I like gorp. It used to be made of Post Sugar Crisp, M&Ms, and peanuts. It’s an energy snack. One has to be careful today with the various allergies children have.

Dried fruit "chips" (slices) are fun to make and easy to carry and eat. Banana, apricot, apple, peach, all make good chips. Banana and apple are the least messy.

Let the pan cool. Wash it with dishwashing soap and water. Never soak or let soapy water sit in the pan for any length of time. Rinse thoroughly, then dry with paper towels.

A lot of people disagree with using dishwashing soap and water to wash cast-iron pans. A chef told me that if a health inspector ever found a pan that had not been washed with soap and water in his kitchen, he would be in trouble. Plus the grease that is left behind will eventually become rancid. You do not want rancid oil in your foods and body.

NEVER put cast-iron cookware in the dishwasher.

Place the cleaned cast iron pan on the heated burner of your stove for a minute or two to make sure that it is bone dry. While the pan is still hot and on the stove burner, lightly oil inside of pan (I mean a light coat) with a neutral cooking oil.

Neutral Oils – Use vegetable oils (canola, sunflower, etc.), shortening (like Crisco shortening) or lard for seasoning your cast iron pans. I recently experimented and found out that food-grade coconut oil/butter also works great.

Leave pan on the hot burner of stove for a few minutes. Remove from hot burner and wipe excess oil off the pan with a paper towel.

Store your cast iron cookware with the lids off, especially in humid weather, because if covered, moisture can build up and cause rust. Be sure that you place a couple paper towels inside to make sure that any moisture that forms will be absorbed by the paper towel. Never put the utensil in the dishwasher or store it away without drying it thoroughly.

Good luck!

It’s simply different names for the same thing – not uncommon in the English language: lift=elevator, pop=soda, windshield=windscreen, etc. We may all speak basically the same language, the there are different "dialects" (for want of a better word) of it spoken. We use different terms for the same things, that doesn’t make one wrong and the other right – just different.

Grab your Dutch oven, a cast iron skillet, and a bag of charcoal. In camp, or at home in your own backyard, you’ll enjoy these recipes for outdoor cooking.

Qty. of charcoal = 2 x the Diameter of the Oven = 325º
Each additional charcoal adds 10-15º to Cooking Temperature
Bake = coals in rings 2:1
ratio top over bottom
Stew or Simmer = coals split evenly
Broil = coals in checkerboard
2:1 ratiotop over bottom
Fry or Boil = all coals on the bottom

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Baby Back Ribs

8 lbs of ribs
2 tsps. sage
2 12 oz. beers
1 to 2 tsps. cayenne
1 cup honey
1-1/2 tsps. dry mustard
2 tbsps. lemon juice
1 teaspoon salt

Marinade overnight. Barbeque the ribs on your Lodge grill turning and basting frequently, or broil in sauce at 325º F for one hour in your 12" Dutch oven.

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Barbecue Sauce

3 cups tomato sauce
4 tsp. celery seed
1 chopped onion
2 tsp. sugar
6 tbsp. vinegar
Garlic salt & hot sauce

Mix and simmer ingredients in a 2 qt. camp Dutch Oven for 20-30 minutes. Add garlic salt and hot sauce to taste. Add water to thin for marinade.

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Bean Hole Beans

2 lbs. Maine State (great northern white) beans
2 cups State of Maine maple syrup
2 medium Vidalia (sweet yellow) onions
1 cup molasses
2 lbs. lean salt pork
1 tbsp. dry mustard
2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. pepper

Soak 2 lbs State of Maine Great Northern beans overnight completly covered in water…. Remember to use this water later. Prepare bean hole (bean hole instructions are in Scoutmaster handbook).

Quarter onions and place in 8 or 10 qt. deep Lodge camp Dutch oven. Quarter salt pork and add 1 section. Add approximately 1/4 of beans, 2 more pieces of salt pork, and then add another 1/4 of beans. Add molasses, brown sugar, mustard, salt and pepper and the remainder of beans. Place last piece of salt pork on top, then add the bean water until everything is covered. Cook 6 hours in bean hole. DO NOT USE ARTIFICIAL MAPLE SYRUP.

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Biscuits

4 cups flour
1 tsp. salt
2 tbsp. baking powder
1/2 cup shortening
1-1/2 cup milk or water

Combine dry ingredients. Work in shortening and add milk gradually. Knead and pinch off desired amount and place in greased 12" or 14" camp Dutch oven and bake 15-20 minutes at 325º F.

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Breakfast for Eight

2 lbs. sausage
8 eggs
2 lbs. grated potatoes
2 cups grated cheese
1 diced onion
1/4 cup milk or water

Brown sausage and onion in a 12" or 14" camp Dutch oven. Remove and brown potatoes in sausage grease. Add sausage, egg, and water mixture and bake for 20 minutes until eggs are done. Add cheese and bake until melted.

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Catfish Fry

1 egg
1-1/2 tsp. salt
1-1/2 cups of milk
1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper
2 cups of cornmeal
1/4 tsp. black pepper

Mix egg and milk well in bowl. Shake dry ingredients into paper bag. Dip catfish filets in milk mixture then add to bag and shake well. Fry in hot grease until golden brown.

For just the right utensil click here: 5 qt. Deep Fry Skillet.

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Chicken and Dumplin’s

2 cups flour
3 tbsp. baking powder
1 cup whole milk
2 tsp. lard or Crisco
1 egg beaten
1 tsp. salt
1 chicken

In a 7 or 9 qt. Dutch oven boil a quartered chicken until the bones can be removed easily. Mix up dumplin’ dough ingredients and spoon into boiling chicken pot liquor. Cover pot and shift to cooler eye. Let cool 20 min. and serve.

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Cornbread

2 cups self-rising cornmeal
1 egg
2 cups buttermilk
1/4 cup shortening

Melt shortening in 10" camp Dutch oven or combo cooker and add melted shortening to other mixed ingredients and pour back into oven. Bake for about 15 minutes, or until golden brown.

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Country Ham
Fry in a cast iron skillet with water, a little oil, or utilizing it’s own fat, turning often. What we like to do is fry up center slices in a half and half mixture of water and 7Up in a Lodge 12" skillet, and leaving the drippings for red eye gravy.

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Fried Green Tomatoes

4 green tomatoes, sliced
Salt, pepper, or cayenne
1 cup white or yellow cornmeal
1 cup flour

Salt and pepper 1/4" tomato slices. Coat both sides of your tomato in flour/cornmeal mixture and saute over medium heat in a cast iron skillet until brown.

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Hushpuppies

1 cup self-rising flour
1 egg beaten
1 cup white or yellow cornmeal
1/2 cup chopped green onion
1 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt (optional)

Combine dry ingredients. Add egg, onions, and 1/2 cup buttermilk to flour/cornmeal mixture. Gradually add remainig buttermilk until batter is well mixed, but not runny. Drop spoonfuls of batter into a Lodge fry kettle and fry until golden brown. Drain on paper towels.

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Meat Loaf

4 lbs. of ground beef
3 eggs
2 cups bread crumbs
1 cup of ketchup
1 large onion
1 cup milk
2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper

Mix beef, 1/2 cup of ketchup, and the remaining ingredients thoroughly. Spread into lighly greased Lodge 10" or 12" camp Dutch oven.

Stew at 350º for 60 minutes and top with remaining ketchup (and brown sugar, if desired) and bake for 15 minutes.

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Pineapple Upside Down Cake

1 yellow cake mix
1 cup brown sugar
3 eggs
1-1/2 cups liquid (water and pineapple juice)
1 20 oz. can of pineapple slices
8 maraschino cherries
1/2 cup margarine

Melt butter in a 7 qt. or 12" Lodge Dutch oven. Add sugar, then pineapple, placing a cherry in the center of each pineapple slice. Prepare cake mix as directed and pour over pineaple. Bake at 350º for 25 minutes. Let oven cool with top off. To remove cake cut around sides and insert 2 or 3 paper plates covered with aluminum foil and flip.

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Red Eye Gravy
Add water (or black coffee) to fried ham drippings in a hot pan. Let sizzle and stir. Serve with country cured fried ham slices, biscuits, and honey.

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Sausage Gravy

Ham, sausage, or bacon grease
Salt and pepper
3 tbsp. flour
Water
Milk

Add flour to the grease in hot skillet to brown. Thin the mixture with a little water and add milk, salt and pepper. Stir until thick. Add crumbled fried sausage for a real treat. Serve over Dutch oven biscuits.

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Southern Fried Chicken

1 chicken
1 cup flour
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
2 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. paprika
1 tsp. black pepper
1 tsp salt

Prepare one frying chicken. Prepare flour mixture by mixing dry ingredients. Prepare milk and egg mixture, and add 1 tablespoon of flour to the mixture. Dip chicken in egg mixture, then in flour mixture, repeat, and shake well. Fry in hot grease, with chicken pieces half covered in Crisco, and well spaced, until brown, and turn. Cover with lid for 7-8 minutes on lower heat source. Drain on paper towels. For just the right utensil click here: 5 qt. Chicken Fryer.

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Wild Turkey

1 turkey 10-12 lbs.
4 slices bacon
1 lb. pork sausage
1 medium onion
6 cups soft bread crumbs
2 tbs. poultry spices

Sprinkle turkey with game seasoning or poultry spice. Fry diced onion and crumbled sausage in a 12" or 14" deep camp Dutch oven. Combine with bread crumbs and mix. Stuff turkey cavity loosely and lace closed. Bake for 3-1/2 hours, breast side up with bacon strips covering breast.

some stoves can be converted, it is necessary to change the orifice at each burner.

Chris Moran

A tent – with the characteristics suggested
A sleeping bag… and a sleeping pad (for extra cushioning)
A lantern
A jug
A multi tool
A fire source