Camping and camp cooking

by Frank A. Bates

Boiled Potatoes:—Wash thoroughly in cold water; cut out all the decayed parts. Drop them in hot water and boil till you can easily stick a sliver into the largest. Drain off the water and set one side to steam. Select all potatoes for a boiling of about the same size, so one will not be cooked before another, as they are liable to burst their jackets and become water-soaked or lost. If the potatoes are very old, peel off the skins, put a handful of salt in the water in which they are to be boiled; have the water very hot and cook as quickly as possible.

Mashed Potatoes:—After boiling, peel and mash thoroughly with a stick or the bottom of a clean bottle. Stir in salt, pepper, butter and enough milk to make the consistency that of dough.

Baked Potatoes:—Cut off the ends, bury in the hot ashes and leave there for an hour, or until you can pinch them with the fingers.

Boiled-fried Potatoes:—Peel the skins from cold boiled potatoes and slice. Have the bottom of the fry pan covered with “screeching hot” fat. Drop in the slices and stir frequently to prevent burning. When they are slightly brown they are ready to serve.

Stewed Potatoes:—Cut cold boiled potatoes into small pieces. Put in the stew pan with enough milk to cover them. Season with salt, pepper and butter, and stew gently, stirring occasionally, until the milk is nearly boiled away.

Lyonnaise Potatoes:—One quart cold boiled potatoes cut small, three tablespoons butter, one of chopped onions and one of chopped parsley, salt and pepper to taste. Season the potatoes with the salt and pepper, fry the onions in the butter, and when they are yellow, add the potatoes; stir with a fork, being careful not to break them; when hot add the parsley and cook two minutes longer. Serve at once.

Potato Salad:—Ten medium-sized cold boiled potatoes, cut into small pieces; one small onion, chopped fine; half a dozen hard boiled eggs; chop the whites fine, mash the yolks and add to them one teaspoon each of ground mustard and sugar, one tablespoon of melted butter, some salt and pepper. Rub all together well and put in the potatoes, with about four tablespoonfuls of salad dressing. (This can be purchased in bottles, and will save much trouble in making.) Add about half a cup of vinegar. If you can get some celery, chop up about as much as there is of the potato, and mix all together. Lettuce, kale, parsley or any green salad plant will do instead of the celery, or the salad plant may be omitted altogether, in which case, be more sparing of the vinegar in the dressing.

Boiled Green Corn:—The flavor of the corn is better preserved if it is cooked in the husk. Pull off the outer husk, turn down the inner leaves, pull off the silk and turn back the inner husk and tie the ends. Put some salt in the water as soon as it comes to a boil and drop in the corn. Do not let it stay in longer than is necessary to make it soft. If one does not wish to cook it this way, follow the same plan after taking off the husk.

Succotash—(so called): Cut the corn from the cob and shell the beans. The proportion should be two-thirds corn and one-third beans. Put into the kettle with a generous piece of pork, and boil till tender. Take out the pork, drain off the water, add a cup of milk and a piece of butter the size of an egg, and stir over the fire till it boils up. Take off the fire and season to taste with salt and pepper.

This is not the real succotash of the south-eastern section of Massachusetts, where it was first transmitted from the Indian to the first settlers. Nearly every one of the old colonial families has its receipt for this dish, and few of them are alike in their detail. They are all good enough. Suffice it to say that the body is composed of salt beef, pork, chicken, veal, and in many cases the remnants of the dinner, whatever it may have been, in the line of meat, saved by the frugal housewife. Here is one method as given me by one of the old-time mothers of the Cape.