On the Field Trip: Great River Road we tried to gather some classic “southern” foods and prepare them in camp. Here are the recipes and results. While these were all very good, the recipes serving suggestions should simply serve as a starting point for your own experimentation. After all, trying new things is what makes hitting the road so much fun and so memorable.
- Deli-style bologna sliced thick, at least ¼ inch
- 2 Tbsp. cooking oil Sliced white loaf bread (i.e. Wonder Bread)
- 1 large ripe red tomato, sliced
- softened butter or margarine
- pre-sliced American cheese (i.e. Velveta) - optional
- yellow mustard - optional
- mayonnaise – optional
- Heat oil in skillet.
- Cut 3-4 ½-inch slits in edges of bologna to prevent curling and shrinking.
- Fry bologna slices in oil until nicely browned on each side.
- Generously butter one side of two slices of bread.
- Place fried bologna on bread and add cheese, mustard, and/or may to taste.
- Enjoy.
- Locally sourced Boudin sausages – 1-3 links per person
- 2 Tbsp. cooking oil
- 1-2 large onions
- 2-3 sweet bell peppers (green, red, yellow, etc.)
- 1 pound fresh, sliced mushrooms
- salt
- pepper
- hot sauce
- white bread or tortilla wraps
- Heat oil in skillet over medium high heat.
- Cut boudin links into slices about ½” thick.
- Remove seeds and ribs from peppers; cut into slices lengthwise about ½-inch wide.
- Cut onion into medium-sized pieces and break apart.
- Add Boudin slices to hot oil. Sautee for about 30 seconds moving them around the whole time.
- Add onion and peppers. Stir fry for two minutes.
- Add mushrooms. Continue stir frying until sausage, onions and peppers are caramelizing and mushrooms are soft.
- Serve family style with white bread or tortilla wraps.
- Allow each diner to season with salt, pepper and hot sauce to taste.
- Fresh oysters (or clams or scallops or mussels)
- Lemon slices
- Hot sauce
- Butter
- Rinse live oysters to get the biggest chunks of muck off the shell, but don’t worry about scrubbing them.
- Place the oysters on the grate above hot coals or directly on glowing, but flameless coals. Make sure to put the “cup” side down. Nearly all oysters have one side of their shell that’s more deeply cupped than the other. Wear fire gloves for sure, but tongs are also a good idea.
- Melt some butter – A LOT.
- Slice lemons into wedges.
- Open hot sauce bottles.
- When oyster shells open, they are ready. Carefully remove from fire with gloves and tongs.
- Use oyster knife or pocket knife to spear the oyster, dip in butter and add lemon/hot sauce to taste.
- Catfish chunks or filets or alligator tail chunks (approximately ¾-inch cubes)
- 6 cups high temp cooking oil (peanut oil is best for deep frying)
- Batter Ingredients:
- ¾ cup cornstarch
- ¼ cup white flour
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- ½ tsp. salt
- ¼ tsp. fine ground black pepper
- 1 egg lightly beaten
- 1 cup (approx.) water or seltzer water
- 1-2 cup ice cubes
- Mix dry batter ingredients at home ahead of time and bring to campsite in large ziplock freezer bag.
- At the campsite add the liquid ingredients (except ice cubes) to bag.
- Stir just until blended.
- Judge the thickness of the batter. It’s better if it’s too thin rather than too thick as long as it will still adhere to the meat.
- Add ice cubes.
- Heat oil on fire or grill. Bring oil temp to 350-375 (max). Watch oil carefully – when surface starts to shimmer or oil barely begins to smoke it’s ready.
- Dip meat into batter to coat thoroughly. Remove fillets or chunks individually and let excess batter drip off before placing in oil.
- When you lower the meat into oil with tongs, pause for 6-8 seconds to set the batter as you put it into the hot oil.
- Allow to cook for 3-4 minutes until batter puffs and becomes golden brown.
- Remove and drain on paper towels. Serve with hot sauce, lemon wedges, and/or tartar or cocktail sauce.
- Let oil come back to full temp before frying next batch.
- Fresh shrimp (largest you can find/afford, but at least 26-30 extra large or bigger)
- 1 Lemon
- Hot sauce
- Butter
- Bamboo skewers
- Skewer oysters on skewers (up to six per skewer depending on size).
- Cook on fire grate until underside is pink/red, turn.
- Cook until underside is pink.
- Melt butter – A LOT.
- Squeeze in lemon juice and add hot sauce to taste. Stir well.
- Peel shrimp, dip in butter, and eat.