Date: Sat, 6 Jun 1998 15:31:58 -0700
Reply-To: Katherine Lee <katherine@DNA.BC.CA>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <Vanagon@vanagon.com>
From: Katherine Lee <katherine@DNA.BC.CA>
Subject: Re: What food to take in a Westie (long)
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I think this topic has been pretty well covered, but I thought I'd add a
few more things to the list.
Miso
Dried mushrooms
Seaweed
Sundried tomatoes
Carrots
Cabbage
Patak's Curry Paste (mild)
Chilli/Falafel/Tabouli mix
Landjager sausage
Dried shrimp/scallops
Ramen noodles are yummy ... only thing is, the flavour packets they come
with are chock full of MSG (monosodium glutamate) ... a "flavour enhancer"
that causes allergic reactions, headaches, etc. in some people. As a
substitute, the REAL soup stock to take along with your ramen is miso.
Miso is a paste made from soybeans, sea salt, and sometimes rice and
barley, and it's fermented, so it keeps very well without refrigeration.
You'll find it in the "Oriental" (I hate that word, but that's what stores
call it) section of the supermarket, or at the Japanese grocer. Add a
generous dollop to your soup, or dilute it with water if you want to
marinate your meat in it, heck, I even add it to my pasta sauce along with
plenty of garlic (instead of tomatoes or dairy). Speaking of tomatoes,
sundried tomatoes are nice and sweet, if you don't happen to have fresh
ones. You do need to soak them for awhile before they soften up. Getting
back to the ramen, other things you can add are dried mushrooms (the big
black kind you buy in the Chinese grocery, again, you'll need to presoak a
bit) and dried seaweed (this cooks "instantly", although you should make
sure it's the kind that's been prewashed, otherwise you'll be spending your
time rinsing it or eating a lot of sand). Japanese dried seaweeds are the
kind you can eat right out of the packet, and if you want to get fancy,
roll up some rice, green onion, avocado, cucumber and wasabi (Japanese
horseradish) with it and dip it in soya sauce. (Then eat it, of course.)
Carrots are a good fresh vegetable to take along, as is cabbage. They both
endure a bit of jostling about in a cooler, and are easy to eat raw or
cooked.
Patak's Curry Paste (comes in a jar, also doesn't need refrigeration) is
GREAT! I get the mild (not hot) kind. It's a mixture of curry spices,
tamarinds and lentils in a bit of vinegar. I simply add a spoonful or two
to whatever veggies, beans or meat I'm sautéeing in the saucepan, mix in a
bit of water for broth, and voilà! Instant curry. For a bit of sweetness,
add a handful of raisins while you're cooking, or throw in some diced apple
at the end. Goes great with potatoes, rice, dried rice vermicelli noodles
(for a kind of Singapore-style noodle dish), cous cous ...
Here in Canada we have dried instant mixes made by Fantastic Foods. They
make a chilli mix, a falafel mix, a tabouli mix ... and others which I
can't recall right now. Most of these are "just add water and cook". The
chilli mix already comes with some kind of dehydrated vegetable protein,
and you can add the tomatoes and beans yourself. Very tasty.
On a canoe trip we took last year, we took a number of Landjager sausages
with us. It's a type of German sausage that lasts for a few days without a
lot of refrigeration ... so we ended up saving it for the 3rd & 4th days of
our trip. After that, we graduated to meat jerky, but I found this to be
too salty for my liking. If you don't mind the smell, you can find packets
of dried shrimp and scallops at the Chinese supermarkets I mentioned
earlier (we didn't take any smelly seafood on our canoe trip, as it was
bear country) ... these you can add to pasta sauce or soup.
That's all I can think of for now. Have fun camping!
Katherine Lee
P.S. After reading your message, John:
>I like to do food themes. On a trip to Joshua Tree last month, I had
>what the local desert Indian tribes might have had. Quail seasoned with
>sage one night; rabbit with salsa the next night. And of course, the
>Spanish padres DID bring wine...
I decided I wanted to go camping with YOU! ;-)
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