Sunday, December 19, 2010

Winter offers opportunities for recipe experimentation

Face it, there aren't too many scouting units that go winter camping like they would in Spring, Summer or Fall.
One winter camp seems to be the norm for most units but that should deter anyone from thinking about camping and this is a perfect time to clean, repair and upgrade their camping equipment.
Don't forget those new recipes you have been meaning to try out on your Scouts.
Scout groups in Australia typically hold a "Cast Iron Chef" cooking contest where scouts create and invent some new recipes that can be cooked in a camping environment.
When I was a Scout , we had a cooking competition called, "Heck Cook."
 We received several cooking items and had to figure out "what the heck to do with these items?"
 Through these cooking contests, new menus are formed that incorporate entrees like:

Pepsi Spam Fajitas, Peanut Butter Stuffed Hotdogs Wrapped in Bacon to Jelly filled Doughnuts.

Not your cup of tea, how about:
Waldorf Salad with  Hot Peanut Butter and Bacon Dressing
Caramel apple spice cake
Overstuffed Onions instead of peppers
Pizza with Calamari Rings and Pineapple.
Damper stuffed with scrambled eggs and sausage
Damper bowls with chili, booyah or stew
Hamburger with all the condiments including pickled beets and a fried egg

All of these came from someone discovering something new and unusual and all have been included in the basic menus of troops camping throughout the world.

These ideas were spawned from cooking events that may have been conducted during the camping "off season" or maybe even in camp.
They are all tried and true and no one has ever died from these recipes - that I know of.

Typically, all scouting recipes should follow 3 basics cooking rules:
  1. Fast
  2. Easy to prepare
  3. Good to eat.
Just remember, before you turn you nose up on these menu ideas...some "nut" had to come up with dirt cake with gummy worms and scrambled eggs in a bag.
Have you scouts invent some new recipes...you will never know what might come out of the troop's own "Heck's Kitchen."

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