Chapter VIII: Ryzon Camp Cookery

“’TIS SUBSTANTIAL HAPPINESS TO EAT”

No doubt the general principles of cooking are the same in the open air as in the kitchen. Yet a good cook might find it difficult to emulate the feats of some unpretentious woodsman, if he found himself in a dark forest, and he were told to get a hearty meal for a few hungry people as quickly as possible. Under such conditions fancy dishes are out of place.

The simplest food is the most appetizing when camping and the best to eat. It should be simply prepared.

When making tea at the camp the old household allowance of “one spoonful for each person and one for the pot” will not do; for some occult reason, more of the leaf is required in open air cookery. The same is true of coffee made in the woods, which has a different flavor from that made anywhere else.

Brook trout and potatoes may be rolled in wet paper and cooked in hot ashes. Fried fish are appetizing. Cleanse and wash the fish, remove the fins, and rub them well over with salt; roll the fish in a mixture of flour, salt and pepper and fry them in plenty of smoking hot fat.

Ham sandwiches and chicken sandwiches are both appetizing, but when one combines the two the result is delicious. Cream one-half cupful of butter, using a wooden spoon, add one cupful each of finely chopped cold boiled ham and cold boiled chicken; season to taste with salt and pepper and spread the mixture between slices of buttered bread.

N.B.—See other Camping Recipes; Surprise Muffins, page 19; Omelet, page 72; and Plum Duff page 66. Anything which is cooked in frying pan or kettle, can be managed over the camp-fire.

RYZON CORKSCREW BREAD

8 level cupfuls (2 pounds) flour.
4 tablespoonfuls (2 ounces) lard or drippings.
2 level tablespoonfuls RYZON.
2 level teaspoonfuls salt.
1 cupful (½ pint) milk.
1 cupful (½ pint) water.

Mix and sift flour, RYZON and salt into a bowl or pan, add lard or drippings, rub them into the dry ingredients, add milk and water gradually, and mix to a dough that can be handled easily. The dough must be rather stiffer than for biscuits baked in a pan.

Have a good bed of coals and the usual two forked sticks to hold the cooking utensils. Take a green stick an inch or more in diameter, and wind the dough around it. Rest the ends on the two forked sticks, and turn frequently until brown and crisp on all sides. Pull out the stick and the bread is ready for eating.

Sufficient for eight to ten persons.

Corkscrew bread is one of the camper’s delicacies.

RYZON CAMP CORN BREAD

2 level cupfuls (½ pound) flour.
2 level cupfuls (12 ounces) corn meal.
4 level teaspoonfuls RYZON.
1 level teaspoonful salt.
1 level teaspoonful sugar.
2 tablespoonfuls (1 ounce) lard or butter.
2 level tablespoonfuls egg powder.
6 tablespoonfuls evaporated milk.
1½ cupfuls (¾ pint) water.

Mix flour and corn meal together, add RYZON, salt, sugar, lard or butter, melted, egg powder mixed with evaporated milk and water. Mix well and pour into a well-greased pan. Bake in a moderate oven for forty minutes. If the campers have no oven, bake same as RYZON Camp Bread. Sufficient for eight to ten persons.

RYZON CAMP GRIDDLE CAKES

4 level cupfuls (1 pound) flour.
4 level teaspoonfuls RYZON.
1 level teaspoonful salt.
2 level tablespoonfuls egg powder.
½ cupful (1 gill) evaporated milk.
1½ cupfuls (¾ pint) water.
Butter and maple syrup.

Mix flour, RYZON, salt and egg powder and sift into a bowl, add evaporated milk and water and beat to a creamy batter. Do not have the batter thin. Fry in a hot frying pan, which has been greased with a piece of pork fat. Serve hot with butter and maple syrup. Sufficient for twenty cakes.

N. B.—See Master Griddle Cake Recipe on page 25.

RYZON CAMP POT PIE

Fresh meat or game.
Potatoes.
Onions.
Salt and pepper.
Sliced bacon or salt pork.

FOR DUMPLINGS:

1½ level cupfuls (6 ounces) flour.
3 level teaspoonfuls RYZON.
1 level teaspoonful salt.
1 level teaspoonful (½ ounce) shortening.
¾ cupful (1½ gills) water.

Cut the game or meat into medium-sized pieces. Season highly with salt and pepper, add strips of bacon, and cover with hot water. After it begins to boil, hang kettle higher over fire so that it may cook more slowly. See that the liquid in the pot does not become more reduced than one-third.

Prepare vegetables. About half an hour before the time to serve, make a soft dough of the flour, RYZON, salt, shortening, and water. Roll this out, one-half inch thick, and cut into strips. Pour off broth into another dish and remove most of the meat. Put a layer of meat, sliced potatoes, and sliced onion, in the bottom of the kettle, partially cover with strips of dough, and repeat, until materials are all used. Pour over this the hot broth, cover closely, and return to the fire to boil for twenty minutes.

This may be served directly from the kettle.

N. B.—The quantities of meat and vegetables used will depend solely upon the number to be served. Dumpling recipe will serve six people.

N. B.—See Master Dumpling Recipe, page 69.

RYZON CAMP BREAD

2 level cupfuls (½ pound) flour.
4 level teaspoonfuls RYZON.
1 level teaspoonful salt.
2 tablespoonfuls (1 ounce) lard or butter.
1 cupful (½ pint) milk or water.

Mix flour, RYZON and salt together and sift into a bowl, add lard and rub it in lightly with tips of fingers, then add water and mix well. Grease a frying pan and turn in the batter, and bake very slowly over the fire. Be sure to loosen from the pan with a thin knife as soon as a crust forms, so that it can be turned over and baked on other side. Sufficient for four persons.