Combining Hobbies! Overlanding and Eating!

[GLOCKer]

I love cooking and eating. I love cars and trucks. I'm just starting out in the overlanding hobby and I'm excited about the prospects of getting out into some beautiful places and cooking. I've got a food blog here:

John Battersby's Profile

Over the years, I’ve grown an appreciation for truly good food. I’m talking gourmet meals that cause a person to sit down and savor each bit

foodtribe.com

And I've got two overlanding related articles so far:

Skottles & Bottles – Bringing together beer and automobiles in Atlanta, GA

An Atlanta overlanding meet: supporting local breweries and showing off your rig is fun!

foodtribe.com

and

My camp kitchen is starting to take shape – transforming my Ford Ranger

I'm rather proud of how this turned out!

foodtribe.com

 

[Alanymarce]

We've improved our cooking capability over our trips - open fires (where allowed), and on minimalist kit.

On eating - where do I start? Empanadas in Mexico, Salteñas in Bolivia, Moapne worms in Botswana, chorizo in Buenos Aires, Mezze in Algiers.....

 

[GLOCKer]

We've improved our cooking capability over our trips - open fires (where allowed), and on minimalist kit.

On eating - where do I start? Empanadas in Mexico, Salteñas in Bolivia, Moapne worms in Botswana, chorizo in Buenos Aires, Mezze in Algiers.....

Damn! All of that sounds so good! Well...

...maybe not the worms? LOL

 

[Alanymarce]

Mopane worm stew - delicious! You can also eat them dried (like biltong (jerky)), boiled, or fresh off the mopane trees.

 

[GLOCKer]

View attachment 186257
Mopane worm stew - delicious! You can also eat them dried (like biltong (jerky)), boiled, or fresh off the mopane trees.

Wow!!!
Hahahahaha I'm not that adventurous!

 

[bgenlvtex]

View attachment 186257
Mopane worm stew - delicious! You can also eat them dried (like biltong (jerky)), boiled, or fresh off the mopane trees.

 

[MidOH]

Did anyone else read the thread title as ''combining hobbies, eating overlanders'' on accident and then click?

Long pork mixed with Mountain House Chili Mac, is still better than worms from worm trees. Trying to explain to Bundutec that my camper has to have a wine rack.........is going to be interesting.

 

[Alanymarce]

Did anyone else read the thread title as ''combining hobbies, eating overlanders'' on accident and then click?

Long pork mixed with Mountain House Chili Mac, is still better than worms from worm trees. Trying to explain to Bundutec that my camper has to have a wine rack.........is going to be interesting.

We have a wine rack - or more correctly three wine bottle holders built in to the storage below the bed - padded canvas so no clinking. Minimalism doesn’t mean we can’t have a glass of wine at camp.

 

[Boucher]

View attachment 186257
Mopane worm stew - delicious! You can also eat them dried (like biltong (jerky)), boiled, or fresh off the mopane trees.

Well that looks yummy

 

[cgranier]

One thing I've found very convenient on weekend outings is our SousVide cooker. Get everything cooked and ready before heading out and keep it on ice until needed. Medium-rare tri-tip ready in minutes once you have a hot fire going. And if for some reason (rain?) you can't get a fire going, you can easily finish it off on the Coleman stove.

 

[bgenlvtex]

One thing I've found very convenient on weekend outings is our SousVide cooker. Get everything cooked and ready before heading out and keep it on ice until needed. Medium-rare tri-tip ready in minutes once you have a hot fire going. And if for some reason (rain?) you can't get a fire going, you can easily finish it off on the Coleman stove.

This interests me, if you can when it is convenient, expound on this process some as it applies here. I am modestly familiar with what's taking place but will expect that this is a heavily nuanced style.

 

[grubworm]

One thing I've found very convenient on weekend outings is our SousVide cooker. Get everything cooked and ready before heading out and keep it on ice until needed. Medium-rare tri-tip ready in minutes once you have a hot fire going. And if for some reason (rain?) you can't get a fire going, you can easily finish it off on the Coleman stove.

i'm with you on the sous vide...
i made my own using an element from a hot water heater mounted inside a sink tail piece with a PVC housing and a $15 thermostat off amazon. it gives GREAT results and having the meat already cooked and in a vacuum bag for transport works very well for overlanding/camping.
i take a pork loin and slice it into 1-1/2" pieces and put 3 pieces in a bag and season each pack with a different rub and get about 5 meals out of one loin.
i just did some rib eyes with the sous vide and it was probably one of the best steaks ive ever eaten...

 

[GLOCKer]

I absolutely love my sous vide! I've been toying with using the sous vide to pre-prepare food items to finish on a camp, but then I wonder how well that would translate to food blog articles and photography.

Here are some of my favorites that I've prepared with the sous vide cooker:
(Ughhhhh. The photos show up in the preview but not in the actual post)
Steak Diane using New York Strip

Steak Diane using filet!

Sirloin steak with couscous and grilled corn

New York strip with couscous and veggies

Steak pinwheel

Burgers stuffed with baked beans!

Burgers stuffed with cheese. LOTS OF CHEESE!

Chicken tacos!

 

[Anak]

i'm with you on the sous vide...
i made my own using an element from a hot water heater mounted inside a sink tail piece with a PVC housing and a $15 thermostat off amazon. it gives GREAT results and having the meat already cooked and in a vacuum bag for transport works very well for overlanding/camping.
i take a pork loin and slice it into 1-1/2" pieces and put 3 pieces in a bag and season each pack with a different rub and get about 5 meals out of one loin.
i just did some rib eyes with the sous vide and it was probably one of the best steaks ive ever eaten...


View attachment 186354

That controller looks like the same one I use for the heat lamp for chicks.

I didn't think about finding other uses for it.

What sort of water heater element are you running off it? One of those little pony keg water heaters? Or are you torturing a 240v element?

 

[grubworm]

That controller looks like the same one I use for the heat lamp for chicks.

I didn't think about finding other uses for it.

What sort of water heater element are you running off it? One of those little pony keg water heaters? Or are you torturing a 240v element?

use the controller with the heat lamp to warm the chicks, then use the controller for sous vide and REALLY warm the chicks!

i got this 110vac element off amazon for $10

 

[cgranier]

This interests me, if you can when it is convenient, expound on this process some as it applies here. I am modestly familiar with what's taking place but will expect that this is a heavily nuanced style.

I have a Joule sous-vide cooker, but there's many options. What you want is a way to control and maintain water temperature. The nice thing about the sous-vide method is that if your water is at "medium-rare" temperature, then your meat can't get cooked past that.

We're going camping this weekend (thunderstorms in the forecast, yeay!) so my plan is to take a tri-tip steak, season it and cook it sous-vide to medium-rare (pink). That vaccum-sealed bag goes into the fridge (or freezer) until Friday when it goes into an iced cooler until needed. As long as there's ice in there, it should keep fine. I'm also pre-cooking some ribs and/or chicken.

The nice thing about this is that once my fire is going, all I need is a hot grill to throw the steak on. I'll take the steak out of the bag and dry it with some paper towels while the fire is getting hot. Depending on your cooler (and if you stored it in the freezer) you may need to thaw it out before hand. Once the fire is going, couple of minutes (sometimes less) per side to brown it nicely and it's done.

At home you can thaw the steak using water at the same temp you cooked it - at camp, you may still have a colder inside. But you can slice it and flip it a few times to your liking, if needed. Usually, the hot grill takes care of that.

Now, if it starts pouring rain and we decide to stay, and the tarp isn't enough (or at a safe distance) to keep a fire going, I can always break out the Coleman Stove and heat the steaks/chicken on a pan. And if none of your kitchens work, it's still cooked... so just slice it like roast-beef!

 

[bgenlvtex]

Very helpful, thanks for the effort.

 

[cgranier]

Very helpful, thanks for the effort.

You're welcome. Let me know if you have any questions.