Skullcap the cook!

“First of all.. as far as I am concerned.. Skully cooks the BEST peach cobbler around!

which brings me to my thread.. BAKING. I want to learn how to bake on the trail.

Biscuits, breads, pies, muffins, cakes, desserts.. it is a big gaping HOLE in my cooking expertise..

Any thoughts?”

“TD, when I was backpacking with my boss in the Ozarks, he was baking breads, pies, cobblers and pizzas in a rock oven over a wood fire. Do you want me to sign you up for the next trip? The only drawback is you have to carry about 20 pounds of groceries.”

“awesome!.. ya.. I wanna learn that stuff!

by the way? I need to send you some money.. I can't find the foil pouches of chicken around here!”

“send me an email with your address, I will ship this week, you can pour me a good shot of Crown Royal on the trail for payback”

“no problem.. emailing now.”

“I found the foil pouches at super wal-mart also!! It's with the can tuna/chicken..it's not a regular brand (hormel, tyson)..think the package is red with a color pic of a brunette on it. LOL”

“eWWwwwwww.”

“Well thank you TD!!! I don't know what to say.

G00SE found the foil pack chicken at a Super Walmart near Augusta : ) but they don't have it at the Super Walmart near here : ( I guess it's a matter of inventory and turnover.”

“Get a reflector oven. They work off the heat of a fire. They are made of aluminum. I recall 5 pieces that assemble together. Heavy, but not as heavy as a dutch oven.”

“yuppers.. I meantioned that the other day.. used to do the reflector oven in scouts..”

“Well...you could get a bacpacker's oven that cooks on your stove.”

“oh?”

“Are there free samples????

If so please send me one!

8)”

“Eagle Scout here too.

I saw that oven thing for the MSR Whisperlite I believe. Hard to believe that it could go low enough to bake.

They claim pizzas and such. Mine would be black on the bottom and raw on the top!!!”

“Yes TownDawg, like these. Backpacker magazine did a review of that Outback oven awhile back. You can read it here. I definitely think it would take some practice to develop the skills necessary to use them.”

“I saw an MSR heat diffuser the last time I was in a gear shop. I didn't really look at it, though. Maybe somebody else is familiar with it and could tell you how well it works?”

“There is nothing to baking with the backpack oven. You put the stuff in the pan and watch the thermostat and your watch.”

“It is not as much the weight of the backpack oven as the space, the few times I have seen them in use, I have been impressed.”

“Thank you skully!.. you have opened up a whole new perspective on what I can POSSIBLY have on the TownDawg menu.”

“You're welcome!”

“I've got recipees for cobbler, (not sure if it's the one Skully used or not...can't remeber who I've shared with); Muffins baked in yer cook pot; and backpacking pie if ya want em.”

“It may be the same but mine is one I got several years ago during Wood Badge training through Boy Scouts. Got it from my Coach/Councilor. Nummy stuff!!!”

“Chicken in foil pouch too? Wow, whats next. Shrimp, Salmon?”

“Ok..the chicken breast in the pouch is made by sweet sue...and a reason it may not be everywhere is because it is made in Athens, AL (10 miles away)...Chicken of the Sea makes Salmon, tuna, albacore in a pouch. Only seen the shrimp in cans....hehe what's next..potted meat in a pouch!? *eww*”

“I was wrong about where G00SE found the chickeninapouch. He found it in Winchester Kentucky (of all places!).”

“So now Opie needs to go to the chicken processing plant 10 miles from him and do an inspection. Let us know if what you see still allows you to eat the product, okay Opie?”

“I have old buddies that work in chic proccessing plants...we don't hang out until after they've showered 3 times...and cannot tell stories from work once we start drinking. Sweet Sue is in cohorts with Sara Lee, and Tyson somehow.”

“I'm a little slow.....

Does this mean you can't comment on the quality/edibleness of the chicken in the pouch, (which is kind of a comment in itself).”

“Splash, you're cracking me up! Sometimes it's best not to know!!!”

“Seriously, you guys worry excessively about what is in your water and then you eat "stuff" in a pouch. Tofu is looking better and better. The consistency insures that if there is a critter part in there, you'll know it.”

“reminds me of the urban myth about why Kentucky Fried Chicken had to change it's name to KFC...because of the bioenhanced genetic mutant they are said to be using is no longer a "chicken"..their for they had to take chicken out of the name. hehe once i heard this i started listening to the commercials closer..and print ads....you almost NEVER hear them say chicken...watch and see”

“I like to see my food at the farm where it grew. That sometimes requires quite a drive, where I live. When they advertise green ketchup, or purple peanut butter on TV, it drives me nuts. Our kids see food as entertainment, not as a component of a plan for a strong healthy body. My fault for letting them watch TV commercials (Grab that remote!)”

“they never say "chicken" because they never say "fried"--because it sounds unhealthy...so they just use "KFC" to avoid it.”

“Splash, you make a very good point. How many roach parts per ounce allowed??? I grew up on a farm, I've seen what's crawling around in soybeans while they're in storage.”

“Yikes! And that was after they sprayed everything with Basagran to keep the weeds down. But tofu is very creamy and white so at least I will SEE to bugs.

Have you ever cooked rice and then found a couple of those little brown curled worms in it.”

“Yes. I've also found weevils in my fresh baked bread. Yuk!!!”

“If you make your own tofu you can make sure there aren't any bugs *currently* in the soybeans. It's pretty easy, I got a recipe off the web. You can order the soybeans or get them at a healthfood store.”

“I keep my flour in the fridge to try to avoid that. When I visit my mother in Florida, it is awful. Everything in the pantry has things moving in them.”

“Well, it inspired me to start keeping it in the freezer. Yuk, again, just thinking about it.”

“Wow, how do you make your own tofu? Do you have the website that you found it at?”

“I just did a search on tofu. It was quite a while ago, I don't remember which website I got mine from. There were several that had basically the same recipe (it's pretty basic).”

“'kay, I'll look it up.”

“woah, you made your own tofu?? awesome! :-) that's taking granola to another level...”

“I have a printout of instructions, but it says I need a coagulant solution, magnesium chloride or calcium sulfate. Health food store, asian store?

I would like to make my own ricotta cheese too, but I don't know where you buy rennet.

We Americans are so helpless. Did you know that you can buy buttered toast in a box in the freezer section of the grocery store. What next, pre-boiled water?”

“Splash here's a good recipe. The hard part is making the soy milk. You can buy a soy milk to do that part is you like. I don't know how much they are, I've never really looked at them.”

“Well, if you look in an asian store the Japanese name for it is Nigari. I've seen it in the health food store near the soybeans and the soy milk makers.”

“Oh lyra, I have a friend that makes his own tempeh. Now that's taking it to another level!”

“Thanks for that site, Scully, there were some good chinese recipes there too, like Sesame Chicken.”

“Yeah I know, mmmmmmm Sesame Chicken, mmmmmmm. I love that stuff. No prob.”

“Yeah I know! I was at that asian grocery yesterday looking for a jar labeled "Sesame Chicken Sauce" but of course there was no such thing!”