Tips’n’Tricks

Basecamp

Useful cooking tips and delicious recipes for the outdoor kitchen.

It doesn’t always has to be freeze-dried trekking meals. With some preparation you can cook delicious fresh outdoor meals and coffee with minimalist cooking equipment.

Alpine Cappuccino

The cappuccino for the north face – super easy, super tasty and good for stamina.

Source: YouTube, Paul Mcsorley

Pizza in a flash

The Italian way: How to bake a crispy pizza quick and easy.

Pizza Prosciutto: Parma ham and fried red bell pepper on pesto

Pizza Salmone: Rocket and salmon with dill on cream cheese

Pizza Hawaii: Parma ham with pineapple and parmesan cheese on tomato sauce

Ingredients for 6 pizzas:

Dough:
» 300 g wheat flour
» 2 teaspoons baking soda
» 1 teaspoon salt
» 2 tablespoon olive oil
Coverage:
» 100 g parma ham
» 4 tablespoons pesto
» 40 g red bell pepper

Preparation:

Fill the ingredients for the dough with 150 ml of water into a plastic bag and knead well. Cut dough into pices from the size of a golf ball and flatten it with the heel of your hand on a flat stone. The cake should be 2-3 mm thin. Fry with some oil at the lowest heat for 4 minutes in a pan/pot, lid closed. Then turn the cake and fry for another 3 minutes. Garnish at the end according to your taste.

Efficient use of stove, pot and food

There are several tips that will make saving a lot of fuel. This way you have to carry less weight, protect the environment, and save money:

» Attention to all the lightweight freaks: Gas consumption and cooking time of titanium pots is about twice as high as of hard anodised aluminium pots, because titanium is a very poor conductor of heat. This means that you have to transport twice the amount of gas weight (with nowadays almost identical weight of titanium and coated aluminium pots).

» Due to their very poor thermal conductivity, titanium cups have the advantage that they insulate well and you don’t burn your fingers so quickly with hot drinks.

» Pots with integrated heat exchanger are more efficient and save about 1/3 of the cooking time and fuel.

» Gas is the most efficient fuel and also doesn’t need to be preheated.

» Cooking systems are generally more effective coordinated as a single component (size of the pot compared to burner).

» Water boils faster when it is cooked with pot lid.

» Operate the burner as wind sheltered as possible saves a lot of fuel.

» Use food that requires a shorter cooking time (couscous, polenta, thin noodles).

» Don’t cook the food completely. Let the food finish cooking in the after-heat, which can be done in a pot or insulation bag.

» Warm the Gas cartridge before use with your body.

» Crush the icce and snow before you start to melt it. The bigger the surface, the faster it melts.

» Cut food pieces into small cubes shortens the cooking time.

» Keep the leftovers of hot water in vacuum bottles for the next cooking or heat your sleeping bag.