Morning journal and courier., 1884-08-07
Camp Cooking.

Mrs. Lincoln, of the Boston cooking school, has arranged a set of rules for cooking for the
 especial benefit of the campers-out They
 are all drawn from reliable sources, and are
 the result of absolute experience. Some of
 them will be presented here for the benefit of the campers-out who are just now prepar-
 ing for their froGe, and still more will be giv-
 en little later. It must be remembered that
 one has to go back to first principles, and use
 the most primitive of implements which na-
 ture herself furnishes. If you think stove
 is necessity, you may build hollow of
 square stones and cover with large fiat
 stone. In this you may build your fire. But
 you can do good work without stove; how good you have no idea until you try. fire
 of sticks, over which is swung the inevitable gypsy kettle, will do wonders for you; in it's
 way it is as good as a range, for by it you can broil, boil and bake all at once, and where is the stove that can do better? The secret of all success in this, as in other mat various things.
 Of course, the first thing is to select the camping ground, and it is well, if possible, to get locality near a growth of birches. l Usually, these trees grow near water and among pines and hemlocks, so in getting the D1rCnob OI6 ue0unC give up the OCn6r du- Juncts to a perfectly successful camp. The uses to which the birch may be put are man
 fold; the saplings make perfectly satisfacto-
 " coasters; the crotched sticks are capital cooking forks; the bark is the best of fuel, giving quick, hot fire. You may make your whole dinner service of it, plates, plat
 ters, all, and then use 1t for fuel afterward, while the next meal sees the table laid with fresh service. It can be fashioned into the
 dalntiest drinking cups, out of which the water tastes more delicious than it does when
 taken from anything else
 Of course, it is the aim of every camping out party to burden themselves as slightly as possible, but there are things that we must
 not forget. You may be able to get on with
 out a saucepan, but you must have a kettle te hang over your fire, gypsy fashion, and a tin dish, holding quart or three pints, and a tin cup. You must, unless you are to be
 near a village where you can get the things
 as you go into camp, take some flour, meal,
 salt, pepper, salt pork, crackers and small
 box of royal baking power. Usually milk,
 eggs and butter may be obtained from farm
 houses in the vicinity of the camp but if
 milk is not easily obtained, there is the con
 densed milk, which is good substitute, be-
 ing, as a rule, decidedly preferable to city
 milk, and which is always used for coffee by
 many persons, even when the original is at
 hand. If butter is not obtainable the best
 way to carry it to camp with you is to cut
 the top crust from loaf of bread, remove
 all the soft portion from the loaf, pack the
 cavity thus made very closely with butter,
 and cover with the crust, wrapping in clean cloth and tying it to hold the cover in place.
 To keep the butter cool and hard while in camp, put it in tin pail, closely covered and set the pail in the brook or spring, tying it to a sapling on the bank to keep it from
 floating away or from overturning.
 The delight of the heart of the camper ia al-a o16 aCI1i lof fair, such as has been made by the old hunt CTS for goodness knows how many years. It | is easily made, and that is fortunate, for, ! after studying the desires and appetites of ! the denizens of camps, one who understands ! the situation says there is very likely to l be a call for the hoe-cake not less than ! three times day. When the bangs of l hunger assail the party the united first ! thought is of the hoe-cake, and there is an | instant clamor for it's production. Here are | the directions for the genuine article: Pour | boiling water cup of Indian meal ! ter thin enough to spread easily; add one half a teaspoonful of salt; spread the mix ture by tablespoonfuls on a hot frying pan or griddle, which has been well greased by 1 salt pork rind, and fry until it is brown, | but take great care not to get even smell 1 of scorch upon it, lest your sweet become l bitter. When Drowned upon one side turn and brown the other. But better than II frying pan or griddle, which smack too much of the civilization from which you ! have run away, is houred board upon which the batter is spread, the board is then slanted in front of the open fire, and I the hoe-cake is cooked in it's original fash | ion, and has a flavor that is utterly un- | known in the other methods of cooking l If the board such you need is not | forthcoming, the cake may be baked on smooth flat stone which has been previous l ,1-1o IT. particularly like the crisp crust, you are | ESQ hungry that you can't wait" for the | cake to be cooked through, as soon as they | are Drowned on one side turn them, and | with broad -bladed knife slip off the thin | crust. When another crust has formed on | the bottom turn and cut of the crust again | and serve these thin crusts you would | griddle cakes. They are sweet and crisp ! beyond telling, and meal cooked this way is far better than when mixed with eggs and other ingredients.
 Another palatable and easily made bread l for camp purposes is short-cake. It takes l little time, and skill is not so much a ne | eessity, the veriest amateur will have 1 good success if he only will follow direc- l tions implicitly. Take quart of flour, l three heaping teaspoonsful of baking pow 1 der and half a teaspoonful of salt; mix these | well together and then rub in two table spoonsful of lard or butter; mix with cold | water into dough.soft enough to roll easily. Roll half all inch thick and cut into rounds | and bake slowly on griddle or frying pan. You probably may not have bread board and rolling-pin with you. It would be re- markable if you did, but you rise superior to the lack of them and let no such small | difficulties stand in your way. Lay napkin on chair, smooth piece of brown paper on a board or a fiat box, or, if you are in boat, | on the seat of the boat, and here is your | moulding board. For rolling pin you may l use round stick with smooth bark, tin | can, such as the canned fruits come in, or l bottle; the top of the baking powder box l makes capital cake cutter, you may cut l the dough into squares with well fioured | knife. Of course you must understand that | the board is to be well houred to prevent the l dough from sticking; also the top of the l dough- so that the roller will not stick. These | cakes can be baked on the hot stone or the l board, prepared as for the hoe cake.
 Eggs in various fashions form part of the | regular bill of fare for campers-out, and af- | ter you tire of eating them boiled or scran bled you may try roast eggs, preparing them in the following fashion: Prick the shells of | the eggs several times at the pointed ends to prevent them bursting. Place them on the larger end in the hot sand or ashes under the fire and cover them with leaves, hot sand and embers and cook for ten minutes. When opened they will have velvety softness that is quite unknown to those who have never eaten eggs prepared in this fashion.
 The easy way to cook chickens and quail you will find way not at all to be despised. Tn Idaho the hunters and prospectors speak of smothered quail as being very delicious, and they prepared it in the following man ner: Before dressing them cover them all over with hot ashes. Let them remain in the ashes fifteen minutes, then remove them and you can strip off feathers and skin together. Split them open and the entrails will drop put, and your bird, thoroughly cooked, will be ready to eat after seasoning with salt, pep per and butter. It requires little more ,are to prepare the chickens for baking in ashes Remove the entrails and the crop, but not the feathers. Wet these to make them lie smoothly, and cover them with a paste of four and water. Make fire in a hollow of sand. When this is well burned put put the chickens upon the embers and