This section is from the book "Camping And Woodcraft", by Horace Kephart. Also available from Amazon: Camping and Woodcraft.
Hypholoma appendiculatum. " deliciosus.
Tricholoma personatum. Russula alutacea.
Boletus subaureus. " <virescens.
" bovinus. Cantharellus cibarius.
" sub sanguineous. Marasmius oreades.
Clavaria botrytes. Hydnum repandum.
" cinerea " Caput-M edusce.
" vermicularis. Morchella esculenta.
" inaqualis. " deliciosa.
" pistillaris.
To a pint of tomatoes add butter twice the size of an egg, some pepper, very little salt, and a tablespoonful of sugar. Boil about five minutes. Put some bread crumbs or toast in a dish, and pour tomatoes over them. Butter can be omitted. Some do not like sugar in tomatoes.
Same as tomatoes; but omit sugar and bread. Add a cup of milk, if you have it.
Since campers very seldom have any other fresh vegetables than potatoes and onions, I will not take up space with special recipes for others. The following timetable mav some time be useful*.
Asparagus .......................... 20 to 25 minutes.
Cabbage ............................ 20 to 25 minutes.
Carrots .......................,..... 30 to 40 minutes.
Cauliflower.......,.................. 20 to 25 minutes.
Corn (green) ........................ 15 to 20 minutes.
Beans (string) ....................... 25 to 30 minutes.
Beans (Lima) ....................... 30 to 35 minutes.
Beans (navy, dried) ...................2^/2 to 4 hours.
Beets ............................... 30 to 40 minutes.
Onions .............................. 30 to 40 minutes.
Parsnips ............................ 30 to 35 minutes.
Peas (green) ........................ 20 minutes.
Potatoes (new) ...................... 20 minutes.
Potatoes (old) ....................... 30 to 40 minutes.
Spinach ............................. 20 to 25 minutes.
Turnips............................. 30 to 35 minutes.
When Napoleon said that "soup makes the soldier," he meant thick, substantial soup — soup that sticks to the ribs — not mere broths or meat extracts, which are fit only for invalids or to coax an indifferent stomach. " Soup," says " Ness-muk," " requires time, and a solid basis of the right material. Venison is the basis, and the best material is the bloody part of the deer, where the bullet went through. We used to throw this away; we have learned better. Cut about four pounds of the bloody meat into convenient pieces, and wipe them as clean as possible with leaves or a damp cloth, but don't wash them. Put the meat into a five-quart kettle nearly filled with water, and raise it to a lively boiling pitch".
Here I must interfere. It is far better to bring the water gradually to a boil and then at once hang the kettle high over the fire where it will only keep up a moderate bubbling. There let it simmer at least two hours — better half a day. It is impossible to hasten the process. Furious boiling would ruin both the soup and the meat.
" Nessmuk " continues: "Have ready a three-tined fork made from a branch of birch or beech, and with this test the meat from time to time; wrtfTi it parts readily from the bones, slice in 3 large onion. Pare six large, smooth potatoes, cut five of them into quarters, and drop them into the kettle; scrape the sixth one into the soup for thickening. Season with salt and white pepper to taste. When, by skirmishing with the wooden fork, you can fish up bones with no meat on them, the soup is cooked, and the kettle may be set aside to cool".
Any kind of game may be used in a similar way, provided that none but lean meat be used. Soup is improved by first soaking the chopped-up meat in cold water, and using this water to boil in thereafter. Soup should be skimmed for some time after it has started simmering, to remove grease and scum.
To anyone who knows petite marmite or poule-au-pot, these simple directions will seem barbarous — and so they are; but barbarism has its compensations. A really first-class soup cannot be made without a full day's previous preparation and the resources of a city grocery. Mulligatawny, for example, requires thirty-two varieties of spices and other condiments. No start can be made with any standard soup until one has a supply of " stock " made of veal or beef, mutton or poultry, by long simmering and skimming and straining.
In camp, stock can be made expeditiously by cutting one or two pounds of venison into thin slices, then into dice, cover with cold water, boil gently twenty minutes, take from the fire, skim, and strain. A tolerable substitute is Liebig's beef extract, or beef cubes, dissolved in water.
Onion, cloves, mace, celery seed, salt, and red or white pepper, are used for seasoning. Sassafras leaves, dried before the fire and powdered, make the gumbo file of the Creoles. Recipes for a few simple, nourishing soups, are given below:
" Put 4 or 5 lbs. of deer ribs in a bucket of water. Cook slowly until only half a bucket of 1 stock' remains. Add 1 can tomatoes, 1/4 cup rice, and salt to taste. Cook until these are done." (Dr. O. M. Clay).
(2) Take 4 lbs. of lower leg bones of deer, or moose, caribou, sheep, goat, elk, etc., 2 lbs. of the meat, a large handful each of julienne and rice, a few pieces of pork, 1 teaspoonful of salt, pepper to taste, and 4 quarts of water. Crack the soup bones so that the marrow will run out, place in a large pot with the meat, water, and julienne, and boil slowly until the meat is shredded. Take out bones, add the rest of the ingredients, add hot water to make the desired quantity of soup, and boil until rice is cooked. (Abercrombie).
Put the squirrels (not less than three) in a gallon of cold w?ater, with a scant tablespoonful of salt. Cover the pot closely, bring to the bubbling point, and then simmer gently until the meat begins to be tender. Then add whatever vegetables you have. When the meat has boiled to a rag, remove the bones. Thicken the soup with a piece of butter rubbed to a smooth paste in flour. Season to taste.
Slice some stale bread half an inch thick, remove crust, and cut bread into half-inch dice. Fry these, a few at a time, in deep fat of the " blue smoke " temperature, until they are golden brown. Drain free from grease, and add to each plate of soup when serving. (See also page 356).
Take a quart can of tomatoes and a sliced onion. Stew twenty minutes. Meantime boil a quart of milk. Rub to a paste two tablespoonfuls each of flour and butter, and add to the boiling milk, stirring until it thickens. Now season the tomatoes with a teaspoonful of sugar, a little salt, and pepper. Then stir into the tomatoes one-half teaspoonful baking soda (to keep milk from curdling), add the boiling milk, stir quickly, and serve.
Boil with pork, as previously directed, until the beans are tender enough to crack open; then take out the pork and mash the beans into a Daste. Return Dork to kettle, add a cup of flour mixed thin with cold water, stirring it in slowly as the kettle simmers. Boil slowly an hour longer, stirring frequently so that it may not scorch. Season with little salt but plenty of pepper.
Wash well one pint of split peas, cover with cold water, and let them soak over night. In the morning put them in a kettle with close-fitting cover. Pour over them three quarts cold water, adding one-half pound lean bacon or ham cut into dice, one teaspoonful salt, and some pepper. When the soup begins to boil, skim the froth from the surface. Cook slowly three to four hours, stirring occasionally till the peas are all dissolved, and adding a little more boiling water to keep up the quantity as it boils away. Let it get quite thick. Just before serving, drop in small squares of toasted bread or biscuits, adding quickly while the bread is hot. Vegetables may be added one-half hour before the soup is done.
Clean the turtle as directed in Chapter XV, leaving legs on, but skin them and remove the toes, as well as outer covering of shell. Place remaining parts, together with a little julienne, in fresh, hot water and boil until all the meat has left the bones. Remove bones, add hot water for required quantity of soup. Salt and pepper to taste. A tablespoonful each of sherry and brandy to each quart of liquid improves the flavor.
Follow directions on wrapper.
The best thing in a fixed camp is the stock-pot. A large covered pot or enameled pail is reserved for this and nothing else. Into it go all the clean fag-ends of game — heads, tails, wings, feet, giblets, large bones — also the leftovers of fish, flesh, and fowl, of any and all sorts of vegetables, rice, or other cereals, macaroni, stale bread, everything edible except fat. This pot is always kept hot. Its flavors are forever changing, but ever welcome. It is always ready, day or night, for the hungry varlet who missed connections or who wants a bite between meals. No cook who values his peace of mind will fail to have skilly simmering at all hours.
 
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