Notes on Camp Cooking

Communion with the wilderness tends to amplify certain moments in life, and maybe none so much as when it’s time to eat. Mealtime is the best part of going camping; partly because of all the energy spent hunting for wood and tools, setting up a tent, lugging supplies to and fro, and squatting over a heap of wood to light a fire.

Camp meals can be as simple as hot dogs roasted on a skewer, or as complicated as marinated skirt steak and pear bulgogi. Experienced river guides Adam Elliott and Braxton Barden are experts at navigating the camp cooking process: They’ve dined through the best and worst outdoor conditions, they know which foods are well-suited for campsite cooking (and which aren’t), and they know how to improvise through the inevitable crisis of forgotten supplies. 

Elliott, a Natchez resident and carpenter by day, spent three months kayaking the entire length of the Mississippi River back in 2007, and over the past several years he’s guided countless groups down the Mississippi on overnight canoe trips for the Quapaw Canoe Company. “I can camp all the ways: backyard, truck camping, canoe camping, kayak camping, backpacking,” said Elliott, adding that he’s never tried camping with a trailer because it sounds too easy. “I guess I could bike camp, too.”

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Barden, a veteran of the US Navy (Chief Petty Officer USN, retired) and a Covington, Georgia, native, recently graduated from the University of Georgia’s Odum School of Ecology—the latest step in a lifelong path toward protecting inland streams and waterways. Several years after reading an article in National Geographic about John Ruskey of the Quapaw Canoe Company, Barden ended up alongside Ruskey and Elliott as a Quapaw river guide in 2013. Since his graduation in May, Barden has been making up for lost time and has spent more time in a tent than he has at home. His latest camping trip was a last-minute Canadian paddling adventure, from which he kindly took time to offer some fireside cooking advice.

Space is of the essence

Knowing what culinary supplies to bring on a camping trip requires making a few early decisions, including consideration of packing space, cooking methods, and meal planning. Typically, Elliott prefers to cook over a fire, where he utilizes several cast iron Dutch ovens and a silicone-handle, nonstick pan. He brings along a few pairs of tongs, wooden spoons and spatulas, and a Santoku-style knife with an antimicrobial cutting board. 

As for Barden, he packs a Dutch oven, a spatula, a table, and a chef’s knife nestled in a Snow Peak foldable cutting board. He enjoys cooking over a good fire, but his trips tend to involve lots of river miles per day, which can drain the energy necessary to build and maintain a fire. “My recent trips have been somewhat long and it’s a lot easier to just fire up a [camp] stove,” said Barden.

 “Always make room for salt and pepper at a minimum," —Will Johnson

Cooking with cast-iron or aluminum is wonderful, noted Elliott, adding that fire is unequivocally hot—so bring some form of oven mitt. You don’t want your pan trapped over the fire once it heats up. Elliott takes it a step further: “I had a killer pair of aluminized, thermally-insulated welder’s gloves with long cuffs that I handled my cooking kit with,” he said.  “I found them in a junk shop for ten bucks.”

On that note, bringing along aloe vera gel or burn spray is also sensible, just in case. 

Cooking equipment is important, but perhaps just as important in a camp setting is hygiene. Elliott brings Clorox wipes to clean things that have been in contact with raw meat—including hands—but hot water and soap are equally effective. In a pinch, Elliott suggested that a “forceful scrubbing” with sand followed by a water rinse can also keep things sanitary, and it never hurts to bring along some hand sanitizer. “Just make sure to rinse everything really well after using wipes,” he added.

Camping of any kind involves a natural limitation of space, which is why Barden and Elliott suggest bringing along items that have multiple uses. Barden’s longtime camping buddy, Will Johnson (who isn’t quite a river guide, but according to Barden, he’s quite the camp chef), suggested campers find a container that fits everything they need and use that as a limiting factor when packing. “When you limit your space, you’ll distill your kit into what is actually necessary,” said Johnson. “Always make room for salt and pepper at a minimum. Braxton taught me that the salt and pepper grinders will work best. Salt absorbs moisture and will quite quickly gum up a regular salt shaker.”

In addition to salt and pepper, another ingredient Barden and Elliott swear by is honey because of its versatility. It works for morning coffee, it’s a perfect glaze for grilled chicken, and it’ll make any dessert that much sweeter.   

Packing for a camping jaunt, for both the expert and the inexperienced camper, is riddled with the risk of forgetting something. The difference is that the experts don’t sweat it. “Just get used to it,” said Elliott. “It happens.”

Thinking beyond the hot dog

Planning camp meals involves the same kind of problem-solving as selecting your cooking equipment. Foods that don’t require refrigeration—potatoes, fresh yard eggs, whole onions, and all things canned (just don’t forget the can opener)—will save precious real estate in an ice chest. As long as they’re not camping in the dead of winter, Johnson and Elliott like to freeze whatever can be frozen—including prepared soup, raw bacon, and even foil-wrapped leftovers—so that the food contributes to keeping things cold. “It will all thaw out pretty quick, and you can keep your beer cold with bacon rather than all that extra ice,” said Johnson.

Bulgogi, a Korean preparation of thinly-sliced, marinated chicken or beef, is one of Elliott’s favorite camp recipes. The dish works especially well with the freezing technique: the meat happens to be much easier to slice thin when it’s partially frozen.

“Folks start thinking you’re some kind of gourmet when you’re cooking up kale, chard, onion, and garlic beside some fried trout. Really, that’s about the easiest thing to put together in a cast iron skillet.”—Will Johnson

Typically, anything grill-able at home can be cooked over a fire. Steaks, chicken, fish, burgers, or sausage links are fine choices for a main dish. Or it can be easier than that: bringing foil-wrapped leftovers from home is a great way to bring complex dishes to the woods, according to Johnson. 

Barden mentioned that some foods that aren’t exactly delicacies at home can turn into something completely different at camp, such as what he survived on during his two runs of the Missouri River 340 race—the longest nonstop canoe race in the world. “Spam, without a doubt,” said Barden. “It’s great when I am hungry; it’s easy to prepare and loaded with salt.”

Johnson’s favorite main dish is whatever he can harvest while camping, such as fresh-caught fish. “You ever have bacon-wrapped trout?” said Johnson. “Folks start thinking you’re some kind of gourmet when you’re cooking up kale, chard, onion, and garlic beside some fried trout. Really, that’s about the easiest thing to put together in a cast iron skillet.”

Fire! Fire!

No matter what ends up in the camping kit, it’s always a good idea to make sure you can actually cook the food you’ve brought. The first primitive chefs of our species cooked their food with far fewer tools than we have today, and there are lots of ways to use a fire, no matter what utensils you’ve brought (or forgotten to bring). Foil, cast-iron pans, a correctly-placed grill grate, or even a pointy stick can do the job. 

Elliott typically builds a trough in the fire ring and burns down a good amount of coals to start the process, then places similar-sized logs on either side of the trough, spaced in such a way that supports his cooking vessel—whether it’s a pan or a grill grate—over the trough. “I use small twigs to alter my heat if need be,” he added.

“Hunger makes them tasty, and hard work is the best sauce for any meal.”—Adam Elliott

Both Elliott and Barden have improvised grill grates out of green willow branches by criss-crossing them over a coal pit (Barden likes to lash his together with strips of bark). Since the wood is green, the branches won’t burn so quickly; and the extra smoke caused by green wood will add flavor to the food. But Elliott added that a grill grate, proper or improvised, isn’t entirely necessary. “You can roast your steak on a skewer, caveman style,” he said. 

A potato takes awhile to cook, even in a normal oven. Barden cooks them over the fire, but sometimes he opts to bury his sweet potatoes under the fire. Sweet potatoes benefit from a long, slow bake, which caramelizes the sugars inside the tuber. “I will bury Japanese sweet potatoes under the fire and let them roast for a good while,” he said. 

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Whether roasted over fire or caramelizing under coals—and whether it’s a juicy ribeye or a delectable Spam steak, whatever ends up on your paper plate will likely taste amazing. 

The many calories spent setting up a tent and starting a fire are enough to crank up the flavor-enhancing magic of the great outdoors. “Since the kitchen is different at every campsite, the meals are never one hundred percent the same,” said Elliott. “Hunger makes them tasty, and hard work is the best sauce for any meal.”  

View a demonstration from Barden and Elliott here. Barden, Johnson, and Elliott were also kind enough to share their favorite fireside recipes. Try your hand at: 

Braxton Barden's Frito Chlii Pie 

Will Johnson's Bacon-Wrapped Trout 

Adam Elliott's Bulgogi