Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Camping & Cooking

Whenever we go camping, we take all the camping essentials and one of those is our camp stove. Okay, it's actually a "Camp Chef" two burner bbq, like this one:


We have a grill box that sits over one of the burners and that is where the grilling of meat and veg occurs.

We also end up taking along a couple of cast iron skillets for everything that does not get grilled. One with low sides for things like eggs and toast and one with high sides for saucy dishes or dishes that have lots of chopped veg, like ginger braised cabbage.




And who would EVER want to be without a good mug of espresso in the morning?! We always take along our stove top espresso pot whenever we travel.



We end up visiting the local grocery store each day of our trip to pick up fresh meat or protein for that day, ice, and eggs for breakfast the next morning.

Having a plan for each meal and remember to take those few spices you CANNOT camp without; for me, they are:
- fresh garlic and ginger
- kosher salt
- fresh cracked pepper
- curry (either Madras or Masala)
- Montreal Steak Spice

What are your go-to meals for camping trips? Are there dishes that work better than others? What are your "essentials of camping"?

2 comments:

  1. I've never actually been camping (gasp!)..although I would love to one day. :) I just had a question for you. I have both the cast iron pans you have pictured. How do you get eggs to not stick in those?

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  2. Priya - never camping? It is wonderful!!

    As for getting the eggs to not stick, there are two keys - keeping your pan well seasoned and having the pan hot when the eggs hit it.

    To season your pans, lightly oil them all over and place them in the oven, upside down, and bake them at 450*F for at least an hour or two. To keep them seasoned, do not scrape off all the black oil after each use, just lightly wash, dry, and place onto a warm element then re-oil the pan. These pans get better and better, but always fully dry the pan and re-oil after each use.

    For getting the pan hot, I let it sit on 4 or 5 (medium low) for about 5 minutes before the egg goes in, and I always lightly oil the pan right before the egg goes down. Also do not touch the egg for a few minutes - it will stick initially, just like meat, but once it is ready to come out or be flipped, it will let go of the pan and be ready for flipping. The key is to practice!

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