Domestic Civil Defence - No Food !

Annex K : Basic Recipes :

A lot of people just DO NOT COOK in these days of microwaves and TV dinners. Here are a few basics that can keep you alive and happy and can be cooked on anything from a standard cooker down to the ashes of a campfire. For anything else, Delia Smith's 'How to Boil an Egg' seems a good investment.

Think in daily and weekly menus, not just meals. Plan to use perishables up within a couple of days, or to cook them to preserve them for longer.

The purpose of these recipes is to show how to cook with a hob or hotplate foods that the average person expects to prepare in an oven. Bread is one obvious need, another is a cooked meat and a baked fish meal. These and other recipes will be added as time permits. Hot drinks recipes aren't given - the simplest (Oxo in a mug, Cuppasoup, tea, coffee, Horlicks, Ovaltine, Hot Chocolate) are well enough described on their packets.

An old Scout is familiar with potatoes in their jackets - wrapping them in foil keeps in the water and keeps out the ash. Fish and thin meat can be cooked in foil or clay, as can vegetables. The use of a steamer or a pressure-cooker can maximise heat use in cooking a whole meal on one hob.

How to make Porridge :

Yes, you can ruin porridge, porage or baritch, but not without a lot of effort. Here's my recipe for Porridge in a Pot :-

You will need :-
1 cupful (90 g / ) crushed oatmeal
1 cupful milk (skimmed, if you can't stand cream)
1 cupful water
1 teaspoonful sugar (I'm no purist !)
A pinch of salt (about 2 g)
1 2-litre pan with lid
1 spoon (preferably wooden)

Method :
Mix ingredients together in pan, stir thoroughly, bring to a boil, stirring regularly to prevent the mix sticking to the pan. Once at a bubbling boil, reduce heat to a simmer, cover the pan and cook for 10 minutes, stirring regularly to prevent the mix sticking to the pan. Some people cook porridge without the lid on, to make it easier to watch that it doesn't boil over. If the mix becomes too dry, add a little boiling water from the kettle and mix in well.
After 10 minutes turn the porridge out into two dessert bowl. Add a sprinkling of brown sugar (Demarara's best, Muscovado's lumpy) and pour milk just inside bowl round edges of porridge. Grab your spoon and eat up. A warm and heartening meal in any crisis.

Emergency Bread :

This is for bannocks that can be cooked in an oven, in a frying pan (skillet) or roasting tray or directly upon on a fairly hot hotplate.

Recipe (for ten 3-oz. (85g.) portions) :

1. Take 1 lb. (454g.) Self-Raising Flour, 1 teaspoon of Salt, 2 teaspoons of Sugar, ¹/₂ pint (0.57 litres) Milk and Water, mixing them together with a spoon to form a soft dough.
2. With floured hands shape the mixture into 10 equal sized balls, flatten them to 1 inch (2.5 cm.) thick, then leave them to stand on a well-floured metal tray for 5 - 10 minutes.
3. Make holes in the top of the bannocks, then place tray in a quick (hot) oven, turning the bannocks over frequently, for about 30 - 35 minutes.
   Or
   Cut the dough into triangles and cook on a hotplate or roasting tray on a hotplate over a red-hot fire. The hotplate should be hot enough to brown flour in two minutes. Flour the hotplate or roasting tray heavily, put the dough on to cook, turning it frequently to ensure even cooking. This will take about 30 minutes.

Some Points to Remember :

• Don't leave the bannocks unwatched or they will burn.
• Do allow extra flour to flour your hands and the tray.
• Cover the cooked food with dry clean paper-towel or a dry clean cloth until cool. Store in a breadbin in a cool dry place.

Hobo Stew :

Many variants of this - basic idea is meat braised in a basic stock plus herbs and seasoning, with vegetables then added. Best site found so far is at Snomapicnic.com. Here's the basic recipe for two people - go to the link for variations :-

1. Brown a piece of pork or lamb shoulder in your pot, pan or can. Beef stew meat works, too; something with a little fat to it, please.
2. Pour off any excess fat, and sautêSmall onion, chopped
Cloves garlic, minced, Carrot, in chunks, Sun-dried tomato halves
3. Add and simmer about an hour Can of chicken stock And enough water just to keep your meat covered as it cooks, or just water and a splash of wine.
4. Season with salt, pepper and a thumbnail-size piece of bay leaf or pepperwood leaf.
5. Add and simmer about twenty minutes more: Big potato, in chunks

The South Texas Girl Scouts have a campfire foil-wrapped version :-

4 potatoes, scrubbed and sliced
4 carrots, scrubbed and sliced
1 medium onion, chopped
1 lb ground (minced) beef
1 tbls margarine

For each serving, cut 2 large sheets of foil (about 17" long)
Lay one sheet on top of the other and spread a little margarine over the top sheet of foil
Divide ground beef into 4 servings
Flatten beef to 1/2" thick on buttered side of foil
Put 1 sliced potato, some chopped onion and a sliced carrot on top of each portion of meat
Put a small amount of margarine and a sprinkle of salt and pepper on each serving
Wrap each food bundle in double foil by bringing the 2 opposite ends up and folding over several times
Fold the open ends over several times to keep juices from leaking out
Put the bundles, folded side up on the coals, or on a grill
Cook for 1 hour

Another version for foil cooking is Hot Dogs Hobo Stew in foil summarised below:-

1 lb. hot dogs - cut into 1" chunks
2 large green, red or yellow peppers - sliced
1 large Vidalia onion - sliced
2 large baked potatoes (pre-bake in microwave or boil until just tender) - sliced
Salt and pepper to taste

Place all of the above in a double thickness of foil that has been sprayed with cooking spray. Dab with butter or margarine. Fold up sides and end of foil to make a pouch. Place over medium heat and cook for about 30 minutes, turn pouch over with tongs and cook for an additional 30 minutes

Cooking a Fish Meal :

One of the simplest and most common-sense pages on the Internet is the Bord Iascaigh Mhara Cooking Fish page which will give the principles. Cooking fish on a barbecue or in embers can be done by wrapping the fish in a 'parcel' of foil, join upwards. Before closing the foil, dot the fish with margarine or butter, with just a tablespoon of water. Herbs such as Fennel and Parsley can be added in small amounts before closing the parcel.

Also go to Cooking Trout and Salmon for precise information on this. Bay leaves are traditionally used in cooking these fish. The site includes simple ideas for Hot and Cold Smoking of Fish, which may be of value.

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