Recipes from the Camp
Some outdoorsmen live to hunt and others hunt to live. Regardless of how you fit in, you might agree that meals around the hunting camp are quite an affair.
Everyone has their favorite recipe for the hunting camp. It may be an easy meal that can be prepared quickly after a long day in the woods or even something a bit fancier. It may involve wild game or it may not.
Here's a start to a few of our favorite camp dishes and wild game recipes. If you have one to submit please let us hear from you. Email us at HornSwamp@yahoo.com and we'll post your recipe and give you the full credit.
_____________________________________________________________
This is an great way to enjoy that wild bird! It is one of our favorites. It takes a little bit of time to prepare but cooks very quickly.
Ingredients:
1/2 or one full turkey breast
One pound of bacon for each 1/2 breast of meat
Two bottles Italian Dressing
ToothpicksInstructions:
Cut the breast meat into 2" by 2" cubes. Wrap the cubes in bacon and pierce with a toothpick. Pour the Italian Dressing over the meat, fully covering it. Refrigerate for two to three days. Grill on low heat. Be careful as the bacon will flare up easily. Don't overcook! It doesn't take much to cook the meat. (Turkey bacon is great to use.)
At the Horn Swamp we love a pot of chili when the weather turns cold. This is a simple recipe that can be put together with few complications. We cook our chili in a cast iron dutch oven, usually on a propane burner.
Ingredients:
4 pounds of hamburger or ground venison
Three 32 oz. cans of peeled tomatoes
One 16 oz. can of tomato paste
Three cans of kidney beans or beans of your choice
Chili Powder
Garlic Powder
Sour cream
Grated cheese
CrackersInstructions:
Brown the ground meat and drain the grease. Mash the peeled tomatoes and add them to the pot. Add the tomato paste and beans. Add 4 tablespoons of chili powder and one tablespoon of garlic powder. Simmer for 45 minutes on low heat. Taste, and add chili powder to your liking. Serve with a spoonful of sour cream and grated cheese on top. We often cook fresh mushrooms in our chili as well.It really can't get any easier than this. Spend a few moments on this before you head out in the morning, add water once during the day, and by nightfall your delicious meal is almost ready to eat. A venison hindquarter can be tough but it is so tender cooked this way it you will not need a knife!
Ingredients:
One hindquarter of venison
Worchester sauce or soy sauce
Water
Crock pot
Carrots, potatoes, onions, mushroomsInstructions:
This is a 12-hour operation. Place the hindquarter in the crock pot and fill with 12 oz. or more of Worchester or soy sauce. Set the crock pot on high and leave it for 4 to 5 hours. After 5 or so hours add water if needed, then turn down on low. Five hours or so later, add the potatoes, carrots, and onions and set the pot on high again for two hours. After two hours the vegetables are ready and so is your meal. The venison roast will literally pull apart with your fork and will be juicy and tasty.
Typically I start the cooking at about 7AM, reduce the heat of the cooker at noon, then add my vegetables around 5PM and turn up the heat again. By 7PM dinner is served.Contributed by Randy Perkins
This recipe first came to me with an article on squirrel hunting in one of the major outdoors magazines. We have found it to be delicious in all the variations we have tested. Nearly any lean, red meat can be used as well as a multitude of vegetables; you can add or substitute vegetables almost at whim. Some of the interesting possibilities we have enjoyed include using 'stewed tomatoes' instead of plain; adding baby lima beans (which I normally dislike); sometimes we 'thicken' the stew---sometimes we don't; if you like dumplings this stew is a near-perfect vehicle. I also like to use Idaho potatoes quartered lengthwise and/or scrubbed with the peel left on. We often make a large pot full and freeze the left overs, we then take it camping where it serves double-duty as ice until used.
It's especially tasty with homemade baking powder biscuits or cornbread muffins although authentic sourdough bread or biscuits is nearly divine.
Of course, you'll have to adjust proportions to suit your taste and needs.
(You can drain the canned vegetables or not depending on how much liquid you want to wind up with as well as which flavors you want to dominate.)
1-2 lb. diced meat.
Chicken broth to cover meat in stewpot (you can use bouillon instead).
Cook meat in broth slowly until tender--remove meat.
Add carrot & potatoes to broth, simmer until 3/4 done.
Add 1 can condensed tomato soup, canned tomatoes, sliced onions and cook until everything is tender.
Replace the meat, add seasoning (and margarine) to taste, bring to boil while stirring, simmer 10 min. (If your stewpot has a thin bottom be careful not to scorch with high heat) Thicken if desired.