Extract Of Beef

Liebig's is useful in adding flavor to gravy or soup, and may be needed in case of illness.

Canned Fish

Not so objectionable as canned meat, because preserved in oil. Salmon, sardines, mackerel, can be worked into palatable dishes for hasty meals now and then. Go light.

*For the process of jerking venison or beef, see my Camping and Woodcraft, p. 222. I have found that it succeeds even in the wet elimate of the Southern Appalachians. (See also page 45).

Smoked Fish

Shredded codfish, for fish-balls, and smoked halibut, sprats, boneless herring, are portable and keep well. Enough for one or two meals of each may be relished.

Prepared Soups

If liquid soups can be carried at all, take none but the very best brands that you can purchase. Concentrated (dry) soups, when of good quality, are a great help in time of trouble. Choose by trying samples before you leave home. They are kept by some camp outfitters, and by select groceries in the large cities. Erbswurst (a sort of pea-meal sausage used in the German army) is a pretty good emergency ration to carry when you hunt alone. Any good camp outfitter has it in stock or will order it for you.

Desiccated Eggs

Baker's egg is a perfect substitute for fresh eggs in bake stuffs, and makes excellent omelets or scrambled eggs. A 1 lb. can, equal to about four dozen fresh eggs, measures 6x3x3 inches. It costs less than storage eggs, and the contents will never spoil if kept dry. The powder must soak about an hour in cold or lukewarm water before using. It may be put to soak overnight, or in a can or bottle of water when on the march. Thanks to this invention, the camp flapjack need no longer be a culinary horror.

I have tried other desiccated eggs, "made in Germany," which were uneatable by themselves, nor did they improve any dish that I tested them in.*

*On general principles I object to naming firms or brands; but when a good thing is not generally procurable in average stores, there would be no use in mentioning it without telling the reader where to get it. Out-of-town readers should get such catalogues as those of Montgomery Ward, Chicago; John Wanamaker, New York; Abercrombie & Fitch, New York.

Butter

For ordinary trips it suffices to pack butter firmly into pry-up tin cans which have been sterilized by thorough scalding and then cooled in a perfectly clean place. Keep it in a spring or in cold running water (hung in a net, or weighted with a rock) whenever you can. When traveling, wrap the cold can in a towel or other insulating material.

Butter will keep fresh a long time if melted and gently boiled for a while, skimming off the scum as it rises, until the butter is as clear as oil, and then canning it. One-third less of this clarified butter equals the quantity of ordinary butter called for in any recipe.

Nut butter may be used as a substitute on bread.