Outdoor Cooking

All kitchen activities flow from the menu. Even in camp, the cook uses the menu to purchase food, plan meal preparation and pack cookware.

Mar 31, 2002 - Steven C. Karoly

So, after 35 articles -- mainly on the topic of camp cooking -- I'm changing gears. Instead of publishing random articles, Camp and Outdoor Cooking is beginning an online camp cooking school. Camp Cooking School will have all of the elements of a brick and mortar institute of higher learning. Except there's no attendance and no grades -- only good chow.

Feb 12, 2002 - Steven C. Karoly

Tri-tip is versatile. According to the Oregon Beef Council, you can grill, roast or broil it.

Dec 18, 2001 - Steven C. Karoly

Tips for cooking meals with charcoal briquettes, and how to choose cookware and a firepan for the camp-out.

Nov 20, 2001 - Steven C. Karoly

Leftover meals pose a problem for camp cooks as well. They eat up precious space in the ice chest, and they can quickly spoil if handled improperly. So, it's best to use them quickly. Summa soup is the answer this dilemma.

Nov 6, 2001 - Steven C. Karoly

While the days still warm into the 70s, gather friends and family on the deck for one or two more backyard picnics. Light a campfire or set the campstove up and cook away.

Oct 23, 2001 - Steven C. Karoly

Two noted chefs -- a Fine Cooking contributing editor and a Food Network celebrity -- set my creative juices in motion.

Oct 9, 2001 - Steven C. Karoly

Sanders' innovations make catering Western events around the Northern Sacramento Valley much easier. An asphalt parking lot at the Red Bluff Bull and Gelding Sale doesn't hinder him from handing cast iron pots over the cook fire. Instead of digging up the pavement, Sanders places an iron trough that's set on fire bricks.

Sep 25, 2001 - Steven C. Karoly

Like the Nineteenth Century chuckwagon cook, Leonard Sanders has no formal training in the culinary arts. That's unless you reckon the endless hours reading Ramon F. Adam's Come An' Get It: The Story of the Old Cowboy Cook as "formal training."

Sep 11, 2001 - Steven C. Karoly

Since pilaf is more of a preparation method than an ethnic dish, it easily adapts to most rice dishes. With it you can travel from spicy red rice of Mexico to the pale yellow saffron rice of the Middle East.

Aug 28, 2001 - Steven C. Karoly

I searched for a new chuckbox until my wife and I attended the Spring Conference of the International Dutch Oven Society in Farmington, Utah last March. I found the perfect chuckbox when I walked past Kent Mayberry's K&B Going Dutch booth.

Aug 7, 2001 - Steven C. Karoly

Kepahrt's ideal cooking fire produced little smoke or flame, yielded a bed of clear, glowing coals and gave off a heat like "small blast furnace." These principles remain true today.

Jul 24, 2001 - Steven C. Karoly

After I published my last article, "Battle Plan for Food Safety," I posted a message on the Yahoo! Dutch Oven Club Bulletin Board. My note pointed Yahoo! readers to Suite101. Here's their feedback.

Jul 3, 2001 - Steven C. Karoly

According to the Food Safety and Inspection Service of the United States Department of Agriculture, outdoor cooks count on two food safety principles to ward off disease. They are "Keep hot food hot and cold food cold" and "Keep everything clean."

Jun 26, 2001 - Steven C. Karoly

Commentary aside, Camp and Outdoor Cooking is not here to solve California's power woes. But we can certainly help our readers wrestle up gourmet meals under the oaks while conserving a little electricity and sending less cash to your local investor-owned utility.

Jun 12, 2001 - Steven C. Karoly

Pinto bean soup with roasted tomatoes is one of those recipes that was made for camping. Adapted from a recipe by the Idaho Bean Commission, it can be made with dry or canned pinto beans. The soup makes the perfect first-night dish for a famished crew of campers when prepared with canned beans.

May 29, 2001 - Steven C. Karoly

Pot pie in an American classic. It's comfort food. And it easily adapts to most tastes. Use this recipe as a starting point and add and remove vegetables to your liking. Peas, carrots, celery, mushrooms, potatoes -- most any vegetable will work.

May 8, 2001 - Steven C. Karoly

Just as cookie nursed his piping hot sourdough biscuits to perfection, you too can become a master at cast iron cookery. Soon you'll be cooking Dutch oven treats like chicken enchiladas with cilantro lime rice and cucumber relish -- all in Dutch ovens.

Apr 24, 2001 - Steven C. Karoly

"You can cook just about anything ... in a Dutch oven," says Duke, a Dutch oven cook from Cypress, Texas. "You can fry, bake breads and desserts, make soups, stews, and roasts and cook just about any thing you wish." Cooks even find that low-fat recipes work equally well in Dutch ovens, according to Duke.

Apr 10, 2001 - Steven C. Karoly

Spuds are the star ingredient in dozens of camp dishes. Mashed, baked, grilled or fried -- it doesn't matter how you cook them. They're the perfect camp food for morning, noon or night.

Mar 20, 2001 - Steven C. Karoly

Although the camp stove is popular in many camps today, cooks still find that the Dutch oven is the most adaptable piece of camp cookware.

Mar 6, 2001 - Steven C. Karoly

Contrary to any impressions that you've formed from reading articles in Camp and Outdoor Cooking, I don't spend every afternoon preparing large multi-course meals for the family. Except for two or three dinners during a typical week-long camping trip, many are quick skillet-based meals.

Feb 20, 2001 - Steven C. Karoly

Although Elizabeth doesn't cook this lasagna in a Dutch oven, it's one that she often at home for her family. She often divides this recipe in two and freezes half for quick meals or to give to friends or those in need from her church.

Feb 6, 2001 - Steven C. Karoly

A menu for a group isn't too tough if all you're going to do is line up a bunch of cans, open them and then dump them in a pot. Likewise, hot dogs on a willow stick are easily accomplished without taxing ones creativity. If you're going to be a camp cook worth his salt, it's going to take a little work and planning. Most of us don't figure it out overnight, but here are some tips.

Jan 23, 2001 - Steven C. Karoly

The problem for rising Dutch oven cooks is this: Where do you find quality information? Although scores of cookbooks are published each day, few are devoted to Dutch ovens. So what's a Dutch oven cook to do?

Jan 9, 2001 - Steven C. Karoly

December is the low point in my annual quest to replicate my last camping trip to the Alpine country of California's Sierra Nevada range. Like many areas in the United States and Canada, a blanket of snow covers campgrounds. It's winter. Everything's frozen. In many places -- especially at Woods Lake, near Carson Pass -- the snow drifts engulfs all of the good campsites.

Dec 27, 2000 - Steven C. Karoly

Few things in life end up being written in stone; the exception of course, a few short words on a gravestone that marks a final resting place. I've run across cooks who treat every recipe card as a piece of granite.

Dec 12, 2000 - Steven C. Karoly

By now, you've seen that I'm a proponent of anything cast iron, especially camp Dutch ovens. Sure, they're heavy. But nothing beats cast iron. It's versatile, holds heat and cooks evenly. So, it's no surprise that cast iron cookware is king in my camp cooking outfit.

Nov 28, 2000 - Steven C. Karoly

A barbecued turkey at Thanksgiving -- or any other time of the year -- is simply divine. Its browned to perfection in the barbecue. Instead of filling the house with the pleasant aroma of a roasting turkey, you'll be inviting all of your neighbors as its scent wafts over the fence into their yard. Better set extra place settings just in case.

Nov 7, 2000 - Steven C. Karoly

Leftover spaghetti makes a great meal for the first night in camp. It heats up quickly with little fuss. Just fire up the stove, preheat a cast iron skillet over a medium flame and reheat the spaghetti. But before you toss the spaghetti into the skillet, you need to understand few rules about handling leftovers in camp.

Oct 24, 2000 - Steven C. Karoly

Here's a tropical alternative to traditional Dutch oven pineapple upside down cake. Pineapple and oranges have benefited from a long association with each other. Instead of using a caramelized brown sugar topping as in Pineapple Upside Down Cake, drizzle warm blackberry jam over each piece of cake.

Oct 10, 2000 - Steven C. Karoly

Fresh herbs transform any dish into a culinary delight by enhancing the flavor of a dish. Who doesn't enjoy Italian pasta dishes flavored with basil and thyme? Or Mexican meals spiced with cilantro and oregano? Using fresh herbs in camp cooking will produce many flavor-packed meals for your family.

Sep 26, 2000 - Steven C. Karoly

This chicken enchilada recipe uses a mild cream-based green chili sauce that's a refreshing change from the heavier red chili sauce. For a creamer texture, substitute half-and-half for the milk in the recipe. Imitation crab can also be used in place of chicken for seafood enchiladas.

Sep 12, 2000 - Steven C. Karoly

A few weeks ago, I cooked hotcakes and bacon over a campfire in the Ansel Adams Wilderness. During the four-day backpacking trip, the two hotcake breakfasts tasted much better than freeze-dried scrambled eggs and homemade granola cereal. These golden brown wheat cakes brought back fond memories of childhood camping vacations and weekend backpacking trips in the Sierra Nevada.

Aug 29, 2000 - Steven C. Karoly

Many prepare appetizing family meals while camping. But the last thing you need is to helplessly sit in the tent while a black bear ravages though your cache or to be frantically searching for an emergency room because your child has stomach cramps and diarrhea. Putting some thought into how you operate your camp kitchen will give you peace of mind.

Aug 15, 2000 - Steven C. Karoly

You can be a wonderful cook who's able to balance sourdough proofing in the sun with a lasagna that you've layering in a Dutch oven. But your sense of timing won't salvage the meal if you forgot yeast or left the noodles on the cupboard shelf. Putting some thought into your camping at home can save you a lot of woes in the wild.

Aug 1, 2000 - Steven C. Karoly

Each spring, as the weather in California's Gold Country slowly warms to the century mark, the Karoly family moves its culinary operation into the front yard.

Jul 17, 2000 - Steven C. Karoly