The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1913-11-19
On The Indoor Range Some Trajectory Tests of Foods of High Concentration. Showing How Cooking, Like Charity, Should Begin
 At Home.
(By o. l.. Gilman.)
tFrom Arms and the Man.>

minds of the average run or sports men that a short, annual hunting trip in the woods offers few if any oppor- tunfties to learn to shoot rifle, that rnarksmanship is something which should be and can be acquired at home and that the indoor range Of ff- ty or more feet offers excellent odd moment opportunities to cultivate 9 steady hold and a clean trigger-pNn.
 Just as sound common sense die tates that no rifle should be thrown down on the game before It is tried. tested and targeted on the range so the same quality suggests that 1t Is folly to attempt over the campfire a culinary miracle which has not been previously rehearsed on the cool-stove. Recipes which read we'll in the cookbook and patent foods which rron1lse much on the package have a way of developing perverse traits in the pot or pan. An open fire with. a vociferous background Of ravenous appetites, yammerfng sug- gestions and irnprecatfons is rotten layout for experiments
 Even such r1dim entary dishes as <sorn-meaI rnush, fried bacon- boiled wild rice, stewed beans and hapjacks come more quickly and perfectly froro the campfire when they are engineer ed by a man who has previously prac- iticed them on the indoor range of his horne kitchen Particularly fine Is the kitchen laboratory for learning the art and the futility of tossing flap jacks Once a man has sat1ated his vanity by performing this bit of par Tor vyoodcraft before the admiring eyes of his family and a, few invited guests he can calmly settle down to irving them three at a. time in the big pan and turning them with a knife
 suaged by mere juggIery, sure, steady delivery of the goods in job lots is more to the point.
 Above all is it foolish to attempt the sorcery of baking powder biscuits the same being known as t'0annocks to the boy scouts and such-or even sour dough bread for the first time in the open. Begin indoors with the regular oven, and, if possible, put over batch or so in the camp reflector, showing it up against the side of sit ting room base-burner. Then and only then can man be reasonably sure that his outdoor efforts will re- suit in something light, palatable and measurab1y digestfble-
 Raw materials which have been brought by great labor at the paddle and under the pack to a country where fresh4 supplies are unobtainable are far too valuable to be wasted in unsuccessful experiments
 It is this labor of transportation which makes any innovation in the line of concentrated food-of foo that is all food with the last drop of water squeezed out-of vital interest - to the man whose sports carry him into far and lonesome places.
 In the matter of bare subsistence 1t is doubtful if anything can be ad- ded to the eternal elements of camp grub. Corn-mea1, wild rice, beans flour, bacon, sugar, tea and salt, with a bit of soda and pepper to enIiven the same and some prunes and tobacco to aid digestion have been from the be ginning and will be until the end all that man requires to keep him alive and working.
 But man, particularly city-broke man, needs more to make him really happy-his palate and his health de mand something more of variety.
 So, when one reads in the catalog: of dehydrated vegetables so reduced that a single pound is the equiVa1en of a, dozen pounds of the fresh gar. den product; of a pound of porter house steEed down to a thimb1efu of goo and Of quart of turtle souI dried into an inch cube his mouth be gins to water
 But between the patent fodder il the sporting goods store and you grub sack in the wilderness. shoulc intervene the cool, dfspassionate thirt degree of your indoor range. Be cause some of 'em are good and som of 'em are not. and all of 'em must b. n2nQlSQ T1SnC 10 give the pest results
 There's no use appealing to you guide or any other professiona --woodsnan" for information regard ing these things Like all of hi breed, his whole mental and spiritua existence is predicated on thet propo sition that he knows everything an its converse that whatever he don know ain't so. He knows nOthint about "concentrated'' foods and Iittl about the other kinds His whoI attitude is that of an ancient worth who claimed to have lived in tn woods since 1867 and who discovere a sack of dehydrated potatoes whil rummaging around my shack one eV ening. He requested that coo some so he could see if they wer really, truly potatoes When the were placed before him the nez morning, fried, he looked, sniffef tried with his knife but positively dc elined to eat artificial food."
 So it is strictly up to you to fin put for yourself
 Personally, with potatoes hay had disappointing results. In tn sliced form they appear to dernan an inf1nity of soaking - som ethin bothersome on the trail and fnicix even in a fixed camp if the weather &reezing-and even after 4S hours water come from the pan with a dis tinctly wooden texture. As their foo value is low and their equivalent in more easily handled form is to [ found in rice, they have never foun their way from my indoor range the campfire
 But onions-one pound dried equi7 alent to twelve pounds fresh by u catalogue-are an unfai1ing deligh Used in soups and stews they soak |
 while cooking, thus adding nothing
 the length of the process, and al there with their pungent, satisfyir Bavor unabated.
 As much as can be pinched off b tween thumb and trigger finger fro Ehe block will suffice to make a bea pea or mixed soup for four a joy
 the nostri1s-
 And-throw about twice as muC Into the frying pan with a cupful