CHAPTER XII COOKING ON HIKES BUILDING A COOKING FIRE-FIRE BY SUN GLASS- COCOA-SAMPLE MENU-RATION LIST-DISH Take two or three stones to build a fireplace; a stick first shaved and then whittled into shavings; a lighted match, a little blaze, some bark, dry twigs and a few small sticks added; then with the griddle placed over the fire, you are ready to cook the most appetizing griddle cakes. The Fireplace After the cakes are cooked, fry strips of bacon upon the griddle; in the surplus fat fry slices of bread, then some thinly. sliced raw potatoes done to a delicious brown and you have a breakfast capable of making the mouth of a camper water. Another way of building a fire: Place two green logs side by side, closer together at one end than the other. Build fire between. On the logs over the fire you can rest frying pan, kettle, etc. To start fire have some light, dry wood split up fine. When sticks begin to blaze add a few more of larger size and continue until you have a good fire. When the sun shines a fire may be started by means of a small pocket sun or magnifying glass. Fine scrapings from dry wood or “punk Sun Glass tinder" will easily ignite by the focusing of the sun dial upon it, and by fanning the fire and by adding additional fuel, the firebuilder will soon have a great blaze. COOKING RECEIPTS Beat together one egg, tablespoonful of sugar, cup of new milk, or condensed milk di . Griddle Cakes luted one-half. Mix in enough selfraising flour to make a thick cream batter. Grease the griddle with rind or slices of bacon for each batch of cakes. Slice bacon thin. Remove the rind which makes the slices curl up. Or, gash the rind with a sharp knife if the boys like "cracklings." Fry on griddle or put on the sharp end of a stick Broiled Bacon and hold over the hot coals, or, better yet, remove the griddle and put a clean flat rock in its place. When the rock is hot lay the slices of bacon on it and broil. Keep turning the bacon so as to brown it on both sides. Cut into dice. Heat about a Creamed Salmon pint of salmon in one-half pint milk, season with salt and pep per and a half teaspoonful of butter. Drop slices of stale bread into smoking-hot lard. They will brown at once. Drain them. Heat a pint of salmon, picked into flakes, Salmon on Toast season with salt and pepper and put into it a tablespoonful of butter. Stir in one egg, beaten light, with three tablespoonfuls evaporated milk not thinned. Pour mixture on the fried bread. Wash potatoes and dry well; bury them deep in a good bed of live coals, cover them with hot coals until well done. They will take about forty minutes to bake. When you can pass a sharpened hardwood sliver through them, they are done, and Potatoes should be raked out at once. Run the sliver through them from end to end, and let the steam escape and use immediately, as a roast potato quickly becomes soggy and bitter. Dig a hole one foot and a half deep. Build a fire in it, heaping up dry sticks until there is an abundance of fuel. After an hour, take out the coals, clear the hole of ashes, lay green corn husks on the hot bottom of the hole. Soak brown Baked Fish paper in water and wrap around the fish. Lay it in the hole, cover with green corn husks, covered in turn with half an inch of earth. Build a fire over it and keep burning for an hour. Then remove and you have something delicious and worth the time taken to prepare. Clean fish well. Small fish should be fried whole, with the backbone severed to prevent curling up; large fish should be cut into pieces, and ribs cut loose from backbone so as to lie flat in pan. Rub the pieces in corn meal or powdered bread crumbs, thinly and evenly (that browns them). Fried Fish Fry in plenty of very hot fat to a golden brown, sprinkling lightly with pepper and salt just as the color turns. If fish has not been wiped dry, it will absorb too much grease. If the frying fat is not very hot when fish are put in they will be soggy with it. After skinning frogs, soak them an hour in cold water, to which vinegar has been added, or put them for two minutes into scalding water that has vinegar in it. Drain, wipe dry, and cook. To fry: Roll in flour seasoned with salt and pepper, and fry, not too rapidly, preferably in butter Frogs' Legs or oil. Water cress is a good relish with them. To grill: Prepare three tablespoonfuls melted butter, one-half teaspoonful salt, and a pinch or two of pepper, into which dip the frog legs, then roll in fresh bread crumbs and broil for three minutes on each side. EGGS Raise water to boiling point. Place eggs in carefully. Boil steadily for three minutes if Boiled you prefer them soft. If you want them hard-boiled, put them in cold water, bring to a boil, and keep it up for twenty minutes. The yolk will then be mealy and wholesome. Melt some butter or fat in frying pan, Fried when it hisses drop in eggs carefully. Fry them three minutes. First stir the eggs up with a little condensed cream and a pinch of salt and after Scrambled putting some butter in the frying pan, stir the eggs in it, being careful not to cook them too long. First put in the frying pan sufficient diluted condensed milk which has been thinned Poached with enough water to float the eggs when the milk is hot; drop in the carefully opened eggs and let them simmer three or four minutes. Serve the eggs on slices of buttered toast, pouring on enough of the milk to moisten the toast. For every cup of water allow a tablespoonful of ground coffee, and one extra for the pot. Heat water to boiling point first, add coffee, boil Coffee five minutes, settle with one-fourth cup cold water and serve. Some prefer to put the coffee in a small muslin bag, tied loose, and boil for five minutes longer. Allow a teaspoonful of cocoa for every cup of boiling water. Mix the powdered cocoa Cocoa with hot water or hot milk to a creamy paste. Add equal parts of boiling water and boiled milk, and sugar to taste. Boil two or three minutes. SAMPLE MENU FOR AN OVER-NIGHT AND A DAY HIKE OR TRAMP Breakfast Griddle cakes with Karo Syrup or brown sugar and butter Fried bacon and potatoes Bread Coffee Preserves |