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Physical Therapy, Sept, 2006

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Oakland Tribune, Jul 28, 2004 by Ann Martin Rolke, CONTRIBUTOR

LOCALLY caught, crisp-skinned trout. Creamy fettucine al formaggio. Rich chocolate cake dripping with ganache. On this warm summer evening, tonight’s menu will be served al fresco. Who says you have to give up gourmet food when you’re camping?

Before packing the usual hot dogs and jerky, think about what you’d really like to chow down on after a hard day’s play. If you prefer gumbo to gorp, or cake instead of canned chili, check out some new cookbooks and tools guaranteed to make campsite cooking a lot more fun.

“The kind of camping that we do gives us plenty of time just to hang out, rather than hike 14 miles a day on a backpacking trek,” says Hal Kahn, camping expert and co-author with Rick Greenspan of three camping guidebooks.

“We read out loud when we’re camping,” says Greenspan, “so one of us is likely to be reading Dickens while the other one is kneading (bread).”

The Bay Area-based outdoorsmen have been cooking in the great outdoors for years. Recently, they compiled 150 of their favorite recipes into “The Leave-No-Crumbs Camping Cookbook” (Storey, $14.95).

From classic dishes such as foil-baked trout to more unusual camping fare, such as Japanese noodles, Indian curries or chocolate cake, the cookbook strikes out into the little-known territory of creative camp cooking.

“Our previous book had the whole gamut of camping info as well as cooking. Whenever we did appearances, people really liked the cooking demos the best,” says Greenspan.

Adds Kuhn, “We like to eat different kinds of food. Fun and taste came first and then figuring out ingredients came second.”

Although dishes such as Pad Thai may not be as simple to make as skewering a hot dog on a stick and cooking it over a campfire, a little advance preparation can dramatically cut down on cooking time at the campsite. The key is to plan ahead. Make what you can at home ahead of time, and be sure to bring along the right equipment.

“Plan to make dishes containing meat, including chicken and fish, on the first day and a half,” the authors advise in “Leave-No- Crumbs.” “That cooler isn’t a state-of-the-art fridge, and microorganisms are tough customers.”

To make fruit, vegetables, cheese or meat last longer, Greenspan and Kahn turn to a food dehydrator. They make

liberal use of their dehydrators to prepare components of their meals ahead of time, dry them thoroughly and thus avoid the need for refrigeration. That allows them to make more elaborate dishes at home so they only need reconstituting at the campsite.

If you don’t want to invest in a dehydrator, plenty of readily available, shelf-stable foods can spice up dishes.

“There’s a couple of absolute breakthroughs on the market now that are on the order of man on the moon; precooked vacuum-packed bacon and also new foil-packed tuna,” says T. Edward Nickens, contributing editor at Field & Stream.

His recipe for Foil-Baked Fish with Parmesan Pasta, featured in the July issue, incorporates sun-dried tomatoes, dried minced garlic and dried mushrooms, all of which are easy to find at any supermarket.

“What I most like about that recipe is that I frequently try to capture the essence of camping. By toasting the pine nuts or any other nut, you really get some of that smoky campfire taste in the dish in a real easy way,” he says.

“And even if you’re a terribly unlucky fisherman, that (pasta) recipe with diced up bacon is awfully good.”

Greenspan and Kahn also like to improvise on the trail when ingredients run short. “If you’ve only got a small bag of polenta left and maybe a piece of cheese, well, what do you do? You clearly bake the polenta and you layer it with this cheese and if you still have a pocketful of garam masala, then you stick that in there to flavor it,” says Greenspan.

After all, the whole point of camping is to have a good time, not spend hours slaving over a butane-powered stove