Want to have a successful camping trip? Make good food.

But cooking in camp can involve challenges: weather, darkness, unfamiliar equipment, and sanitation can build a barricade between you and a full stomach. And that鈥檚 before you figure in fussy eaters or food allergies. But on a recent 1,000-mile camping trip through Mexico, I think I may have experienced a revelation. Any and all of those problems can be addressed deliciously by a single food: the humble quesadilla.

A camp meal should be easy to make. And to make a quesadilla, all you do is put some cheese on a tortilla, stick that on a hot pan, and flip it once one side is crispy. There’s not even any need for cooking oil, the tortillas should already have enough fat in them to crisp up nicely.

Nor is there need for tools beyond a hot surface to cook on. Counting ounces? Fold up some foil and lay that on a bed of coals. Sure, a spatula, knife, cutting board, bowls, plates, and all that might be nice, but they aren’t necessities. Fingers can flip and press tortillas just fine, so long as you’re careful.

You also need that meal to be nutritious. And while a pile of melted cheese delivered to your mouth via tortilla isn鈥檛 the type of recipe you鈥檙e going to find in most weight-loss diets, it does offer a lot of satisfying calories if those are all you鈥檙e looking for after a long day on the trail.

Add fiber and vitamins in the form of veggies. Just slice up some bell peppers, jalape帽os, and onions ahead of time, season them with some salt, pepper, cumin and garlic powder, then saut茅 them in your pan before you make the quesadillas. No need to clean the pan in between, you鈥檙e just adding more flavor. Add even more protein (and more fiber) cheaply and easily by squeezing a pack of frijoles on top of the melting cheese. Have more time and budget, plus the ability to bring along fresh meat? Grab a lid for your pan, and follow my guaranteed method for cooking tender, safe chicken breasts. Use a packet of pre-made taco seasoning to make things even simpler.

Notice that none of the above ingredients will spill, break, or bruise.

Celiac? Grab corn tortillas. Those tend to be small, so I like to make quesadillas with them by simply laying the tortillas flat in a hot pan, and piling cheese and other ingredients on top, before adding another corn tortilla, pressing down on it to create adhesion, then flipping the whole thing over. Larger flour tortillas can simply be folded in half around the fillings, and two then form a perfect circle inside your pan, doubling your cooking speed.

Cooking for family or friends with mixed tastes? Prep the veggies and protein ahead of time, put them in bowls, and let everyone build their own quesadillas as you go. Vegetarians can squeeze on beans instead of chicken. Vegans can use alternative cheeses. And kids can get a cooking lesson using safe, already cooked-through ingredients.

Build-your-own quesadillas also address the biggest challenge in preparing group meals: timing. Even if the toppings get cold, they鈥檒l warm right back up while the cheese melts and the tortillas crisp. A good camp meal is a warm camp meal. And every quesadilla comes off the pan ready to eat, with everything inside piping hot. Eat as you go.

Add even more flavor by dipping your quesadilla in salsa or sour cream. Experiment with different types of cheese, especially local ones you鈥檝e never tried before. Mix different types of cheese together. Cut up some cilantro. Squeeze a lime on top. Add an avocado.

And quesadillas don鈥檛 just need to be for dinner. Fry bacon, scramble eggs, pile those in with your cheese, and you鈥檝e got a quick, easy, hot breakfast ready to go, even if people wake up at different times.

In the mood for Italian? Use mozzarella cheese instead, and add toppings like sun-dried tomatoes, asparagus or artichoke hearts. With a quesadilla, there鈥檚 no limit to what鈥檚 possible.

But when you’re camping, the nicest thing about a quesadilla isn鈥檛 just that it鈥檚 delicious. It鈥檚 that once all that melted cheese has you feeling fat and happy, there鈥檚 not really any clean up to worry about. Scrape any loose cheese that burned off the pan into your campfire or trash bag, put that pan some place where it won鈥檛 attract critters, then crawl into bed. With all those calories to burn off, you鈥檒l sleep warmer. There鈥檚 no campout that can鈥檛 be improved by the quesadilla.

The post Looking for the Perfect Camping Meal? Consider the Quesadilla. appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

Ahhh grilling season. Cooking over an open fire is the best way to prepare food鈥攗nless you鈥檙e the hurried host, running back and forth between the grilling station and the kitchen for the kebabs and burgers, the cutlery, the drinks, and the condiments. Enter an outdoor kitchen set-up.

While that may sound overwhelming, to shine at cooking outdoors, all you need are a few simple pieces of equipment and some organizational know-how. Your outdoor cook space need not be fancy, and keeping it simple and clean will allow you to focus on the essential elements of taste and heat.

鈥淭aking the time to create an organized station near your grill will minimize the need to keep running iCndoors and help you stay focused on the most important task鈥攃ooking a delicious meal,鈥� says Dan Zuccarello, executive food editor of Cookbooks at America鈥檚 Test Kitchen. The magazine and publishing house just released The Outdoor Cook ($29.99) this summer and, in addition to more than 150 sure-fire recipes, it diagrams the ultimate grilling setup.

Since grilling begins with the grill, make sure to place it in a safe spot away from the house, overhangs, and enclosed spaces. Take heat and smoke into consideration and remove anything that鈥檚 flammable (also keep a fire extinguisher within reach). Keep in mind that you don鈥檛 want it too far away in case you do need to dash back into the house for extra ketchup, skewers, ice, or buns.

Favorite skewers: , $49.95

Absolutely essential is a table that provides extra room to prep your food, store grill accessories, and present serving items like trays, dishes, condiments, drinks, and more. 鈥淎 sturdy, portable table gives you a dedicated place to prepare food that鈥檚 separate from where you鈥檒l be eating. Make sure it鈥檚 big enough to allow you prep space as well as storage space,鈥� Zuccarello says. 鈥淢y setup changes based on what I am grilling but I always include a small cutting board for any last-minute ingredient prep, a container to hold my cooking utensils, and a sheet pan to hold the recipe components.鈥�

Favorite cutting board:

After setting up the table, make life easy on yourself and carry dishes, grilling tools, drinks, etc. on sheet pans or in baskets. That tactic has dual functions, as it keeps you from running back and forth for supplies while also keeping things organized in the moment. In addition, to avoid cross contamination, make sure you have a clean pan, platter, or cutting board for items coming off the grill. If you live in an area with a lot of bugs, don’t forget to cover sheet pans and platters with .

Keep raw meat and other foods cool with a conveniently stashed cooler. If it鈥檚 big enough, it can also hold cold drinks for the cooking crew. Place the cooler to the side of the table or underneath if there鈥檚 enough room to open the lid.

Favorite cooler: , $450

Likewise, a trash can (and a portable compost bin, if that鈥檚 your jam) tucked under the table will go a long way in making cleanup easy. Zuccarello recommends 鈥渁 wide-mouthed trash barrel makes an easy target for discards; a tight-fitting lid discourages flying pests and other critters.鈥�

If you鈥檙e really agro, you can get a jump on cleanup by placing a small dish tub filled with soapy water at the end of the station (or on a separate side table). 鈥淸This] is a great place to stash grilling utensils when you鈥檙e done with them. Soaking the used tools gives you a head start on cleanup,鈥� Zuccarello says.

Now, all your summer barbecue needs is a solid collection of and a hungry crowd.

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Chef鈥檚 knives excel at performing fine work on food. To achieve that, they feature thin, deep, long blades that are easy to sharpen, plus thin handles that provide good ergonomics when you鈥檙e working from standing height on a counter top.

With cost as a limiting factor, those kitchen knives then compromise edge retention, outright strength, and often rust prevention, too. Since hard use isn鈥檛 typically a design factor, blade tangs are thin and short, and retained inside a handle with the use of pins.

In contrast, outdoor blades take the opposite approach. Good ones prioritize strength, with thick blades and full tang handles. Durability is provided by steels designed both to resist damage while being pounded through logs, and to hold their edges for a long time, even through such abuse. But, bring one into the kitchen, and those fat blades will make a mess of anything you ask them to slice.

That disparity is what high-tech hunting brand and design-forward knife maker The James Brand are attempting to address with the limited-release ($499).

Constructed using , a new super steel rapidly becoming popular in the outdoors world, the Anzick is able to combine rust prevention, edge retention, and solid durability with ease of sharpening. That eight-inch blade is thin and broad like a chef鈥檚 knife, but fills the entire handle like one designed for splitting logs. A swept section at the rear extends the blade length rearwards, while allowing room for a forward grip, so you can slice larger pieces of food with more control. The handle slabs, which are bonded to the tang without any rivets or pins, are made from G10, a high-pressure laminate that鈥檚 impervious to most contaminants or environmental conditions. That material is textured on its front chamfer, adding grip. The blade is coated in a food-safe, hydrophobic diamond like coating (DLC) finish.

All that makes the Anzick a pleasure to use, easy to clean, and should guarantee a long life span. Those attributes are further boosted with the addition of a folding hypalon sheath secured by button flaps. Closed, it retains the knife safely. Open, it鈥檚 easily cleaned. And it鈥檒l be impervious to cuts from the blade.

Last night, the Anzick was waiting on my front stoop when I returned home from a two-week hunting trip in the Alaskan backcountry. It鈥檇 been that long since my wife and I were able to enjoy a home-cooked meal together, so we whipped up a quick penne a la vodka with ingredients we had laying around. The knife diced the onion as well as anything I鈥檝e used, and even made easy work of a block of pancetta, which many knives struggle to cut cleanly due to all the fat. Unlike other hunting-kitchen collaborations like the very meat-focussed , the Anzick proved versatile enough to replace any other large knife in my kitchen.

This morning, after sitting out all night covered in dried food, the blade simply rinsed clean, with zero staining.

I鈥檝e got more experience with CPM Magnacut on outdoor blades like my all-time favorite . That particular blade just survived 12 days of saltwater spray, and skinned a 10-foot brown bear without any signs of rust or dulling.

With its eight-inch blade, the Anzick is way too long to skin out a bear. And with that thin profile, you’d probably break it in half if you tried to chop down a tree with it. But, it won’t rust, it’s easy to clean, and it’s just the right combination of size and durability to spend decades helping you prepare good food over a campfire.

Whether or not the steep price allows the Anzick鈥檚 place in your camp kitchen box is probably irrelevant at this point. The two companies only plan to produce a limited run of 600 units. But, this thing represents an encouraging effort by Sitka to expand its design expertise outside of hunting, and will hopefully inspire more hard-use kitchen knives that can genuinely hold their own outdoors.

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