April 18th trip. Earlier this year buddy Terry Slaney purchased a backwoods camp in Central NL, French, Stroh and I made a few trips in with him to get some interior construction knocked out and get the camp into fine shape.

Of course none of this is possible without some outstanding feeds. I tried to pick out the best but every single one was better than the last so here are all of them from the few trips in Spring 2023.

While French & Stroh settled into electrical work & setting up the outdoor burn barrel, I set about getting supper started as it was going for 7pm. On the menu was fish stew, the same recipe French and I enjoyed earlier the winter in his ice fishing shelter.

First up was frying and rendering out some homemade bacon trimmings.

With bacon rendered, and a lot of the grease removed, I threw in the onions to caramelize.

By now the Acorn Ranger was good and hot so I took the Fish Stew off the Coleman stove, added water & potato,  and set to simmer while I gave the boys a hand with the utility room work.

By now our very aromatic fish stew had percolated enough and it was time to eat!

A meal fit for royalty, it was well appreciated after a long day driving, riding, hauling in gear and renovation work!

Best way to start the day is with a strong breakfast. On the menu this morning was homemade applewood smoked bacon, eggs and leftover fish stew.

We got a lot of work done today so lunch became supper, a couple packs of homemade Jalapeño Cheddar moose sausages & fresh buns, a couple packs of Sidekicks noodles, and potato salad.

April 28th. Since it was late by the time we got everything sorted away, I got to work putting supper on the stove. Tonight's menu was Iris's famous one pot goulash made with ground moose, macaroni, onion, a tin of diced tomatoes and some Lipton onion soup mix.

A little hot sauce sparked this already delicious dish right up!

Another breakfast of champions, bacon, moose sausages, fresh fish white puddings and eggs.

As it was getting dark I decided it was time to get supper going on the stove. Tonight's menu was moose stew and a special dessert. I cut up and seared two moose roasts and a couple onions before adding water, cubed turnip and carrot and placing on the woodstove to simmer.

With the pot simmering I got potato cubed up which will go in after the other vegetables are cooked.

My special dessert is Jell-O no bake cheesecake, an easy to make camp dessert, especially with no oven. It will be served with canned blueberry pie topping.

Gravy was thickened up with some flour and a little beef oxo for flavour.

Sunday morning we took advantage of a quiet morning and started a little later after than normal having gotten a great nights rest. Breakfast menu today was the exact same as yesterday.

May 5th. Stroh arrived earlier that afternoon and had his famous homemade chilli already started by the time French and got in to camp, a welcome treat after a long day at work, driving and riding! We also got to test out Slaney's new propane stove which will be the new cabin stove until a range is sourced and installed later down the road.

Supper was absolutely amazing, Stroh's homemade chilli never disappoints. There was even enough leftover for lunch the following day.

Breakfast Saturday morning consisted of our Slaney Camp traditional feast of: homemade moose sausages, homemade apple wood smoked bacon, white fish puddings and fried eggs.

Slaney enjoyed a fine feed of traditional homemade Newfoundland toutons heated up in tinfoil on the woodstove.

In celebration of a job well done to date, supper tonight was something special. Side dishes consisted of stir-fry vegetables and white rice, cooked on the propane stove, then kept warm on the woodstove.

Next I prepped the pan over medium heat melting quite a bit of butter, adding minced fresh garlic, salt and black pepper.

The main dish was Mark French's last Atlantic Salmon tagged last season on the Great Northern Peninsula. With only two fish per fisherman allowed to be retained per season, wild Atlantic Salmon is quickly becoming a delicacy.

French steaked up his harvest and I fried it over medium heat turning regularly for an even cook without burning this wonderful treat!

First wild Atlantic Salmon to be cooked up in the new camp!

The seasoned butter worked out perfect and created an absolutely wonderful taste without overpowering the beautiful natural flavour of the salmon. The rest of the evening was rather short, after a long hard day, we all hit the bunk fairly early.

Breakfast Sunday morning was the same, this time with my Jalapeño cheddar moose sausages, and scrambled eggs for a change over fried eggs.

All in all some of our absolute best camp cooking to date!

Cheers, MIKE

Copyright © 2011 Michael Smith