April 2005 | Kitchen Notebook
On the Trail of Good Food
Your actual kitchen is one thing. But the kitchen mindset is something altogether different—and mobile.
by Andrew Mulholland
A new book from innovative publisher The Mountaineers Books takes a kitchen mindset out on the trail. Its title, “Beyond Gorp: Favorite Foods from Outdoor Experts” ($15.95), makes it clear that you will feast on more than fruits, nuts, berries and, discuss amongst yourselves, M&Ms in your trail mix of meals.
For instance, celebrated outdoor photographer Bradford Washburn writes about the kitchen mindset and what he calls “chemical experiments” during his decades of exploring through the lens: “Our expeditions did not use recipes. Cooking was a sort of chemical experiment. When I was part of mapping Mt. McKinley ... we used the same old oatmeal, beans, instant rice, stewed prunes, hash, chipped beef and ham—in all sorts of combinations.
“On one expedition we had unusually good food and were impressed by how good we felt despite the extra weight. I’m convinced that at least half the lack of appetite at high altitude is not at all due to the lack of oxygen. It’s because you’ve saved the lightest-weight, easiest-to-carry and prepare food to eat up there. But most of this stuff would make you gag if you cooked it beautifully in your own kitchen at sea level!
“Good food, well prepared, will do more to keep up expedition morale and power than all sorts of psychology and esoteric cuisine.”
There is an impressive list of contributors who offer recipes in “Beyond Gorp,” including Outside magazine writer Tim Cahill, ESPN X Games champion Will Gadd and REI founding members Lloyd and Mary Anderson (whose “Foil Stew” offers a delicious meal cooked and eaten in the same piece of aluminum—just make sure you pack it out).
Cahill turns hot cocoa into a fortifying experience—and a necessary luxury if there can ever be such a thing. His recipe is dump one packet of hot cocoa mix into six to eight ounces of hot water, stir in sugar to taste and one to two tablespoons of butter.
“This drink, consumed just before sleep, puts some fat in the furnace and generally keeps burning all night long,” writes Cahill. “I hate to sleep cold and I hate to wake up at 3 a.m. shivering and praying for the dawn. Also, it tastes good on a cold evening, and there is that pleasant aura of sin about eating fat for fat’s sake.”
For the record, “Beyond Gorp” does reveal how trail mix got its slang name—“good old raisins and peanuts”—but co-authors Yvonne Prater, Ruth Dyar Mendenhall and Kerry I. Smith admit to not discovering its origins. They even ask that you contact Smith, care of Mountaineers Books, if you know the answer to that puzzle.
Andrew Mulholland admits to bringing his garlic press regularly on camping trips.
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