| Kat's Bluegrass Cookbook |
| camp vittles and pick-nic fare |
Kat's Campfire Fare
Some of the most memorable meals have resulted from pickers and
grinners circled up around the campfire after a long hard day of festival fun.
That's when the truly creative (and highly motivated) foodies among us shine.
Here's a few ideas to spark the imagination at 2 o'clock in the morning!
Smore's
These may seem like a no brainer, but I've been told I make the best. A
certain friend from Colorado insists I make hers. I like to think it's not pure
laziness on her part. Here is my secret method.
First get your fire going, S'mores are best on an established fire with lots of
nice hot coals. Collect sticks from the woods. Best scout the area during the
daytime (Ronnie!) to avoid poison ivy. Choose green wood from known
trees, such as maple or birch. Oak can give you an astringent taste. Be
conscious of the area; if you don't know its ok, don't strip trees, bring some
with you. Strip leaves and sharpen to a point. Then you'll need:
1 pack Graham Crackers (avoid soggy grahams by packing in ziplocks.
6-pack or several singles of Hershey chocolate bars (avoid melted chocolate
by putting in cooler in zips)
1 package Marshmallows
Assemble your sticks and ingredients on a stool or stump within reach but
not too close to the fire. A paper plate serves as a clean staging area. Break
the Grahams in half and split up the bars in sections of 3 rectangles each.
Stack one piece of chocolate onto each Graham and have an extra Graham
half standing by. I work with about 4 at a time. Then you get roasting the
marshmallows. The uninitiated should attempt only one marshmallow at a
time but an extravagant S'More can definitely accommodate 2
marshmallows.. Push the stick through the mallow and position yourself for
a good long roast. The trick to a good S'more, whether you like 'em flambeed
or not, is to pre-roast the mallow to thoroughly heat up the inside. This is
the secret: it must be hot enough to melt the chocolate. Roast evenly by
finding a nice glowing spot, not an open flame. Roast for a minute then turn
and roast another spot until it's getting nice and golden and starting to puff
up. Watch your mallow closely for sagging; this means it's all melty inside. At
this critical juncture, either take it off and put it right on a prepared Graham
and chocolate stack -- or-- if you want to charbroil, let it touch the flames and
char for a minute. To prevent losing your mallow and setting anyone else on
fire, hold the stick upright and still. Don't wave, blow out the flame and
immediately transfer to the chocolate. Working quickly, get the stick out of the
mallow and get another Graham cracker on top. A trick is to use the Graham
half like a spatula to get your mallow off fairly whole. Set the top on edge next
to the mallow and lightly but firmly press down on the stick while pulling the
stick out. As soon as the mallow is free of the stick, push your graham top
lightly down on the mallow. Give it about 30 seconds to cool because the
thing will be hot, but nicely melted!
ROASTED HAM AND MARSHMALLOWS ON BROWN BREAD
The inspiration for this was a collective effort early one morn at Thomas Point.
after S'mores that only seemed to whet our appetites Ray brought out the
cold country ham we'd had for dinner and commenced to cut off slabs and
pass em out. Doug grabbed his marshmallow-coated stick and stabbed a
slab and began to roast it. Pretty soon everyone was roasting ham to sizzled
perfection. Now that alone would have been the bomb, but the marshmallow
bits clinging to those sticks inspired someone to think ham and marshmallow
and soon people were wedging roasted marshmallows between their slabs of
ham. Now if only we'd thought to warn the leftover brown bread we'd a had
sandwiches of roasted ham, melted marshmallows on warm brown bread.
Next time we'll give that a try, but you could put it on any kind of bread really.
Some of the most memorable meals have resulted from pickers and
grinners circled up around the campfire after a long hard day of festival fun.
That's when the truly creative (and highly motivated) foodies among us shine.
Here's a few ideas to spark the imagination at 2 o'clock in the morning!
Smore's
These may seem like a no brainer, but I've been told I make the best. A
certain friend from Colorado insists I make hers. I like to think it's not pure
laziness on her part. Here is my secret method.
First get your fire going, S'mores are best on an established fire with lots of
nice hot coals. Collect sticks from the woods. Best scout the area during the
daytime (Ronnie!) to avoid poison ivy. Choose green wood from known
trees, such as maple or birch. Oak can give you an astringent taste. Be
conscious of the area; if you don't know its ok, don't strip trees, bring some
with you. Strip leaves and sharpen to a point. Then you'll need:
1 pack Graham Crackers (avoid soggy grahams by packing in ziplocks.
6-pack or several singles of Hershey chocolate bars (avoid melted chocolate
by putting in cooler in zips)
1 package Marshmallows
Assemble your sticks and ingredients on a stool or stump within reach but
not too close to the fire. A paper plate serves as a clean staging area. Break
the Grahams in half and split up the bars in sections of 3 rectangles each.
Stack one piece of chocolate onto each Graham and have an extra Graham
half standing by. I work with about 4 at a time. Then you get roasting the
marshmallows. The uninitiated should attempt only one marshmallow at a
time but an extravagant S'More can definitely accommodate 2
marshmallows.. Push the stick through the mallow and position yourself for
a good long roast. The trick to a good S'more, whether you like 'em flambeed
or not, is to pre-roast the mallow to thoroughly heat up the inside. This is
the secret: it must be hot enough to melt the chocolate. Roast evenly by
finding a nice glowing spot, not an open flame. Roast for a minute then turn
and roast another spot until it's getting nice and golden and starting to puff
up. Watch your mallow closely for sagging; this means it's all melty inside. At
this critical juncture, either take it off and put it right on a prepared Graham
and chocolate stack -- or-- if you want to charbroil, let it touch the flames and
char for a minute. To prevent losing your mallow and setting anyone else on
fire, hold the stick upright and still. Don't wave, blow out the flame and
immediately transfer to the chocolate. Working quickly, get the stick out of the
mallow and get another Graham cracker on top. A trick is to use the Graham
half like a spatula to get your mallow off fairly whole. Set the top on edge next
to the mallow and lightly but firmly press down on the stick while pulling the
stick out. As soon as the mallow is free of the stick, push your graham top
lightly down on the mallow. Give it about 30 seconds to cool because the
thing will be hot, but nicely melted!
ROASTED HAM AND MARSHMALLOWS ON BROWN BREAD
The inspiration for this was a collective effort early one morn at Thomas Point.
after S'mores that only seemed to whet our appetites Ray brought out the
cold country ham we'd had for dinner and commenced to cut off slabs and
pass em out. Doug grabbed his marshmallow-coated stick and stabbed a
slab and began to roast it. Pretty soon everyone was roasting ham to sizzled
perfection. Now that alone would have been the bomb, but the marshmallow
bits clinging to those sticks inspired someone to think ham and marshmallow
and soon people were wedging roasted marshmallows between their slabs of
ham. Now if only we'd thought to warn the leftover brown bread we'd a had
sandwiches of roasted ham, melted marshmallows on warm brown bread.
Next time we'll give that a try, but you could put it on any kind of bread really.
More Vittles
to Come!
Kat's Chili
Ray's Ribs
Charlie's Soup
Margaret's Eggs
Doug's Curry
Campfire Fare
to Come!
Kat's Chili
Ray's Ribs
Charlie's Soup
Margaret's Eggs
Doug's Curry
Campfire Fare