Apologies for the lack of posts -again. The truth is, I was planning a good post on food while camping, as well as a post on diners, both based on my recent roadtrip, but at the end of the trip I got caught up with all the Katrina news and food seemed, well, a little bit of a self-indulgent thing to be writing about. But seize the day, really, and why not talk about food? so here's the first of two travel-related posts.
On the art of the campfire grill
I just recently drove, with two friends, coast to coast. We did a fair bit of camping, but we were determinedly minimalist with our arrangements - no gas-fired grills for us. Added to that the fact that one of our number has been gradually recovering from a non-meat-eating state to a carnivorous diet, and had never eaten a steak before...the scene was set for a number of epic, and comic, campfire grill experiences.
The first one was pretty well-organised. At the Badlands National Park, the store outside the gates had a very limited range of food to offer us, but we found frozen pork chops, sweetcorn, potatoes and bread (as well as salt and pepper - at this stage we didn't even have those condiments) and we had some apples and cherry tomatoes in the cooler as well. Our light-the-bag charcoal did the trick, the chops defrosted quickly on the hood of the jeep, we grilled apple slices to go with the pork and wrapped the potatoes in foil to baked among the coals (not done in time for dinner, but great for breakfast the next morning). All very civilised, sitting with nightlights at the National Parks' rather well-designed little picnic-table-plus-shade shelter, we had the grilled corn for a starter, pork and apple sandwiches, grilled tomatoes, and chocolate to finish...
Next episode - the Wal-Mart in Cody, Wyoming, just outside Yellowstone, furnished us with a surprisingly good-looking piece of beef with which we intended to introduce the steak-novice to the joys of rare, grilled beef. Alongside which we purchased some salad, zucchini, more bread and potatoes, ham and tomatoes, and the all-important mustard, with which we concocted good ham sarnies for lunch to make a change from the never-ending hamburger routine. But our planned beef feast was foiled by the weather. No sooner had we built a rather magnificent campfire and put our foil-wrapped potatoes in the coals to cook, than the heavens opened and we had to retreat to the car to drink beer and try to wait it out - a futile effort as it proceeded to rain almost constantly for the next twelve hours. We gave up, and baked potatoes with fizzy beer does not make for the most satisfying of suppers when you are freezing in the middle of the forest.
The next effort at cooking the beef, the following day by the Great Salt Lake in Utah, was scarcely more promising. A beautiful location, but horrendously windy, and our fire refused to light in any meaningful way. The park warden drove by in her little buggy and informed us that we had been 'having a picnic' for an hour and a half - and we hadn't even started to cook anything on the grill yet. Finally we got some sliced zucchini on, and then the beef. As the heat was so low, we left the meat in one big hunk to semi-roast rather than sliced as individual steaks - and then sliced it into strips afterwards to eat, dipped in grainy mustard. We managed to keep it rare on the inside and deliciously crusted on the outside. Happiness...
Then came birthday barbecuing in Canyonlands, Utah. The grocery store in Moab showed that we had entered a different world - they sold things like fish. It all worked out pretty damn well, with the fire lighting successfully and the food getting into gourmet (rather than slavering carnivore) territory - grilled trout with dill, potatoes, zucchini, salad, and Lindt chocolate for afters. Mmmm....And you even get a photo.
After this return to success on the fire-making and the food front, we started to get a bit more pro. Hell, we even bought a knife to cut food with, rather than using our penknives. Next camping was in Yosemite, where again, they food store was Californian in reach. We went for grilled spicy sausages (the smoked ones, so we didn't have to worry about them being underdone in the dark), baked sweet potatoes, grilled and skinned red peppers, spinach salad, and bread. All of which was doubly good because we had left-overs - which meant we got sausage, red pepper and sweet potato sandwiches for lunch the next day - a truly gorgeous combo if you ever have the urge.
From then on it was up-and-away, despite one thwarted camping plan for near El Paso (the heavens descending again). It must have been the curse of trying to cook beef again, but it did mean a lovely lunchtime grilling session the next day, where an innovation included slicing potatoes very finely and laying them between pieces of foil to saute/steam - a way quicker way of getting potatoes, and tasty to boot. We also grilled out on the beach in California - pork chops and apple again, this time also with sweet potatoes and salad, and marshmallow smores....ahhhh, finally! We had been missing the marshmallow experience.
And the final grilling of the trip came on the Gulf coast at the far eastern corner of Texas. It went perfectly. We had grilled pork, the new-innovative potatoes, grilled asparagus and zucchini, and two bottles of amazing wine from kind friends at Ridge.
Amazing, what you can cook with just oil, salt and pepper, and mustard. And everything tastes so very good, cooked so simply over a charcoal grill.
On the art of the campfire grill
I just recently drove, with two friends, coast to coast. We did a fair bit of camping, but we were determinedly minimalist with our arrangements - no gas-fired grills for us. Added to that the fact that one of our number has been gradually recovering from a non-meat-eating state to a carnivorous diet, and had never eaten a steak before...the scene was set for a number of epic, and comic, campfire grill experiences.
The first one was pretty well-organised. At the Badlands National Park, the store outside the gates had a very limited range of food to offer us, but we found frozen pork chops, sweetcorn, potatoes and bread (as well as salt and pepper - at this stage we didn't even have those condiments) and we had some apples and cherry tomatoes in the cooler as well. Our light-the-bag charcoal did the trick, the chops defrosted quickly on the hood of the jeep, we grilled apple slices to go with the pork and wrapped the potatoes in foil to baked among the coals (not done in time for dinner, but great for breakfast the next morning). All very civilised, sitting with nightlights at the National Parks' rather well-designed little picnic-table-plus-shade shelter, we had the grilled corn for a starter, pork and apple sandwiches, grilled tomatoes, and chocolate to finish...
Next episode - the Wal-Mart in Cody, Wyoming, just outside Yellowstone, furnished us with a surprisingly good-looking piece of beef with which we intended to introduce the steak-novice to the joys of rare, grilled beef. Alongside which we purchased some salad, zucchini, more bread and potatoes, ham and tomatoes, and the all-important mustard, with which we concocted good ham sarnies for lunch to make a change from the never-ending hamburger routine. But our planned beef feast was foiled by the weather. No sooner had we built a rather magnificent campfire and put our foil-wrapped potatoes in the coals to cook, than the heavens opened and we had to retreat to the car to drink beer and try to wait it out - a futile effort as it proceeded to rain almost constantly for the next twelve hours. We gave up, and baked potatoes with fizzy beer does not make for the most satisfying of suppers when you are freezing in the middle of the forest.
The next effort at cooking the beef, the following day by the Great Salt Lake in Utah, was scarcely more promising. A beautiful location, but horrendously windy, and our fire refused to light in any meaningful way. The park warden drove by in her little buggy and informed us that we had been 'having a picnic' for an hour and a half - and we hadn't even started to cook anything on the grill yet. Finally we got some sliced zucchini on, and then the beef. As the heat was so low, we left the meat in one big hunk to semi-roast rather than sliced as individual steaks - and then sliced it into strips afterwards to eat, dipped in grainy mustard. We managed to keep it rare on the inside and deliciously crusted on the outside. Happiness...
Then came birthday barbecuing in Canyonlands, Utah. The grocery store in Moab showed that we had entered a different world - they sold things like fish. It all worked out pretty damn well, with the fire lighting successfully and the food getting into gourmet (rather than slavering carnivore) territory - grilled trout with dill, potatoes, zucchini, salad, and Lindt chocolate for afters. Mmmm....And you even get a photo.
After this return to success on the fire-making and the food front, we started to get a bit more pro. Hell, we even bought a knife to cut food with, rather than using our penknives. Next camping was in Yosemite, where again, they food store was Californian in reach. We went for grilled spicy sausages (the smoked ones, so we didn't have to worry about them being underdone in the dark), baked sweet potatoes, grilled and skinned red peppers, spinach salad, and bread. All of which was doubly good because we had left-overs - which meant we got sausage, red pepper and sweet potato sandwiches for lunch the next day - a truly gorgeous combo if you ever have the urge.
From then on it was up-and-away, despite one thwarted camping plan for near El Paso (the heavens descending again). It must have been the curse of trying to cook beef again, but it did mean a lovely lunchtime grilling session the next day, where an innovation included slicing potatoes very finely and laying them between pieces of foil to saute/steam - a way quicker way of getting potatoes, and tasty to boot. We also grilled out on the beach in California - pork chops and apple again, this time also with sweet potatoes and salad, and marshmallow smores....ahhhh, finally! We had been missing the marshmallow experience.
And the final grilling of the trip came on the Gulf coast at the far eastern corner of Texas. It went perfectly. We had grilled pork, the new-innovative potatoes, grilled asparagus and zucchini, and two bottles of amazing wine from kind friends at Ridge.
Amazing, what you can cook with just oil, salt and pepper, and mustard. And everything tastes so very good, cooked so simply over a charcoal grill.
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