COOKING HINTS FOR CAMPERS 
HOW TO PREPARE A DELIGHTFUL MEAL IN THE WOODS 
WITHOUT THE USE OF THE USUAL COOKING UTENSILS 
By FARBE BAIN 
I N the daily routine of our life, in our 
business intercourse with men, we 
are surrounded with so many arti- 
ficilities, and our nerves are tuned 
to such a high pitch that it is refresh¬ 
ing to leave the well beaten adamantine 
paths and our unnatural environment 
and hike ourselves to the solemn silence 
of the forest, with its lakes and streams. 
Nature, unadorned, appeals to most 
men and when one can for a time, cast 
off the thin shell of civilization and get 
back to nature, and yet enjoy the ali¬ 
mentary comforts to which he is ac¬ 
customed; the relaxation that ensues 
produces perfect rest. 
I have heard men say: “Camp life is 
all right, but I cannot stand the rough 
food and the poor cooking.” Such a 
statement is indicative of the fact that 
in his camp experience he has not had 
the benefit of a real camper; an efficient 
purveyor to the appetites of his com¬ 
panions. 
Cooking is an art of infinite pains at 
home or in camp. The same food pre¬ 
pared by different cooks is healthful and 
enjoyable, or disgusting and insalu¬ 
brious. 
Let me tell you how to prepare a de¬ 
lightful meal in the woods without the 
use of any of the usual kitchen utensils, 
except that it may be a coffee pot. We 
are going to have broiled fish, or steak 
and bacon, or mayhap both, and the fish 
will be cooked without a bone. Hot 
baked biscuits. Baked white potatoes, 
hot coffee. 
Our wives and daughters may want to 
know how we do these things. There¬ 
fore, we are going to tell them. 
First, we will tell you how we make 
the best coffee you ever drank. Heat 
a flat clean stone (a pan will answer 
on a stove when you have a pan) pour 
the dry ground coffee on the hot stone 
and stir constantly until you can smell 
the coffee good aijd plenty. Have ready 
the right quantity of hot water in the 
coffee pot. Pour the hot ground coffee 
into the water, stir until the coffee sinks, 
and set aside so that it will simmer 
while you are preparing the rest of the 
meal. Never let the water nor the 
coffee boil, this will drive the air out 
of the liquid and make the coffee taste 
fiat. About five minutes before ready 
to serve, take the coffee from the fire 
and pour into the pot a small cup of 
the coldest water you have. Then let 
it stand three minutes and serve. 
Now you are going to ask me how can 
T bake biscuits with an open fire. Noth¬ 
ing simpler. First, let me tell you how 
to make biscuits. Cut a piece of birch 
bark about 18 inches square and pin 
it down at four corners to the ground, 
bor a party of four with their expected 
appetites take two cups of flour, scatter 
fand one-half leaspoonfulls baking 
Page 245 
powder in the flour and one level tea¬ 
spoon of salt. Sift it about with a clean 
stick stirring and folding. This can be 
done easily and as effectively" as with 
a sifter. Add to the Hour two table- 
spoonfulls of bacon grease, or lard, 
melted. Make a flat stick spatula and 
thoroughly incorporate the shortening 
in the flour, etc. 
Now form the flour into a pyramid, 
like a volcano, with a crater near its 
top, and pour into the depression a cup 
and one-half of condensed or fresh milk 
and, with your hands (previously 
washed clean). mix to a dough and knead 
thoroughly. (Quite contrary to usual 
instructions, but correct.) Roll the 
dough into round or cylindrical pieces 
about 4 to 5 inches long. Now cut a 
green branch from a maple or other 
harwood tree. Then wrap the cylinders 
of dough separately about the branch 
joining the ends until they look like a 
lot of doughnuts strung on a stick. 
Make a small fire and let it burn down 
to hot coals. Drive a forked stick in 
the ground, fork up, one on each side 
<>t the fire and res) the branch with its 
biscuits strung thereon in the forks arid 
rotate the branch occasionally, The 
biscuits will soon be baked to a nice, 
brown. Remove and butter before thev 
are cold. 
I o prepare a fish, bass or wall-eye 
pike. Always kill your fish as soon as 
you catch him with a club or by cutting 
his throat. \ ou wouldn't eat any other 
animal that had slowly suffocated to 
death. While the fish is plvable take 
some dry sand and wash' the fish 
with it. This removes the slime so that 
it may be handled more easily. Water 
will mot do this. 
Assume that your fish is a bass. You 
should have four, weighing from one 
and one-half to two and a half pounds 
each, for four hungry men. 
Take the fish in your left hand, top 
side up, and with a sharp knife make 
a deep incision on each side of the 
dorsal fin. You can now lift the fin out. 
Continue the cut. only thru the skin, 
to the tail and to the head. Now take 
out the belly fin and the posterior fins. 
Make an incision in the belly and re¬ 
move the intestines. Continue the cut 
to the tail. 
Cut the fish thru the skin transversely 
in rear of the gill bone on both sides, 
but don’t remove the head until the fish 
is skinned, and then throw it away with 
the back bone. Now lay the fish on the 
ground and place your left hand on the 
head and press down firmly. Now take 
hold of the skin near the back bone just 
in rear of the cut behind the gill bone 
and pull the skin straight back toward 
the tail of the fish. Then turn the fish 
over and remove the skin from the 
other side in the same manner. 
To remove the back bone, lay the fish 
flat and insert a sharp knife at the head 
end just over the hack bone and follow 
down to the end of the tail. Turn the 
fish over and remove the other side. 
You will have two beautiful pieces of 
pure, white boneless fish for each fish 
you prepare. The thicker end was 
nearer the head. These pieces, eight 
in number, are now ready to be cooked. 
Wash them hastily and immediately dry 
them with a towel. Place them on a 
piece of birch bark and cover with 
fresh green leaves to keep flies away. 
To cook the fish : 
Cut down a live maple, or other hard¬ 
wood tree, about eight inches in diam¬ 
eter at the butt. Saw or cut off a 
log about two feet long. Split the log 
lengthwise thru the center, leaving a 
flat side. Pin your pieces of fish to the 
flat side of one of these pieces. You can 
use tacks, pins or sharpened wooden 
sticks. One pin to each piece of fish 
is enough. The pin should be inserted 
near the top. A piece of bacon should 
also be suspended from each pin and 
overlie the adjacent piece of fish. Now 
(Continued on page 280) 
