Sweet-and-sour chicken
(As we use fresh chicken this is always a first-day item)
Ingredients:
Chicken portions
ready-made sweet-and-sour sauce (Uncle Ben's or Chicken Tonight are very good)
(Allow one portion of chicken per camper and one jar of sweet-and-sour sauce per 6 campers)
Rice - allow 75g/3oz. uncooked rice per person
Cut the chicken into bite-sized portions and fry in a little oil until just about cooked through but not browned, then add the jar(s) of sauce; when beginning to boil, pull to the side of the fire and try to keep just simmering - it will need watching and stirring to ensure to does not burn.
Meanwhile, put the rice on to cook : cover the rice with 3 times its volume of salted water and bring to the boil; it will take 12 - 15 minutes depending on the type of rice, or you can boil it for 10 minutes and leave to stand, off the heat, for a further 10 minutes if time allows. The water should all be absorbed by this time.
Serve the chicken on a bed of boiled rice.

TOP

Spaghetti Bolognese
Ingredients :
Mince (fresh or tinned) - allow 4 - 6 oz perperson
Tinned tomatoes (chopped) - 1 tin per 4 or 5 people
Tomato puree - large tube
3 large onions
stock cubes (Oxo, etc.) - dissolved in water
pasta - penne, fusilli etc. (cook better than spaghetti and are easier to eat)
Parmesan cheese to garnish
Chop the onions finely and fry in a little oil in a large frying pan; when softened but not browned, transfer to a large dixie or pan.
Fry off the meat until beginning to brown then add to the pan with the onions (if using fresh mince - if using tinned, just add to the pan and heat.)
Add the chopped tinned tomatoes and the tomato puree - ALL of it if you like your sauce nice and rich.
Add stock cubes in water until the consistency of the sauce is about right and bring to the boil.
Cook the pasta as directed on the packet, using plenty of water and a dash of oil or a knob of butter to prevent it sticking together and drain when cooked.
Serve with the sauce and parmesan cheese if liked.
Note: if mince is not available, chopped corned beef makes an acceptable substitute.

TOP

Fish Cakes
There are 2 basic variations on this simple recipe : you can use either powdered potato (Smash etc.) for speed, and the final result is excellent, or boil and mash potatoes for an even better result.
Simply combine drained tinned tuna and mashed potato (in a proportion of approximately 1 : 2) and form into cakes. Coat with either flour or better still breadcrumbs (bought or home-made) and fry in shallow oil, turning when one side is cooked.

TOP

Rissoles
Ingredients:
This will make enough rissoles to feed 12 hearty appetites:
6 ounces of sausagemeat
Oatmeal (NOT porridge oats!)
2 large onions
1 egg
water to mix
flour to coat
oil / fat to shallow fry
Peel and finely dice the onions and mix in the sausagemeat and six handfuls of oatmeal and blend well. Add the egg and water (if needed) until the mixture can be formed into patties, shaping with floured hands.
Fry a few at a time, turning occasionally until golden brown and cooked through.
Serve with vegetables and gravy.

TOP

Vegetable soup
Ingredients :
Carrots
Potatoes
Swedes
Onions
Cabbage
Kohl rabi
Courgettes
Celery
Any tinned veg.
Pearl Barley
herbs (fresh or dried)
Stock cubes (vegetable or chicken as preferred)
Water
Bread to serve
Before doing anything else, put three or four handfuls of rinsed pearl barley on to simmer in plenty of water; stir occasionally to prevent sticking.
Dice or finely chop the vegetables as appropriate - precise quantities don't matter, just use what you can get. Put the vegetables apart from the courgette and tinned veg., if being used, in a large billy and cover with plenty of water, add the herbs and stock cube(s) and bring to the boil. Add the barley. Keep checking the state of the vegetables - after half an hour they should be cooked but test the swede and carrots just in case; if soft enough to eat, add the courgettes and tinned vegetables and cook for a further 5 to 7 minutes.
You can thicken the soup in one of two ways : either remove some of the vegetables and mash to a puree then return them to the soup or thicken with a paste of cornflour and water (or flour and water if you have no cornflour) - add slowly and gradually, stirring all the time, until the desired consistency is reached.
Serve with bread or croutons (cubes of bread lightly fried in very little oil or fat.)

TOP

Corned beef chuck-in
Very similar to the above recipe : simply chop up tinned corned beef and place in a large billy with plenty of water, then "chuck in" any available vegetables, pearl barley, rice, pasta etc. Cook until everything is done, thicken if wanted and serve with bread.

TOP

Potato Floddies
A very simple recipe - excellent at breakfast with fried eggs, bacon and beans!
Coarsely grate raw potatoes into a bowl and add a handful of flour at a time and mix until the moisture from the potatoes causes them to bind together. Form into patties and fry in shallow oil, being careful not to burn them (and they catch very easily!) turning once; drain and serve.

TOP

Eggy Bread
This camp standby goes by various names - I like "Gypsy Toast" the best, but whatever you call it, I love it! Especially good with bacon and tomatoes; it is often the only way some of the girls will eat eggs.
Ingredients:
Half-a dozen eggs will feed 12 campers
Small amount of milk
Approximately 12 slices of bread - depends on thickness, freshness, size etc. - use as much as you need
Fat/oil to shallow fry in
Beat the eggs in a large bowl, and add a tablespoonful of milk per 6 eggs & mix well. Cut the bread slices and half and immerse in the egg mixture - you may have to do this in batches, depending on the size of the bowl. Leave till soaked but not soggy.
Fry a few pieces at a time in shallow fat or oil, turning once, until golden brown on both sides. Be careful - they burn quickly if not watched.
Serve for breakfast with whatever you choose : I know several girls who like theirs sprinkled with sugar.....

TOP

"Egg Pudding"
Only you don't need eggs!
Ingredients:
Tinned peach halves (NOT slices) - reckon about 6 pieces per tin
Large Swiss Rolls (plain/jam filled)
"Squirty Cream"
Slice the Swiss Rolls into about 1" thick pieces and place in individual bowls. Top with a peach half, round side up, and squirt cream generously round (not on) the peach half until the whole resembles a poached egg on toast. VERY simple, and very tasty.

TOP

Fruit Salad
Ingredients :
Assorted fresh fruit according to availability :
Apples
Pears
Bananas
Oranges
Grapes
Kiwi Fruit
Strawberries
Cherries
Plums
Melon
- vary according to availability, as long as the overall quantity stays the same - allow the equivalent of three pieces of fruit per person.
2 large bottles of "traditional-style" lemonade OR 7-Up
Peel the kiwi fruit, bananas and the oranges, stone the cherries and plums if used, hull the strawberries, core the apples and pears (but don't peel) and remove the pips and pulp from the melon them remove the flesh from the rind.
Cut all the fruit up into bite-sized pieces and mix gently but well in a LARGE bowl or pan. Pour over the lemonade or 7-Up to cover all the fruit (it will start to float - put a plate on top and that should keep it under the liquid.) Leave to stand for half an hour or until needed; the lemonade wil prevent the fruit from going brown.
Serve just as it is, or with cold (tinned) custard if wished - cream and evaporated milk have a tendency to curdle when added to this mix, although they still taste fine.

TOP

Twists / Dampers
The traditional fare of Backwoods Cooking! Both use the same dough, the only difference is that Twists are cooked on sticks over an open fire and Dampers are cooked in a pan or on a skillet.
Ingredients:
Self-raising flour and sugar in the proportion of about 5:1
Water and a little cooking oil to mix
Jam to serve
Mix the water/cooking oil mixture into the flour and sugar until it looks and feels "right" - this is not a precise art, you are aiming at a pliable but not sticky dough.
Leave to stand while you select a cooking stick if making twists : this needs to be green (live) wood so don't all take twigs off the same tree. The ideal size is about 15" and no thicker than a pencil, but again, it doesn't have to be exact; peel the bark off about 4" of one end of the stick.
Break off a piece of the dough and form into a long thin sausage shape and wind round the peeled end of the stick; cook over the embers of a wood fire until nicely browned on the outside and it sounds cooked when tapped (a judgement you will learn to make by trial and error.) You will not suffer if you eat your Twist cooked the more usual way - burnt on the outside and raw in the middle. This is quite normal. This is where the jam comes in - slip the Twist off the stick (if properly cooked it should slide off cleanly) and fill the hole left down the middle with jam. Believe me, these taste a lot better than you expect!
Any leftover dough can be made into flat cakes and cooked in a frying pan over a conventional cooking fire, when they become Dampers.

Note : none of these recipes mentions salt : most foods do not need aditional salt, and those with stock cubes certainly shouldn't, but if necessary, taste before serving and add seasonings if required; alternatively, salt could be added individually.