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What Exactly is a Hobo Pie?

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What Exactly is a Hobo Pie?       In my previous post, I talked about cooking hobo pies, but I never mentioned what they were. Hobo pies are on e of my favorite childhood dishes, but not everyone knows what they are. My version of hobo pies are a meal of hamburger and vegetables that are cooked in aluminum foil over a fire. Upon research, there are many variations of this dish.      The National Park Service describes m any ways to make hobo pies and different names for them. Their version is like a campfire sandwich. There are both savory and dessert versions of this interpretation of a hobo pie. Other sources also make sandwich versions of the dish, and they call for an iron to hold over the fire to warm the sandwich the National Park Service compares this tool to a panini press (visually). Camping Iron Example      For sandwich filling options visit https://www.nps.gov/articles/hobopies.htm . Other sources provide descriptions like the one I usually ma
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Cooking at a Summer Camp

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Cooking at a Summer Camp Getting Ready for a Cookout        Today, I am reflecting on one of the aspects of my job as a camp counselor. While going camping and going to camp are two completely different things, both are important to me. When camping, I am usually too lazy to cook real meals. At camp, cooking is not my job—except on Wednesday nights. Those are when we have our weekly and rather infamous cookouts. Every week, we are responsible for building a fire and cooking hobo pies in it. Sometimes we have to cook for over twenty campers and counselors; other times, our campfire makes up seven.      At work, I have obnoxiously named myself “The Queen of Fire” because of my success at this one part of the job. This meal can be a challenge some weeks, and without specific actions, it becomes painstaking chore. At the camp where I work, everyone meets as the last event for the day before returning to their cabins to get ready for bed. Before we can meet on Wednesday nights,
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S’more on S’mores

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S’more on S’mores The first recipe for s’mores was published in 1927. Now, we are going to cover trends that may have influenced the creation of this delicious dessert. Many similar desserts surfaced around the time of s’mores. Roasting Marshmallows Before adding the extra ingredients, it is important if the main flavor is going to be good. In the late 1890s, “marshmallow roasts” became the newest trend. This trend seemed to cover mainly resorts around beaches in the Northeastern United States. Mallomars Mallomars, first sold in New Jersey in 1913, are a type of cookie that consists of a graham cracker, topped with a marshmallow and covered in chocolate. These cookies are regional and sold almost entirely in the Northeastern United States. Moon Pies Moon Pies originated in 1917 in Tennessee, and are similar to both Mallomars and s’mores. The three common ingredients are marshmallows, graham crackers and chocolate. Like s’mores, Moon Pies are marshmallow s
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History of S'mores

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The History of S’mores This week we are going to look at a childhood favorite, s’mores. I am going to assume that we all know what a s’more is, what they are typically made of, and how they are made. Today we are going to learn more about the history of my favorite dessert. The dessert, is not incredibly old; the first publication of s’mores—originally “Some Mores”—was in 1927 in the book, Tramping and Trailing with the Girl Scouts . The ingredients, however, have a greater history. Graham Crackers Graham crackers were the result of Sylvester Graham’s beliefs on food and its connections to people’s actions. Graham was a Presbyterian minister who lived and worked during the first half of the 19th century. To greatly condense his story, he thought that meats, spices and alcohol were bad because they might encourage a more stimulating and “spicy” lifestyle, while fruits, vegetables and water were less likely to cause such temptations. In 1829, he created graham cracker, whic
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Fire

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Fire Of all the ways to prepare food outside, using a fire is my favorite. I work as a summer camp counselor, and I have some of the best time records at work for our weekly cookouts, where we cook over a campfire. It may not be the easiest or the most accurate method of cooking (it does get easier with practice), but it is the most fun. To efficiently build good campfires and cook over them, teamwork is the secret to success. How to build an effective fire. The word “build” is used to describe creating a fire for a reason. Often the structured methods of building fires are named after physical structures: teepee, log cabin, etc. Think of building this structure from the inside with tinder and kindling to the outside with larger logs. In order for fire to burn, it needs oxygen. Allow space for the fire to “breathe” and grow. Begin building the fire with kindling. Use small twigs, pinecones, pine straw, or any small, easily consumed fuel source. This is extremely im
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Camping Stoves

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Camping Stoves           I personally have little experience with camping stoves, and though I own one, I have never actually used it. This is due to a small mistake that was made when purchasing fuel for it. I bought the stove for a camping trip through the Southwestern United States, and I had never attempted to use it until the group I was traveling with and I arrived at our first campsite. This was my first mistake. Before using any new equipment, learn how it works. Test it. Play with it. Research it. Before heading to our first campsite, we stopped at a Walmart to purchase our food, fuel, and other last minute supplies. Some of us decided to save money and purchase two canisters of propane that were sold together for the two stoves that were brought on the trip. The canister and my stove were not compatible, so only one was used for the trip’s duration. Every product available caters to a different consumer. Some camping stoves are large and cater to large groups or famili
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Introduction

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Welcome to The Camping Chef. I am Sara, a lifelong camper who loves to cook. In this blog, I share tips on using cooking tools and preparing meals while camping. I also cover classic camp foods, their history, and how to adapt them for different cooking environments. While many methods exist to perform certain tasks such as fire building, I try to explain what they are, why they work, and how to successfully utilize elements of those practices. I hope to share an understanding that there is no single way that things should be done. Every situation is different, and with simple adaptations and variations, any desired goal can be  achieved in many different environments.
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