Easy Camping Recipes

Camp 'N Fish

Easy camping recipes are highly sought after. Camping,
for outdoor sports enthusiasts, certainly can be an end
to itself. But more often than not camping is a way of
enjoying other outdoor pursuits. Chief among these is
fishing. You camp because it’s the only way to spend time
at a particular lake or stream. Or because it’s an economical way of fishing away from home. Or just because you enjoy
doing both. Whatever the reason, camping and fishing go
together like bacon and eggs. And while camping and
fishing, you need a way to cook your catch.

Crawling out of the backpacking tent, I grabbed a flyrod that was leaning against a convenient tree, and walked a few steps down to the stream. Flicking the small nymph into pocket water I soon had a half-dozen small trout in my creel. More than enough for breakfast, which I made by breading the trout in some cornmeal and frying them in bacon grease. As easy camping recipes go, this along with the bacon, itself, a couple of eggs, and a pile of hash-browns, was a simple but substantial meal.

We were fishing a series of high mountain streams, that trip. What we’d done was hike in and set up a base camp. Each day we’d then hike to a different stream, fish it hard, and return to camp in the evening. We’d intentionally put up the base camp near what we knew to be one of the better producing streams. Of course, we needed a bunch of easy camping recipes to cook the trout we pulled out of the streams

Camping and hiking are a lot of fun all by themselves. But, more often than not, they’re actually a means to a different end. Fishing, while camping, seems to be the most popular of those other ends; so much so that the phrase “camp & fish” has become part of the outdoor lexicon, as in, “we’re gonna do a camp & fish down on Beaver Creek.”

The open question is, what do you do with your catch? The answer is an unqualified, “it depends.”

Sometimes the whole point of the camping trip is to amass a mess of fish. Perhaps you’re camped on a beach somewhere, fishing the high surf, in order to stock your freezer for the year? Or you’re camping near a crappie lake, trying to fill a freezer or two with filets. Or maybe you just promised a friend or relative that you’d bring them back a few fish from your camping trip.

If that’s the object of your camping and fishing expedition, then it behooves you to learn about fish preparation and field care, so that you’ll bring back the highest quality fish.

On the other hand, many people camp and fish just because they enjoy that combination of outdoor adventures. Just enough fish are kept to supplement the larder. Easy camping recipes are a must, as was the case with the trout breakfast I prepared. We did a lot of fishing on that trip. There were four of us, fishing for five backcountry days. But we didn’t keep more than a dozen trout the whole time. The rest were released.

In cases like that, what to do with the catch depends on what it is. Frying a trout for breakfast is one thing. Cooking a striped bass in the embers of a driftwood fire is something else again. Sometimes easy camping recipes and the cooking techniques will be the same, no matter what the catch. Sometimes they are unique to the species caught and the place you’ve caught them. How you cook a fish on a backpacking trek can be far different than how you’d cook the same fish in a motorhome.

Therefore, here is a mixed-bag of easy camping recipes that you might find useful on your own camping and fishing expeditions.

Before going into the easy camping recipes, however, a note about cookware. Like much in the outdoors, all easy camping recipes start with the proper gear. Obviously, what you have available depends on the nature of how you camp. If you’re car or boat camping, there are virtually no limitations. In that case, at least one cast iron pan should be included. Nothing works over an open fire as well as cast iron. If you’re backpacking, on the other hand, weight is a consideration. Most hikers opt for aluminum, for that reason. But the fact is, if you chop the flea markets and antique malls, you often can find pressed steel pans that are almost as light, but which work better. I would recommend going that route for these easy camping recipes.

The concept of community gear carries into camp cooking as well. Sure, you can make do with individual six-inch skillets. But a ten- or 12-inch skillet really makes a lot of sense. What happens is that others in the party pick up the weight difference because one person is carrying the large frypan. Similarly, it makes little sense to carry a grill rack, even a small one, for only one or two people. But if there’s a large group, somebody can pack one in.

You also want to pay attention to special needs for some of the easy camping recipes. For instance, if you think you might try planked fish, plan on carrying in both the necessary planks and a handful of small nails. Otherwise you won’t be able to rig for that kind of cookery.

Grilled Weakfish

3 ½-4 lb weakfish
Lemon slices
Onion slices
Salt & pepper
Melted butter
Fresh lemon juice

Scale and clean a whole weakfish (sea trout). Remove the fins. Optionally, cut off the head---although a whole fish makes a nicer presentation. Dry the fish with paper towels.

Put lemon and onion slices in the body cavity. Place the fish on a greased grill over a moderately hot fire. Cover with a sheet of tented aluminum foil and broil the fish 15-20 minutes. Carefully turn the fish and broil it about the same length of time on the other side.

Thickness of the fish and heat of the coals will determine how long to cook the fish. When fish flakes at it’s thickest point, it is done.

Remove fish from grill, strip off the blackened skin, and sprinkle with salt and pepper. A little melted butter laced with lemon juice perks up the flavor.

Serve immediately.

Crucified Trout

1 gutted & gilled trout (about a pound) per person
¼ cup melted butter
Dry mustard
Brown sugar
Paprika

Split the trout but not through the skin. Nail each fish around the edges to a hardwood plank (cedar, myrtle, and alder work best). Brush with melted butter and dust lightly with mustard, a bit more heavily with brown sugar, and a sprinkle of paprika.

Prop the planks at an angle in front of a fire and cook by reflected heat. Depending on size of fish, cooking takes 10 to 20 minutes.

After cooking, bones can be completely lifted with a fork, and discarded, and the fish eaten directly off the plank.

Barbecued Panfish

Sunfish, crappie, perch and white bass all lend themselves to this simple preparation.

Prep the fish (gut, gill, and scale as necessary). Marinate whole fish in barbecue sauce for ½ hour. Wrap fish in foil and broil over coals for another half hour.

Barbecue sauce: Beat one egg with one cup cooking oil. Whisk in a half cup vinegar, 1 ½ tablespoons salt, 1 tablespoon poultry seasoning, 1 teaspoon pepper and a pinch of garlic powder.

Tangy Rolled Flounder

2 lbs flounder filets
3 cups orange tomato sauce

sauce:

¼ cup butter
1 cup chopped onion
4 large tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped
1 cup orange juice
2 tbls orange juice concentrate
2 tsp salt
1 tbls brown sugar

Melt butter in a medium saucepan. Add the onion and sauté until tender. Add tomatoes, simmer 10 minutes. Add orange juice, orange juice concentrate, salt and sugar. Simmer five minutes more.

Roll flounder filets and place in a shallow baking dish. Pour orange tomato sauce over rolls. Bake in 350F oven for 25 minutes until fish flakes easily. Alternatively, cover pan tightly with foil and “bake” over hot coals.

For more thoughts on Camp & Fish trips, and for additional easy camping recipes for your catch, visit our friends at Cheftalk.