Norwegian Moose Bag & Hobo Foodcraft in the Rain!

B

bearthedog

Joined
May 17, 2006
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Over a few days/trips to the woods I had the opportunity to try some new cooking methods and some old ones. Fresh back from Scandinavia, I acquired a very nice moose skin leather possibles bag from Bergen, Norway and loaded it up with my possibles gear. It carries well on the belt and weighs 2 ounces empty, quite light for leather.





With the weather going from dry to rainy, and then some snow…I could no longer rely on dry sticks and twigs for kindling. Wet weather usually means splitting and shaving wood down from the inside to insure a fire.



Back to Basics
Lots of splitting happens this time of the year…the Swiss Army Camper knife has a nice saw and just cutting through about half way and smacking it on a stump would easily split the wood. I repeated this process until it was ready for fuzzing…



With a larger buck saw and fixed blade, I did the usual sawing and baton thing just to get tinder, kindling and some fuel. Some larger logs needed to be split with wedges and a maul too. These old time tested basics always come back to you, when it’s raining.




Once the prep was done, I hurried the platform, and lit the tinder, while hovering over the fire to protect it. For once the fire was good and going, it would take a monsoon to put it out.



Ingredients

A makeshift lean-to of logs helped keep the direct rain from the flames, allowing the food to cook more evenly.



The bottom of the frying pan made a good hot plate for tortillas…

Peruvian Beer





Coffee grounds and hanky


Potato sausage (with Cajun spice)

Cooked in coal, wrapped in foil…






Quick meal— Russian buckwheat and sausages










-RB
 
man you are the most lucky man I know.
I love buckwheat. A little extra butter and its great on its own. Add some honey on top a few nuts and its a great way to start the day.
 
sasha said:
man you are the most lucky man I know.
I love buckwheat. A little extra butter and its great on its own. Add some honey on top a few nuts and its a great way to start the day.
Click to expand...

Sasha I never thought of it that way as a breakfast meal.
cool, I will try first with butter. I usually put Cajun spice on it.

-RB
 
"Russian buckwheat" -- kasha!

My grandmother toasted it in a pan, cracked an egg to drip the eggwhite on it, stirred it around, poured in water and let it cook till the water was taken up.

Bring on the potroast and gravy!
 
Esav Benyamin said:
"Russian buckwheat" -- kasha!

My grandmother toasted it in a pan, cracked an egg to drip the eggwhite on it, stirred it around, poured in water and let it cook till the water was taken up.

Bring on the potroast and gravy!
Click to expand...

Damn....
Give us a recipe or two with it.

-RB
 
Buckwheat honey is available only in the morning so it can only be 50% buckwheat as bees don't take the afternoon off !! Even then many find it too strong a flavor. A related plant ,Japanese knotweed, produces a honey with lighter buckwheat flavor.
Most find 100 % buckwheat flour also too strong for pancakes .The commercial stuff is about 5-10 % the rest plain wheat flour. Bread also is nice with 10 % buckwheat .
Cook your breakfast buckwheat , add some honey and serve with fried eggs !
 
Esav Benyamin said:
"Russian buckwheat" -- kasha!

My grandmother toasted it in a pan, cracked an egg to drip the eggwhite on it, stirred it around, poured in water and let it cook till the water was taken up.

Bring on the potroast and gravy!
Click to expand...

fry onions first
then toast it in the onions and oil to stop it sticking and burning
then you can add an egg (I don't carry eggs camping)
Then pour the boiling water over the buckwheat
It comes to the boil immediately and speeds up the cooking
Lower the heat and cover and leave it

Cook a double portion

First portion for supper and mix with cooked lentils or what ever
(I cook red lentils in another pot as another very fast cook)

Second portion for breakfast mix with raisins and other dried fruit and cook with water to make a porridge gruel
A very fast hot breakfast and it is precooked
 
Esav That's how my mom cooks it, with egg but we put the all egg in not just the white. My GF can eat it for dinner alone with nothing else.
The instant one you can just put in hot water and be done with it.
As far as I know Kasha is different grain. we used to eat as kids with lots of sugar. haven't had it for a long time as you gain weight like there is no tomorrow.
Neeman. I like your idea with onion will have to try it.

Bear I didn't know you like food that much. Aren't you the guy who can eat bars three time a day and feel good about it. When did you start to eat good food??
next time you are back home we need to go backpacking for a day or two again. I would bring the bagels and the Russian hunter sausage and spicy sausage, The good stuff. with some proper black tea to wash it all down. Just like gentleman that we are.
 
Sasha, I can buy kasha in the supermarkets here. On the front of the box it says KASHA and below that, buckwheat groats. Of course, in New York City, we had Russians everywhere, not just Brooklyn. But in Brooklyn, they had real communities.

One day I was heading home from work and saw a sign on the street for a new restaurant. Russian Express! It looked like a McDonalds but the food was Russian. First meal I got there was borsht and kasha and tea. I ate too much!
 
According to WIKI The term Kasha can be buckwheat or any number of other grains .When I say buckwheat it's Buckwheat !

Brooklyn ? There were no Russians in my part of Brooklyn ! I don't know if Norway uses buckwheat. Another group in my neighborhood ,Italians , up in the alps make a polenta with half cornmeal and half buckwheat

It's called Polenta Taragna and as it's found in Bergamo then Herlock should be ale to tell us about it . I've made it but haven't found anyone that thought much about it .
 
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mete said:
According to WIKI The term Kasha can be buckwheat or any number of other grains .When I say buckwheat it's Buckwheat !

Brooklyn ? There were no Russians in my part of Brooklyn ! I don't know if Norway uses buckwheat. Another group in my neighborhood ,Italians , up in the alps make a polenta with half cornmeal and half buckwheat

It's called Polenta Taragna and as it's found in Bergamo then Herlock should be ale to tell us about it . I've made it but haven't found anyone that thought much about it .
Click to expand...

Most restaurants in Russia serve this. Ukraine too!

-RB
 
Hi! Always like your posts here, you are really doing some amazing food prep out there :):thumbup:! My simple sandwiches, trail mix and the occasional grilled sausages/trout pale in comparison :D. Love the bag!

About buckwheat, Mete is right :). It’s still a typical culture in the Provinces of Sondrio and Bergamo, sometimes the result of an “heroic” farming, growing cereals on the pre-Alps steeps slopes where little to non mechanization is possible and yields are minimum. Polenta Taragna is one typical dish from the Bergamo Valleys but we also have Pizzoccheri, in Valtellina, Sondrio Province, which are just as famous, traditional and tasty. For Pizzocheri we use the traditional Bitto cheese. We cook these at home, once in a while, during winter time but the best is to eat them in the mountains inns after a day spent on ski slopes or trails :). They are normally served as only dishes and the amount of calories intake is the right one for lumberjacks :D. We are not short of melted butter and cheeses on those, but they’re delicious.
 
I grow up eating Kasha but it was small white grain with sugar added. We also eat corn meal which we call mamaliga but its the sides that make it so good. Sour cream feta cheese deep fried fish and pork fat. which I stay away from lol.
when I talked to an Italian guy once he mentioned that it sounded like one of the dishes his mom makes, cant remember the name. He was good character we all got together and I made mamaliga for him and his Italian friends and some Russians. I believe they washed the food down with more then a dozen bottles of good Italian wine. I were the only sober guy as I don't drink lol. Breakfast lasted till after midnight .. I always say good food good company can be one of the best ways to enjoy life.
 
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