Many of the places we camp are blessed with sanitation facilities; however that is not always the case. Getting rid of waste outdoors takes some thought for both health and environmental reasons.
A cathole is a single use toilet that you make yourself. Find a spot at least 200 feet from water, campsites, and trails. Dig a hole 6-8 inches deep. Make sure it is still in the topsoil so that organisms in the topsoil will be available to break down your waste. Either bury the toilet paper in the cathole, or put it into a resealable bag and carry it out with the rest of your trash. Fill the cathole with soil (organic organisms) and replace any groundcover (leaves.....). Push a stick into the filled up hole to warn others against digging in the same spot. We are trying to avoid damaging the existing plants, changing the terrain, or negatively impacting the chemistry of an area (too much urea kills).
A latrine is a group toilet. The location should also be away from water, campsites and trails. Dig a shallow trench 3-4 feet long but no deeper than the topsoil. Remove and save the soil and groundcover. After each use, sprinkle a layer of soil into the trench to keep away flies and to hold down odors. When you break up camp, return the rest of the soil to the latrine and replace the ground cover.
Sources:
Camping, BSA 2002 printing
Showing posts with label techniques. Show all posts
Showing posts with label techniques. Show all posts
Friday, June 27, 2014
Thursday, September 19, 2013
Cooking Terms
Some terms you might encounter in these recipes or ones from home.
Baste To moisten food with a liquid or fat while cooking. Think of turkey.
Beat Combine ingredients vigorously until the mixture is smooth and a uniform consistency. This is often needed to put air into the mixture. Think cake batter, meringue, or scrambled eggs.
Blend Combine ingredients until smooth. This is similar to beat but not as hard. Sometimes the different ingredients might still be identifiable. Think blended drinks, cookie dough, soups, or sauces.
Braise Cooking tougher cuts of meat in an covered pan with the addition of water
Brown Cook something at high heat until the surface turns brown.
Cut in This refers to the method of combining solid fats into dry ingredients when making pastries or biscuits. The butter is cut or chopped with a pasty blender or two butter knives and then covered with the flour, repeatedly until the consistency is similar to corn meal or peas.
Dredge To coat meat, seafood, or vegetables in a flour mixture before browning or frying.
Fold Gently spoon one mixture over another mixture until combined in order to prevent the loss of air. Think whipped cream in a pie mix, or beaten eggs in a souffle.
Fork Tender If a fork can easily penetrate and/or cut the item, it is done. Usually for vegetables.
Hard Boil Different degrees of boiling refer to how fast the bubbles rise to the surface, pop, and release steam. Hard boil is sometimes considered rolling boil. For this definition, the bubbles are so fast, that stirring the pot will not cause the bubbles to slow down.
Knead Folding and squishing of dough on a floured surface to improve the gluten content (Air pockets and rising) of the dough. This is essential for yeast doughs, however over kneading some biscuits can make them tough.
Mix Combining ingredients less vigorously than beating. Often stated mix until moist, or just combined. This is often used for biscuits some cookies, non-yeast breads, or alternatively items that are too big to loose their uniqueness like chopped vegetables in a one pot meal.
Poach Cooking something in liquid that is at a simmer. Eggs, fish, and chicken are the most common examples.
Saute Cooking in hot fat over medium heat with lots of tossing and turning.
Sear Similar to browning. Usually used in reference to meat.
Simmer Cook liquid just below the boiling point, bubbles will slowly rise and pop below the surface of the liquid
Tenderize To make meat easier to cook or chew by softening the tissues by pounding, with chemicals, or by covering in acidic juices (vinegar, lemon juice, apple juice...)
Whip Beating ingredients for the sole purpose of adding air and increasing volume.
Sources:
http://www.bettycrocker.com/tips/glossary-page/techniques
Cooking, BSA 1999 printing
Mrs. Herrera
Baste To moisten food with a liquid or fat while cooking. Think of turkey.
Beat Combine ingredients vigorously until the mixture is smooth and a uniform consistency. This is often needed to put air into the mixture. Think cake batter, meringue, or scrambled eggs.
Blend Combine ingredients until smooth. This is similar to beat but not as hard. Sometimes the different ingredients might still be identifiable. Think blended drinks, cookie dough, soups, or sauces.
Braise Cooking tougher cuts of meat in an covered pan with the addition of water
Brown Cook something at high heat until the surface turns brown.
Cut in This refers to the method of combining solid fats into dry ingredients when making pastries or biscuits. The butter is cut or chopped with a pasty blender or two butter knives and then covered with the flour, repeatedly until the consistency is similar to corn meal or peas.
Dredge To coat meat, seafood, or vegetables in a flour mixture before browning or frying.
Fold Gently spoon one mixture over another mixture until combined in order to prevent the loss of air. Think whipped cream in a pie mix, or beaten eggs in a souffle.
Fork Tender If a fork can easily penetrate and/or cut the item, it is done. Usually for vegetables.
Hard Boil Different degrees of boiling refer to how fast the bubbles rise to the surface, pop, and release steam. Hard boil is sometimes considered rolling boil. For this definition, the bubbles are so fast, that stirring the pot will not cause the bubbles to slow down.
Knead Folding and squishing of dough on a floured surface to improve the gluten content (Air pockets and rising) of the dough. This is essential for yeast doughs, however over kneading some biscuits can make them tough.
Mix Combining ingredients less vigorously than beating. Often stated mix until moist, or just combined. This is often used for biscuits some cookies, non-yeast breads, or alternatively items that are too big to loose their uniqueness like chopped vegetables in a one pot meal.
Poach Cooking something in liquid that is at a simmer. Eggs, fish, and chicken are the most common examples.
Saute Cooking in hot fat over medium heat with lots of tossing and turning.
Sear Similar to browning. Usually used in reference to meat.
Simmer Cook liquid just below the boiling point, bubbles will slowly rise and pop below the surface of the liquid
Tenderize To make meat easier to cook or chew by softening the tissues by pounding, with chemicals, or by covering in acidic juices (vinegar, lemon juice, apple juice...)
Whip Beating ingredients for the sole purpose of adding air and increasing volume.
Sources:
http://www.bettycrocker.com/tips/glossary-page/techniques
Cooking, BSA 1999 printing
Mrs. Herrera
Tuesday, September 17, 2013
Dutch Oven Heat Control
Heat control or temperature control is going to be the art to cooking with a Dutch oven. Everyone agrees that is better to err on the side of lower temperatures and cook longer, than to cook too hot and end up with charcoal inside and outside the oven.
Things to consider when establishing the heat.
http://www.dutchovendude.com/campfire-cooking.shtml
http://whatscookingamerica.net/Information/DutchOven/DutchOvenCooking.htm
Cooking, BSA 1999 printing
Camp Cookery for Small Groups, BSA 1986 printing
Things to consider when establishing the heat.
- Weather conditions
- Placement of coals vs. what is being cooked
- To preheat the oven or not (don't put cold items in a heated oven or it might crack)
- Use of charcoal briquettes vs. fire coals
- Aluminum vs. iron ovens
Weather conditions: Cold, wind, and rain will all make maintaining the temperature more difficult. Aluminum foil could be used as as a insulator blanket if the ground is cold or wet. Foil can also be used as a windbreak, or to reflect heat back towards the oven. Depending on what conditions and helps are used, you might need to use more coals, or check the cooking times more frequently. Altitude can increase cooking times.
Placement of coals vs. what is being cooked: There is some contradiction between sources as to what is the proper placement of coals. I am using, for this article, the two internet sources as they are more recent and are more closely related to regular cooking.
The Cooking merit badge book also describes placing a teaspoon of flour onto a oven safe plate which is then placed in the Dutch oven. In five (5) minutes, the color of the flour will estimate the temperature of the oven.
Use of charcoal briquets vs coals: Charcoal briquets are often what cookbooks will recommend because it is easier to specify how many briquets to use. Unfortunately not all briquets are of the same quality. One way to double check the recommendations or your briquets is to double the size of your oven and use that number of briquets. Lay them around the circumference of the cover and base. For a 12 inch oven, you should get a complete circle with about 15-16 briquets on the top and a complete circle with the remainder on the bottom. This will result in a 350 degree oven. If you do not get this, or if it is not similar to the cookbook, it is possible that a different quality briquet is being used. Dutchovendude describes how to modify the temperature of the oven by adjusting the circle of briquets.
If you wish to use coals instead of briquets, the circle technique described above can be used to get the correct temperature.
Aluminum vs Iron ovens: Cast iron ovens are very traditional. They heat up slowly and evenly. Aluminum ovens are going to heat up faster and cool down faster. The various references I looked up did not have any modifications in the amount of coals, timing, or temperatures for the different types of oven. Although the sources said they did not have any troubles using aluminum ovens, try out the recipe and monitor it closely to ensure the temperatures are correct before entering into a cooking contest.
Once you have the heat established, there is one more aspect to controlling the heat: Rotation.
There is a natural variation in the amount of heat that either a briquet or coal gives out. To ensure even heating, it is important to rotate the oven and cover. One way to do this is:
1. Lift the whole oven off the campfire by the wire bail and rotate clockwise 1/3 of a revolution.
2. Set the oven back down (it should fit in the same spaces in the coals)
3. With a lid lifter, lift the lid and rotate counter clockwise 1/3 of a turn ( logo should be where it started.)
You might want to do this every 10 minutes or so.
With these tips, you are on your way to preparing feasts that will amaze your fellow campers.
- Frying-all heat from bottom
- Stew, soups - 2/3-3/4 heat on bottom, 1/3-1/4 heat on top
- Roasting meats, vegetables, cobblers - even heat on top and bottom
- Baking bread, cookies, cakes - 1/3-1/4 heat on bottom, 2/3-3/4 heat on top.
Preheating: While preheating is normally done for frying or roasting of meat in order to create an instant "crust" which retains the meat juices, the requirement for preheating other dishes is contradictory. Perhaps cooking times might be increased without preheating, or more fiddling with coals and temperatures of the items going into the oven might be encountered with preheating. The BSA source states,
"I have found with the oven set over 27-30 charcoal briquettes and the same number of briquets on the lid, the temperature in a 12 inch diameter oven will reach 450 degrees F or higher within 12 to 15 minutes. This temperature can be maintained for 30 minutes or more with the number of briquets under the oven reduced to 12 and with the number on the lid reduced to 9."Dutchovendude has a method to estimate temperature on his website called the hand test.
The Cooking merit badge book also describes placing a teaspoon of flour onto a oven safe plate which is then placed in the Dutch oven. In five (5) minutes, the color of the flour will estimate the temperature of the oven.
Use of charcoal briquets vs coals: Charcoal briquets are often what cookbooks will recommend because it is easier to specify how many briquets to use. Unfortunately not all briquets are of the same quality. One way to double check the recommendations or your briquets is to double the size of your oven and use that number of briquets. Lay them around the circumference of the cover and base. For a 12 inch oven, you should get a complete circle with about 15-16 briquets on the top and a complete circle with the remainder on the bottom. This will result in a 350 degree oven. If you do not get this, or if it is not similar to the cookbook, it is possible that a different quality briquet is being used. Dutchovendude describes how to modify the temperature of the oven by adjusting the circle of briquets.
If you wish to use coals instead of briquets, the circle technique described above can be used to get the correct temperature.
Aluminum vs Iron ovens: Cast iron ovens are very traditional. They heat up slowly and evenly. Aluminum ovens are going to heat up faster and cool down faster. The various references I looked up did not have any modifications in the amount of coals, timing, or temperatures for the different types of oven. Although the sources said they did not have any troubles using aluminum ovens, try out the recipe and monitor it closely to ensure the temperatures are correct before entering into a cooking contest.
Once you have the heat established, there is one more aspect to controlling the heat: Rotation.
There is a natural variation in the amount of heat that either a briquet or coal gives out. To ensure even heating, it is important to rotate the oven and cover. One way to do this is:
1. Lift the whole oven off the campfire by the wire bail and rotate clockwise 1/3 of a revolution.
2. Set the oven back down (it should fit in the same spaces in the coals)
3. With a lid lifter, lift the lid and rotate counter clockwise 1/3 of a turn ( logo should be where it started.)
You might want to do this every 10 minutes or so.
With these tips, you are on your way to preparing feasts that will amaze your fellow campers.
http://www.dutchovendude.com/campfire-cooking.shtml
http://whatscookingamerica.net/Information/DutchOven/DutchOvenCooking.htm
Cooking, BSA 1999 printing
Camp Cookery for Small Groups, BSA 1986 printing
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