Fw: [at-l] pot cozy & Trail Recipes

[daveh@xxxxxxxxxx (Dave Hicks)]

I received an off list suggestion/request to post some of my trail recipes
and instructions on how to make a pot cozy.

So, OLD-TIMER alert:

 - This is a slightly modified version of an often-repeated message.

 - Your delete key is available.

Background:

Like many who started hiking/camping in the 40's, I progresses from campfire
cooking, through a variety of kerosene & white gas stoves, w/ a couple of
canister stoves thrown in.

Most stoves (the MSR Whisperlite International is a good example) burn hot.
Great for melting snow, cooking thin soups, etc. but a bit of a drag with
thicker soups, sauce, rice and beans, etc. dishes.  Even stoves with simmer
settings (like my x-tream) will often stick thicker stuff.  Even if it does
not scorch, it can be a hassle to clean up.  Moreover, btw, I haven't yet
mastered a simmer ring for a SCS.

To avoid scorching and a mess to cleanup, I at one time used to bring stuff
to a boil than "simmer" stuff in a water bottle wrapped in my sleeping bag;
until I got a wet bag on a cold windy night.  So, I now use a pot cozy to
save fuel (read weight), to keep the concoctions from sticking/burning, and
to save water.  Works great for soup and rice/lentil dishes.  However,
except in soup, pasta can come out sticky.

To make a pot cozy --
Get some 1/2-inch thick closed cell foam.  An over-the-hill pad works.
Create a strip a little wider than the height of your cook pot w/lid and a
little longer than the circumference of your cook pot, or its lid, at the
widest point of the two.  Glue narrow ends of this strip together to make a
cylinder that just fits around the pot w/lid. Cut a circular piece of foam
to make a top and bottom.  Glue the top to the cylinder to close one end.
Leave the other end open.  Cut a smaller circle of heavy foil -- the bottom
of throwaway pie plate works great.  Glue this to the bottom foam piece. It
keeps the hot pot from sticking to the foam.  My cozy weighs about an ounce
and a half.

To use the cozy --

For most, "packaged" boil pour items and wait under 10 minutes, [like Lipton
's] just use the cozy to keep the temperature up.  Put the bottom circle of
foam on a level place, foil side up.  Place pot (w/lid on) on the foil.  Put
the foam cylinder over the pot and lid.  Let sit undisturbed for package
"cooking time."  In real windy situations, secure with a light rock.  BTW
never put cozy on pot while it is on stove, fire, etc.!!

For things that you would normally need to "simmer," boil and stir as normal
for about 1/4 to 1/3 the normal cooking time.  At the end of that time,
there should still be lots of liquid in the pot.  Again, put the bottom
circle of foam on a level place, foil side up.  Place pot (w/lid on) on the
foil.  Put the foam cylinder over the pot and lid.  Let sit UNDISTURBED for
a little longer than the normal (stove top) full cooking time for the
longest cooking item in the mix.  Do not open it cozy for a peek/check/etc.
Hot air raises and you will have serious heat loss every time you peek.

In the pack:

I pack my stove, pot grippers, and windscreen in the pot.  They then go in
my pot stand for the SCS, which was shaped to fit snugly around my pot.
They, in turn, go in the cozy w/ my spoon on top.  The foam bottom (when
cooking) is now the top and is held in place with Velcro.  So, the entire
cooking rig, sans fuel bottle, takes up a cylinder of space about an inch
and a quarter more diameter and height than the pot alone would.


I bought an inexpensive dehydrator some time ago and dry my own vegetable
and fruits, except those I find readily available -- i.e. onions, mushrooms,
raisins, etc. I also use powders from King Arthur's Flour.

In the past, I use a lot of lentils (or split pea) and rice-based
concoctions.  Lentils and split peas have an advantage over most beans as
they do not require soaking and they cook in a relatively short time.
Lentils come in white, yellow, red, and black as well as the traditional
grayish-green.  So, you can give yourself some eye relief.  Split peas also
come in green and yellow.

I pre-package my own mixes, for the most part.  Lately, I have been learning
from Chase, that if you cook larger dried beans (or just buy canned beans)
and then dehydrate them you can avoid the in-the-field soaking.  So, I am
working on new concoctions.


The following are typical of some of my tried and true concoctions (for all
the following add salt to taste -- I use very little and use non-salt stock
bases) (for rice I use a variety of white, or quick cooking brown, e.g.,
something that cooks on the stove in 30 minutes):

Curried Chicken Tracks

1/3 C   Rice
1/4 C   Lentils (red look nice)
1/4 C   Raisins (for this mix I use golden)
1       Dried plum tomato cut in raisin size pieces
1 T.    Almond slices
1 T.    Chicken bouillon granules
1 t.    Curry powder (I use very hot)

For best flavor, add mix to 2 C fresh spring water deep in the woods.  Boil.
Simmer until tender.

Chili (sort of)

1/3 C   Rice
1/4 C   Lentils
3       Dried plum tomato cut in quarters
1 T.    Dried onion pieces
1 T.    Beef bouillon granules
1 t.    Chili powder (or more to taste)

For best flavor, add mix to 2 C fresh spring water deep in the woods.  Boil.
Simmer until tender.  (Note -- You can get tomato powder in some parts of
the country and from some mail order houses.  It makes a nice addition to
this mix.)

Mushroom and Parmesan Risotto

1/3 C   Rice
1/3 C   Dried mushrooms
1/3 C   Dried onion pieces
1/3 C   Dried apples
1 T     Vegetable bouillon granules
1/4 t Dried chives
and
1 t     graded Parmesan cheese in a separate plastic twist

For best flavor, add all except cheese to 2 C fresh spring water deep in the
woods.  Boil.  Simmer until tender.  Add cheese.


Imitation Black Beans and rice

1/3 C   Brown Rice
1/3 C   Lentils (black)
2       Dried plum tomato cut in quarters
1 T.    Dried green bell pepper
1 T.    Dried onion pieces
1 T.    Beef bouillon granules
2 t.    Dried carrots
1 t.    Orange crystals (Tang in a pinch)
2 dash  Paprika
1 dash  Ground coriander
1 dash  Crushed red pepper (to taste)
1 dash  Garlic granules

For best flavor, add mix to 2 C fresh spring water deep in the woods.  Boil.
Simmer until tender.

Lentils and Rice

1/3 C   Rice
1/4 C   Lentils
3       Dried plum tomato cut in quarters
2 T.    Shredded coconut
1 T.    Dried onion pieces
1 T.    Vegetable bouillon granules
2 dash  Garlic granules
2 dash  Dried mint
1 dash  Turmeric
1 dash  Ground coriander
1 dash  Crushed red pepper (to taste)
1 dash  Ground ginger

For best flavor, add mix to 2 C fresh spring water deep in the woods.  Boil.
Simmer until tender.


Cheese Stew

1/3 C   Dried meat
1/3 C   Rice
1/4 C   Lentils
3       Dried plum tomato cut in quarters
1 T.    Bacon bits or home dried cooked bacon
1 T.    Dried onion pieces
1 T.    Vegetable bouillon granules
2 dash  Garlic granules
1 dash  Crushed red pepper (to taste)

and

1/3 C   Cheddar cheese (reserved in a separate plastic twist)

For best flavor, add mix (sans cheese) to 2 C fresh spring water deep in the
woods.  Boil.  Simmer until tender.  Add cheese.  Stir until cheese is soft.


Spaghetti

1/3 C   Dehydrated Spaghetti Sauce -- homemade or otherwise (dehydrate as
you would fruit leathers and broken into small pieces, or rendered to a
powder form in a food processor, food/meat grinder/ mortar & pedestal)
1/3 C   Spaghetti (very thin or angle hair)

and

1 t     graded Parmesan cheese in a separate plastic twist

For best flavor, add all except cheese to 2 C boiling fresh spring water
deep in the woods.  Simmer until tender.  Add cheese.


Curried Pumpkin & Rice

Prepare a 2-4 pound pumpkin:

4 C.     Water
1/2 C   Dry Sherry
3/4 t.    Ground black pepper
5 C       peeled, seeded, & cubed pumpkin

Combine the water, wine, black pepper in a saucepan and bring to a good
boil.  Reduce heat & add pumpkin.  Cook until soft.  Drain and dehydrate.
Divide into four parts.

Prepare Seasoning mix:

1/2 C   Dried coconut flakes
3 T      dried bell peppers (red are best)
2 T      crushed dry roasted peanuts
2 T      dried onion
1 T      brown sugar
2 t       ground coriander seed
2 t       dry mustard
1 t       dried lime, or lemon, peel
1 t       dried garlic
1/4 t    cayenne
1/4 t    turmeric

Mix well.  Divide into four parts.

Make four mix packages using 1/4 of the prepared pumpkin and 1/4 of the
seasoning mix, plus 1/2 C quick cooking brown rice.

For best flavor, add mix to 2 C fresh spring water deep in the woods and
bring to a boil.  Simmer until rice is tender.  I use a SCS w/ about 1 1/2
oz of alcohol followed by a pot cozy simmer of about 40 minutes.

Brown Rice, Spinach, Raisons & Pine Nuts

(If just a weekend trip, raisins are Ok as they come from the store.  If you
are planning on the mix keeping for a long trip, or on your shelf; you need
to dehydrate the so-called dried stuff for the grocery store.)


1 1/2 C   Quick cooking Brown Rice
1/3 C      Raisins (1/4 if home dehydrated)
1/3 C      Pine nuts
1/3 C      Dehydrated Spinach (about 5-6 oz before dehydrating)
1 t.         Ground ginger
dash       Nutmeg
dash       salt

For best flavor, add mix to 2 1/2 C fresh spring water deep in the woods and
bring to a boil.  Simmer until rice is tender.  I use a SCS w/ about 1 1/2
oz of alcohol followed by a pot cozy simmer of about 40 minutes.

Limas w/ Spinach & Dill

Prepare Limas for mix:

1 1/2 C    dried baby limas
1              bay leaf

Cook.
Dehydrate.
Remove bay leaf.
Grind (mortar & pestle, food grinder, food processor, etc.)  Try to have
about half the limas ground to the consistency of course ground corn meal,
and the remainder small pieces up to the size of a small pea.

Add the following:

1 1/2 C   Quick cooking Brown Rice
1/3 C      Dried Onion
1/3 C      Dehydrated Spinach (about 5-6 oz before dehydrating)
2 1/2 t     dried dill
2 t           dried whole milk
2 t           whole egg powder
dash        salt

Devide into four servings.

For best flavor, add mix to 2 C fresh spring water deep in the woods and
bring to a boil.  Simmer until rice is tender.  I use a SCS w/ about 1 1/2
oz of alcohol followed by a pot cozy simmer of about 40 minutes.

Note:  If you carry gee, or other light flavor oil, it can be added in the
field.


Kasha Varnishkes

4 Oz Bow-tie or Square Egg Noodles
1/2 C Roasted Buckwheat Groats (Kasha)
1/3 C  Dried Roasted Onions
1/3 C Dried Julienne Carrots (of Mushrooms) - optional
1 T. Dried Whole Egg
1 T. Ghee, Butter, Margarine, or light flavor oil
1/4 t salt
1/8 t ground black (or mixed) pepper

For best flavor, add mix to 2 C fresh spring water deep in the woods and
bring to a boil.  Simmer until noodles are done.  I use a SCS w/ about 1 1/2
oz of alcohol followed by a pot cozy simmer of about 15 minutes.

Brunswick Stew I

1/2 C   Dried meat
        (Chicken/squirrel/rabbit/pork/etc. or a mix)
1/3 C   Dried potato
1/4 C   Dried whole kernel white corn
1/4 C   Dried baby butter beans
6       Dried plum tomato cut in quarters
2 T.    Dried onion pieces
1 T.    Vegetable bouillon granules
1 pinch Flour
1 dash Crushed red pepper (to taste)


For best flavor, add mix to 3 C fresh spring water deep in the woods.  Boil.
Simmer until tender.



Brunswick Stew II

For this mix, I dehydrated frozen white corn, baby lima beans, and "southern
style" hash browns.

Put the following in one package (small Ziploc works.)
1 Oz Dried baby limas
1 Oz Dried corn
1 Oz Dried potatoes
1/2 Oz Dried onion
1/2 Oz Dried tomatoes cut into small pieces
2 t Bouillon (I used chicken or vegetable.)

Put the following in another package (small Ziploc or a larger Ziploc which
will also hold the small Ziploc w/ dried veggies.)

1.5 Oz TVP
 (I used 1.0 unflavored chuck, 0.4 beef flavored, & 0.1 ham flavored)
1 t Tomato powder
2T Instant mashed potato flakes.

Add in mix package; or from your general stock, if you pack that way:

1 T. Package of Ghee, Butter, Margarine, or light flavor oil
1/8 t salt
1/8 t ground black (or mixed) pepper

For best flavor, add veggie pack to 2 to 2 1/2 C fresh spring water deep in
the woods and bring to a boil.  Add TVP pack, fat, and salt & pepper.  (If
you add the TVP, Tomato powder, & potato flakes before removing from heat,
the mix will likely stick and scorch and the TVP dissolve.)  Simmer until
veggies are fully re-hydrated.  I use a SCS w/ about 1 1/2 oz of alcohol
followed by a pot cozy simmer of about 30 to 40 minutes.

BTW -- to make the packages of olive oil, light flavor oil, Ghee, Butter,
Margarine, etc. I do the following from time to time and keep a supply of
them on hand:

1) Use my vacuum sealer (heat strip only) to seal both long sides and one
short end of small packets -- 2 inch x 5-6 inches.

2) Carefully fill with 1 to 2 Tablespoons of oil, or melted Ghee, Butter,
Margarine.  (I now use a marinade syringe, but have used a small funnel, in
the past.)

3) Set unsealed pack open end up in a silverware rack salvaged from an old
dishwasher.

4) Place the rack full of packages of liquate in the freezer.

5) Once the contents are a solid, use the vacuum sealer to remove the air
(without worry about sucking the oil out of the package) and seal the
packages.

Chainsaw