taken from the cold, clear streams and ponds. Soaking in salt and water before cooking will improve these inferior fish, but all the preparation in the world will not make them taste like the fish caught in clear waters. Again, if you have not a fish car or net, or a well in the boat, by which means they can be kept alive till they are ready for use, always kill your catch at once, and keep them out of the sun. Fish that have lain in the sun for a half hour are unfit for food. Reference to the article on Fish Cleaning, by Mr. Bosworth, will give you needed instructions, which it will be well to follow. Trusting that you have studied this, I will say no more on the subject, but proceed to the cooking.

Fried Perch:—Have the pan well supplied with hot fat. If there is not a supply in camp, fry the fat out of a half-pound of salt pork. Roll the fish, previously skinned and well washed, in corn meal or cracker crumbs. If you wish to do it up in real fine shape, roll them first in well beaten egg and then in crumbs. Drop in the fat and fry brown, turning frequently, so as to have them evenly cooked. Serve hot. This rule holds good for all kinds of fish not over a half-pound in weight. If larger, either cut them in slices across the body, or slice the meat of the sides from the backbone.

Boiled Fish:—Do not attempt to boil a fish under three pounds in weight. Have your water boiling. Put in a couple tablespoonfuls of salt, and drop in your fish. It is a good plan to wrap it in a clean white cloth, so it will not fall in pieces. Cook until the fish will easily cleave away from the bones. A three-pound fish will cook in half an hour or less, and about five minutes for every extra pound may be considered about right. But there is a difference in species. Too much cooking will spoil the flavor of some fish, the salmon for instance, or the lake trout. Serve with some sauce.

Fish Sauce:—Have a quart of water boiling in the stew pan or the fry pan. Put in two tablespoonfuls of butter, one teaspoonful of salt. Mix in a cup three tablespoonfuls of flour rubbed up in a little cold water till the lumps are all broken, and it is of the consistency of cream. Stir this into the boiling water slowly, so it will not form lumps, and the sauce will thicken. Milk in place of the water is preferable, or half milk and half water. If you want a sour sauce, add a teaspoonful of vinegar, but do not use milk, it will curdle. A glass of wine in place of the vinegar is an improvement, especially when served with boiled trout.

Baked Fish:—Take a fish of not less than three pounds; scrape and wash it well; prepare stuffing composed of cracker or bread crumbs, a little salt and pepper, a small lump of butter, seasoned with sage or poultry dressing, mixed with a very little boiling water; if you have eggs drop one in and mix thoroughly. Put the stuffing in the cavity whence the entrails were removed, not too tightly, and sew up the opening. Rake the hot coals out of the bake-hole, put a thick layer of green grass (if there should happen to be some mint in it all the better), over the hot ashes, lay the fish on this, put on another layer of grass, rake the hot coals over all, and build a fire on top. Bake for an hour. If you like the flavor put a small onion in the dressing. A few slices of bacon, laid over the fish before covering, will improve the flavor.

Small fish may be prepared for the table by baking between the layers of grass, but it will not take so long to cook them. In fact, when on a long tramp, in light marching order, I prefer to cook them this way, rather than to lug a fry pan.

Skewered Fish:—Sharpen a small straight stick and take off the bark. Thrust this through small fish and slices of bacon alternately, and hold over the hot coals. They will cook in a few minutes. Look out that they do not drop off the stick at the last stage of the game.

Broiled Fish:—Take off the heads and split down the back, leaving the skin over the stomach intact. Lay on the broiler with strips of fat pork or bacon laid across, and cook over hot coals. Mackerel and bluefish do not need the fat meat, but they are by no means injured thereby.