Camp and Trail Part 8

CHAPTER VII

GRUB

[Sidenote: Variety]

IN no department of outdoor life does the mistaken notion of "roughing it" work more harm. I have never been able to determine why a man should be content with soggy, heavy, coa.r.s.e and indigestible food when, with the same amount of trouble, the same utensils, and the same materials he can enjoy variety and palatability. To eat a well-cooked dinner it is not necessary to carry an elaborate commissary. In a later chapter I shall try to show you how to combine the simple and limited ingredients at your command into the greatest number of dishes. At present we will concern ourselves strictly with the kind and quant.i.ty of food you will wish to carry with you.

Necessarily bulk and weight are such important considerations that they will at once cut out much you would enjoy. Also condensed and desiccated foods are, in a few cases, toothsome enough to earn inclusion--and many are not. Perishability bars certain other sorts. But when all is said and done there remains an adequate list from which to choose.

[Sidenote: Luxuries]

However closely you confine yourself to the bare necessities, be sure to include one luxury. This is not so much to eat as for the purpose of moral support. I remember one trip in the Black Hills on which our commissary consisted quite simply of oatmeal, tea, salt, and sugar, and a single can of peaches. Of course there was game. Now if we had found ourselves confined to meat, mush, oatmeal pones, and tea, we should, after a little, have felt ourselves reduced to dull monotony, and after a little more we should have begun to long mightily for the fleshpots of Deadwood. But that can of peaches lurked in the back of our minds. By its presence we were _not_ reduced to meat, mush, oatmeal pones, and tea. Occasionally we would discuss gravely the advisability of opening it, but I do not believe any one of us down deep in his heart meant it in sober earnest. What was the mere tickling of the palate compared with the destruction of a symbol.

[Sidenote: Take Your Pet Luxury]

Somewhat similarly I was once on a trip with an Englishman who, when we outfitted, insisted on marmalade. In vain we pointed out the fact that gla.s.s always broke. Finally we compromised on one jar, which we wrapped in the dish towel and packed in the coffee pot. For five weeks that unopened jar of marmalade traveled with us, and the Englishman was content. Then it got broken--as they always do. From that time on our friend uttered his daily growl or lament over the lack of marmalade.

And, mind you, he had already gone five weeks without tasting a spoonful!

So include in the list your pet luxury. Tell yourself that you will eat it just at the psychological moment. It is a great comfort. But to our list:

_Bacon_ is the stand-by. Get the very best you can buy, and the leanest.

In a walking trip cut off the rind in order to reduce the weight.

_Ham_ is a pleasant variety if you have room for it.

[Sidenote: Cereals]

_Flour._--Personally I like the whole wheat best. It bakes easier than the white, has more taste, and mixes with other things quite as well. It comes in 10-pound sacks, which makes it handy to carry.

_Pancake Flour_, either buckwheat or not, makes flapjacks, of course, but also bakes into excellent loaves, and is a fine base for camp cake.

_Boston Brown Bread Flour_ is self-rising, on the principle of the flapjack flour. It makes genuine brown bread, toothsome quick biscuits with shortening, and a glorious boiled or steamed pudding. If your outfitter does not know of it, tell him it is made at San Jose, California.

_Cornmeal._--Get the yellow. It makes good Johnny cake, puddings, fried mush, and unleavened corn pone, all of which are palatable, nourishing, and easy to make. If you have a dog with you, it is the easiest ration for between-meat seasons. A quarter cup swells up into an abundant meal for the average-sized canine.

_Hominy._--The coa.r.s.e sort makes a good variety.

_Tapioca._--Utterly unsatisfactory over an open fire. Don't take it.

[Sidenote: Rice, the Ideal Stand-by]

_Rice._--I think rice is about the best stand-by of all. In the first place, ten pounds of rice will go farther than ten pounds of any other food; a half cup, which weighs small for its bulk, boils up into a half kettleful, a quant.i.ty ample for four people. In the second place, it contains a great percentage of nutriment, and is good stuff to travel on. In the third place, it is of that sort of palatability of which one does not tire. In the fourth place it can be served in a variety of ways: boiled plain; boiled with raisins; boiled with rolled oats; boiled, then fried; made into baked puddings; baked in gems or loaves; mixed with flapjacks. Never omit it from your list.

[Ill.u.s.tration: When you quit the trail for a day's rest]

[Sidenote: Buy Only the Best Brands]

_Baking Powder._--Do not buy an unknown brand at a country store; you will find it bad for your insides after a very short use. Royal and Price's are both good.

_Tea and Coffee._--Even confirmed coffee drinkers drop away from their allegiance after being out a short time. Tea seems to wear better in the woods. Personally, I never take coffee at all, unless for the benefit of some other member of the party.

_Potatoes_ are generally out of the question, although you can often stick a small sack in your kyacks. They are very grateful when you can carry them. A desiccated article is on the market. Soaked up it takes on somewhat the consistency of rather watery mashed potatoes. It is not bad.

_Onions_ are a luxury; but, like the potatoes, can sometimes be taken, and add largely to flavor.

[Sidenote: Saccharine Tablets]

_Sugar._--My experience is, that one eats a great deal more sweets out of doors than at home. I suppose one uses up more fuel. In any case I have many a time run out of sugar, and only rarely brought any home Saxin, crystallose and saccharine are all excellent to relieve the weight in this respect. They come as tablets, each a little larger than the head of a pin. A tablet represents the sweetening power of a lump of sugar. Dropped in the tea, two of them will sweeten quite as well as two heaping spoonfuls and you could never tell the difference. A man could carry in his waistcoat pocket vials containing the equivalent of twenty-five pounds of sugar. Their advantage in lightening a back load is obvious.

_Fats._--Lard is the poorest and least wholesome. Cottolene is better.

Olive oil is best. The latter can be carried in a screw-top tin. Less of it need be used than of the others. It gives a delicious flavor to anything fried in it.

_Mush._--Rolled oats are good, but do not agree with some people. Cream of Wheat and Germea are more digestible. Personally I prefer to take my cereal in the form of biscuits. It "sticks to the ribs" better.

Three-quarters of a cup of cereal will make a full supply of mush for three people, leaving room for mighty little else. On the other hand, a full cup of the same cereal will make six biscuits--two apiece for our three people. In other words, the biscuits allow one to eat a third more cereal in half the bulk.

[Sidenote: Fruits]

_Dried Fruit._--This is another cla.s.s of food almost to be cla.s.sed as condensed. It is easily carried, is light, and when cooked swells considerably. Raisins lead the list, as they cook in well with any of the flour stuffs and rice, and are excellent to eat raw as a lunch.

Dried figs come next. I do not mean the layer figs, but those dried round like prunes. They can be stewed, eaten raw, or cooked in puddings.

Dried apples are good stewed, or soaked and fried in a little sugar.

Prunes are available, raw or cooked. Peaches and apricots I do not care for, but they complete the list.

[Sidenote: A Good Remedy for a Chill]

_Salt and Pepper._--A little cayenne in hot water is better than whiskey for a chill.

_Cinnamon._--Excellent to sprinkle on apples, rice, and puddings. A flavoring to camp cake. One small box will last a season.

_Milk._--Some people like the sticky sweetened Borden milk. I think it very sickish and should much prefer to go without. The different brands of evaporated creams are palatable, but too bulky and heavy for ordinary methods of transportation. A can or so may sometimes be included, however. Abercrombie & Fitch offer a milk powder. They claim that a spoonful in water "produces a sweet wholesome milk." It may be wholesome; it certainly is sweet--but as for being milk! I should like to see the cow that would acknowledge it.

_Syrup._--Mighty good on flapjacks and bread, and sometimes to be carried when animals are many. The easiest to get that tastes like anything is the "Log Cabin" maple syrup. It comes in a can of a handy shape.

[Sidenote: Alt.i.tude's Influence on Cooking]

_Beans._--Another rich stand-by; rich in sustenance, light in weight, and compressed in bulk. Useless to carry in the mountains, where, as a friend expressed it, "all does not boil that bubbles." Unless you have all day and unlimited firewood they will not cook in a high alt.i.tude.

Lima beans are easier cooked. A few chilis are nice to add to the pot by way of variety.

_Pilot Bread or Hardtack._--If you use it at all--which of course must be in small quant.i.ties for emergencies--be sure to get the coa.r.s.est. It comes in several grades, and the finer crumble. The coa.r.s.e, however, breaks no finer than the size of a dollar, and so is edible no matter how badly smashed. With raisins it makes a good lunch.

_b.u.t.ter_, like milk, is a luxury I do without on a long trip. The lack is never felt after a day or two. I believe you can get it in air-tight cans.

_Macaroni_ is bulky, but a single package goes a long way, and is both palatable and nutritious. Break it into pieces an inch or so long and stow it in a grub bag.

[Sidenote: Canned Goods]

That finishes the list of the bulk groceries. Canned goods, in general, are better left at home. You are carrying the weight not only of the vegetable, but also of the juice and the tin. One can of tomatoes merely helps out on one meal, and occupies enough s.p.a.ce to accommodate eight meals of rice; or enough weight to balance two dozen meals of the same vegetable. Both the s.p.a.ce of the kyacks and the carrying power of your horse are better utilized in other directions. I a.s.sume you never will be fool enough to weight your own back with such things.

So much for common sense and theory. As a matter of practice, and if you have enough animals to avoid overloading, you will generally tuck in a can here and there. These are to be used only on great occasions, but grace mightily holidays and very tired times.