Recently I spent a night at my cabin with my son Timothy. We worked on the camp all day long and although we did not fish, we enjoyed working beside Superior; listening to the waves pound the beach. At the end of the day it was time to prepare a solid meal. The workers-reward if you will.
Outdoor meals always taste a notch higher. Whether it’s the setting, the hunger, or the sheer joy that makes it so good I’m not sure. Generally speaking they tend to be hot, big, and brown.
Our meal that night consisted of a huge steak seasoned to have a wee bite, and fried in butter in an iron skillet; cooked medium rare and finished with a can of beans slopped over top. Maple beans bump this dish over the top. Our side dishes included sweet potato fries cooked in hot oil, perogies, and a salad shaken in a zip-lock bag so the homemade dressing permeates the simple mix of romaine and tomato chunks. It’s a meal you don’t rush through. Combine with some good conversation over the setting sun and it’s a moment to be remembered.
I am not a chef by any means, but often get relegated into cooking on trips. On our annual fly-in moose hunt I am the go-to cook. (I let the other guys do the bottle-washing.) To be kind, I use the least amount of dishes possible. Sometimes just one.
My specialties are mostly fried and barbecued. I also do an epic job of heating up an apple pie that my wife has made.
Here’s my secrets in a nutshell: I stick to basic, authentic ingredients. Always use salt, pepper, and a sprinkling of some kind of spice that bites. Rarely is butter not involved. Olive oil is nice too. And I cook it all hot and quick. Gas or propane heat preferred. Even a good military flame-thrower if you have one handy. If you doubt my system, watch “Salt Fat Acid Heat” on Netflix. I rest my case.
I mastered the steak-and-beans-in-the-frying-pan meal back when I did a bit of guiding along the north shore. I’d pack in a naphtha fuelled Peak stove and cook the entire meal in an aluminum wok. I always finished the meal with something chocolate. Often I received accolades like “This is better than a fine restaurant.” (They were usually very happy customers.)
Throughout my sojourn as an outdoor person I’ve eaten some great meals in wild places. I can’t count the number of shore-lunch fish-fries I’ve partaken in. I’m always amazed at the number of variances to this basic meal. Different side dishes and desserts, and every lodge seems to have a secret fish coating.
One of my most memorable shore lunches occurred on the banks of the Sutton River. I was fly fishing for brook trout on this world-class Hudson Bay tributary. Basically you can’t get wilder than this. My role here was to photograph and journal the trip but also to teach a couple young guides from nearby Fort Hope how to fly fish. Our leader was the owner of the outfitting company, a Cree man who was literally born and raised on the river. He made a meal on an open fire, again in an iron frying pan. It consisted of sliced Spam, black tea, and Wonder bread (“accordion bread” as I call it). In a word, it was “AMAZING!”
A month later, I decided to replicate that same meal in my home kitchen. It didn’t work. In fact I had to open up all the windows and fire up all the fans to get the smell out of the house.
I guess that meal was missing a couple key ingredients: the great outdoors, and good friends.
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