The Guide Gets a Teaching

Some time back, one of my friends and I had a conversation about taking his family up in the North Maine Woods on a fishing/camping trip. We agreed to look at the calendar and set a date. So, when he sent me a text asking if the weekend of July 28^th was ok, I gave him the thumbs up.

Now a little bit of information might help. Many years back, he spent some time in a particular area of the NMW and wanted to go back there. We identified that area as Upper McNally Pond and he also wanted to fish Horseshoe Pond. He told me that he had fond memories of him and his buddies going there. I explained to him that we could camp at Upper McNally and they could fish that as well.  Horseshoe Pond was also not far away. He told me that he was going to bring his son, his daughter and her boyfriend, and a friend of his son.

The planning was very quick, as both he and his son were Eagle Scouts and they wanted to take care of all the food. That’s where this blog gets very interesting. They were bringing their Dutch ovens.  Now, I had heard a lot about Dutch oven cooking, but had never done any, so I was very interested in learning all that I could. As they say, food always tastes better in the outdoors and especially when you use cast iron!

We agreed to meet in Ashland at an appointed time and he would follow me in. We made our way to the six mile gate, got checked in and drove onto the Reality Road to reach our destination. Once we made it to Upper McNally campsite, we unpacked and out came the two Dutch ovens and all of the accessories.  After taking them down to the Musquacook Stream to do some trout fishing, we returned and they went to work cooking the evening meal. The menu was to be chili cooked in one Dutch oven and apple cobbler in the other. I watched intently as they filled one of the ovens with the chili ingredients and lined the other with aluminum foil in preparation for the cobbler. Once the foil was in, they added the fruit, dry yellow cake mix and some pads of butter on the top. They pulled out the charcoal and the chimney starter, poured the charcoal in the starter and lit it. Once that was ready, they put some of the coals on the ground, placed the chili oven on top and added some coals to the lid. They did the same with the cobbler oven. I was taking this all in, snapping photos and taking video so I could study it later. I learned that there was a method to adding coals. If you are baking, you add more coals to the top and less at the bottom and vice versa for the chili. The rule of thumb is this, you take the size of the oven, multiply by 2 and that is the amount of coals you use. In this case for the chili, a 12 inch Dutch oven uses 24 coals, 16 on the bottom and 8 on the top.

I continued to watch as they let the coals and oven do their magic, only opening it a couple of times so as not to lose the heat. The ovens worked to perfection and in no time, the chili was done, but they were not. They pulled out two tubes of biscuits, opened the oven up and laid those biscuits on top of the chili and put the lid back down. After a short time, they checked both ovens, announced they were done and then pulled the lids off. WOW, they both looked mouthwatering! I have had a lot of meals in the woods, but this was amazing. We polished off both the chili and apple cobbler in no time.

The next day, we ventured into Horseshoe Pond and put our boats in. My friend was in the front of my canoe and I watched as he looked at the pond, its surroundings, and the big fire tower on the top of the mountain. He told me of some of his memories and that not much had changed since the last time he was there. As I was paddling him around, we heard a yelp and looking over, saw his son fighting a fish he had hooked. When he finally got it in the boat, it was a beauty and he was all smiles.

We spent much of the morning on the pond and then decided it was time to pack up and head home. My mind was still processing the Dutch oven dinner we had the night before, and I knew I had to have one for myself. We made our way back to camp, took down our tents, packed our gear and headed out. The trip had been very enjoyable for all.

I got home and told TC about our adventure and the Dutch oven they had cooked the meal in. TC knows me very well in that if I see something that I would like to have, I research it and then go buy it. So, Sunday morning came around and I headed off to Walmart. I immediately went to the Dutch oven isle and looked over the ones they had. After a little thought, I decided to do some more research before I pulled the trigger. I was sitting at home that afternoon when I got a text from my friend asking if I was home. I responded by saying yes, what’s up? He said that he had found something that belonged to me and just so happened to be in town and wanted to drop it off. A little while later, he drove in the dooryard with his daughter. He opened up the back door of his truck and pulled out a brand-new Dutch oven. It was the same one I had looked at that morning at Walmart. Then, he pulled out a bag of charcoal, cake mix, aluminum foil and canned blueberries. He said he knew that I would try to master Dutch oven cooking, so he wanted to buy me those items as a thank you for the trip. I was without words. I thanked both him and his daughter and promised to keep him up to date on my cooking skills.

Next Saturday came and TC and I decided to give it a try. We pulled out the oven, and TC and I filled it with a homemade chicken and barley soup, and then I set the driveway up with the needed items. About an hour later, we sat down to one of the best soups we had ever eaten. I snapped a few photos and sent them off to him for his approval. My next adventure is to do a cobbler and a stew. Thanks to Tim, Bryce and Caitlyn, I was now fully involved in Dutch oven cooking and as they said, I would not stop until I had it mastered. It just might take me some time, but think about the food I can make trying!