Pro Staff Article - Setting Up Your Camp To Cook Effectively.

Setting up your camp to cook effectively.

Setting up your camp to cook effectively.

I've been doing camp cook duties for quite awhile now. I've found that the key to successful cooking is your overall setup of your camp. I'm not talking about what all you need to bring, but how you setup your cook area. First you need to figure out how many people you are planning to cook for. I can carry up to three camp stoves with me (and am currently looking to add a fourth) depending on how many people I plan to cook for. I always try to setup the stoves so I'm boxed in. When I say "boxed in" I mean want to be somewhat surrounded by the cookers, so I'm able to multitask easier amongst different grills. Personally I like to put a small worktable inbetween each stove (or everyother stove if I'm using 3+). Gives me a place to prep food near the cook area without having to try and reach around people to get to the cookstation (have also found it works great for people to work across from you and keep your cook area free). I personally love the El Grande table made by Travel Chair for this. I have a couple I setup (and they store down into small packs) and are a neccessity for my camps. One thing to remember is to setup your cooking area in a place that allows traffic flow for your camp that allows for shade (when needed). Too many people put the cook area right on top of their tents, RVs, etc and find they are miserable from the excess heat from the stoves, people crowding around getting food, or misc smoke coming in. Plus a couple strategically places garbage cans will help with mess and clutter (and one next to the main grill helps with disposing of misc supplies and test batches). After you're all setup to cook, I've always believed the preparation is the key. Precut any vegetables, meats, etc. Trying to do this while you're in the heat of cooking (excuse the pun) can lead to burning other foods. Usually you'll find people to help with the setup duties on the foods, never turn them away. You'll find there is always something for them to help with. Though you may find volunteers, the more prepared before you fire up the grills the better. For example, I'll start up the small fryers on my grill to make beer battered onion rings. I'll have the beer batter premade and then start cutting up the onions while I'm waiting for the oil to reach temperature. This way I'm not wasting too much time, and by time my oil hits it's temp, I'm ready to cook. Back to prep work, figure out what you want to cook, and the timeframe each will take. If you're setting up to cook breakfast, of course you're firing coffee up (I have multiple pots so I can pull one fresh brewed pot off and toss the next one on). That's a no brainer, and can be done constantly while you're cooking the breakfast. BUT, if you're fixing multiple entrees you'll need to cook the slowest food first and cook the fastest cooking food last. Now, you may say "Well DUH!?!?!". You'd be surprised how many people start cooking eggs first, then put fresh potatoes onto the griddle and wonder why they have burnt eggs and raw hashbrowns. A "cheat" you can use is precooking some of the slower foods like bacon, sausage, etc just warming them up that morning. I prefer to cook most of the foods fresh, but with very big events you have to cheat (some of the canned bulk Sausage Gravy is pretty good you can buy at the bulk stores, though I prefer to make my homemade version for breakfast). We just recently had our big "Cowtilla" fishing event a couple weeks ago. I had two 2-burner griddles going at once to feed the crew. I started by cooking hashbrowns on both griddles. Then heaped them all on one griddle once they were done and started cooking up the eggs on the freshly opened griddle (I had been cooking the sausages as well on the griddle). All the foods finished up at the same time (with a few 27 cup percolators being brewed at the time) and no one was left standing and waiting. Every meal works the same. People are usually happier if they can all eat about the same time (especially after a long day of fishing, hunting, or any other outdoor sport). I'd like to finish up by something everyone should do (yet I'm guilty of not doing it myself). CLEANUP! Try to get as much of the little stuff cleaned up ASAP. I've found it's easier to get alot cleaned up immediately after I'm done with the cooking (or throwing wastes away AS I'm cooking) then trying to cleanup the next meal (or the next morning). An organized cook station usually flows the best. I just gave what works for me, but isn't what works for EVERYONE. So try setting up your own camp and adjust as you need. You'll find what works best for you. I know I did. Jerry with his two camp stove setup and his El Grande table ready to cook breakfast.