(Part 2) Reddit mentions: The best outdoor cooking books

Fantastic question u/ardnassac115, and I'm glad you asked it. For some background on me, I'm 25 and used to work full-time in a pretty serious career before deciding to return to graduate school full-time. This lined up for me, and is probably one of the few times in my life I'll be able to do something this long and live-changing. When in my life will I have the holy trinity of time, energy, and money again? I had budgeted through grad school to 1.) make sure I could go through grad school without working, and 2.) make sure I had enough leftover to do something like this before returning to work. I still live at home and my major monthly expenses are student loans, car payment/insurance, and a cell phone bill. I budgeted to make sure the cost of this trip, in addition to those expenses, could be covered while I was gone before returning to work. I hope that answers your question regarding saving up.

Planning the trip was difficult at first, but became easier over time. I've never done anything like this in my life and I had no idea what I was doing. The most important thing is to first decide how long you want the trip to be. Everything else comes afterwards. I decided 6 weeks because it'd be enough to see a lot while not killing me financially. Next, I knew I wanted to see national parks, but had no idea how. This helped me immensely. It's an "optimal route" to see all the national parks in the lower 48 states (note there have been two new NP additions since: Gateway Arch NP and Indiana Dunes NP). In what I'm sure is a cardinal sin of this sub, I took the fastest, most direct routes in the interest of time rather than looking for scenic routes most of the time. I cared more about time in the parks than pretty views from my car (although there were many). If you look at the order of my route and the route through that link, you'll notice it's very similar. After, I just started researching parks and seeing which ones I want to see the most, and which ones I could skip for now or save for the future. Once I had that down, I opened up an excel sheet and google maps and started actually mapping each day, how long the drives would be between destinations, what I wanted to do, where I'd sleep each night, and how long I'd spend at each destination. How long was decided during the research part on the parks I decided to see on this trip. For example, parks like Rocky Mountan, Zion, Grand Teton, Yellowstone, Yosemite, and the Grand Canyon all got 2 essentially full days because they were so big that I didn't think I could do all the things I wanted to do in a single day. Parks like Badlands, Great Sand Dunes, Black Canyon of the Gunnison, Kings Canyon, Sequoia, Carlsbad Caverns, Gateway Arch, and Cuyahoga Valley I knew could be done in a single, very packed day. To preface that, I'm in shape and did a lot of hiking at a pretty unhealthy (read: fast) pace, allowing me to do a multitude of trails each day to get everything. I'm not going to lie, it took me a ton of effort to route my trip and make sure it was within the time frame. I essentially made an itinerary for myself. It's not as rigid as I'm making it sound, as the only thing really holding me to schedule was reserving campsites or AirBnBs. Otherwise I'd be able to do that research a few nights prior and alter as I needed. On the flip side, when it's 7PM and you don't know where you're sleeping that night, that can be a scary thing if you're not used to it.

I want to emphasize my planning of each day at parks too. I touched on that above, but this blog, where the authors spent 52 weeks doing all 59 (at the time) national parks for the centennial in 2016, was extremely helpful. The pictures, descriptions, and other info were so valuable. My friend's dad caught wind I was doing this trip and lent me three national park guides: Fodors, National Geographic, and Lonely Planet. These were the most important for actually planning my days in parks, with Fodors being by far the most useful, National Geographic also being good, and honestly not much help from Lonely Planet. Just an FYI, the links are for the exact copies I used, but there are newer versions available that you should get if you look into it. A note on this - it saved me a tremendous amount of valuable time when I got to parks to already know exactly what I wanted to do. If I had extra time and could do stuff I didn't know about, that was great! But on packed days it helps to know where things are in each park and how reasonable your "want to do" adventures are for the time frame.

For road trip prep I had to buy or borrow some things I didn't have and got the rest from my house: sleeping bag, sleeping pad, bed comforter, tarp, tent, knife, bear spray, pepper spray, a road atlas, a lantern, an abundance of snacks (clif bars, larabars, peanut butter crackers, etc), national park passport, a good cooler for water/food, camp stove and bowls, matches, paper towels, hand sanitizer, and some other things that I'm surely not remembering. A good, solid backpack and some good water bottles are necessary. Multi-tools are useful. Don't forget some engine coolant and wiper fluid just in case. Don't forget to stop for an oil change if your trip is long enough. For clothing I put a suitcase in the back seat of my car and lived out of that between laundry. Also had a box with some of the above items in it along with toiletries and other essentials like baby wipes, phone charger, electric razor and charger, nail clippers, sandwich baggies, and a few other things.

Woooo, that was a long winded post! There is so much to think about and plan when doing something like this, and I'd be lying if I said a great deal of work didn't go into my plan. If this trip had been shorter, a lot of this wouldn't be necessary. Six weeks though, that's a long time away from home, completely on my own. Having never done something even close to this, I felt I needed to do a lot of this prep work to make sure this went as smoothly as possible. It did go very smoothly too, but I attribute a lot of that to planning. I hope that this essay response helps you understand the pre-trip process I went through a bit better. I'd be happy to answer any questions you have!

I'm a bit of a cookbook junkie, so I have a bunch to recommend. I'm interpreting this as "good cookbooks from cuisines in Asia" so there are some that are native and others that are from specific restaurants in the US, but I would consider these legit both in terms of the food and the recipes/techniques. Here are a few of my favorites:


Pan-Asian

• Asian Dumplings - the masterpiece on all things dumpling
  
• Asian American - Dale Talde's (Top Chef) book with lots of Asian cultures' food in the US
  
• Asian Pickles - pickles and fermented foods from throughout Asia
  
• Lucky Rice - recipes from the Asian festival of the same name
  
• The Asian Grandmother's Cookbook - traditional cooking passed down to American cooks
  
  Burmese
  
  
• Burma:Rivers of Flavor - good focus on difference in Burmese cuisine from other regional
  
  Cambodian
  
  
• Num Pang - Cambodian sandwich restaurant in NYC
  
• Cambodian Cooking - GREAT book on Cambodian cuisine, supporting refugees
  
  Chinese
  
  
• Ken Hom Complete Chinese Cookbook - great primer for cooking Chinese food using ingredients commonly available in US
  
• China Moon - classic SF Chinese restaurant food
  
• Feeding the Dragon - modern culinary journey through all of China
  
• Mastering the Art of Chinese Cooking - omnibus focused on the home chef
  
• Breath of a Wok - focus on wok technique at home
  
• Every Grain of Rice - wonderful Sichuan food for home cooks
  
  Indian
  
  
• Madhur Jaffrey Indian Cooking - actually, any of her cookbooks are wonderful for Indian cooking
  
• Savour Mumbai - looks at Indian cuisine as a melting pot in Mumbai
  
• The Indian Family Cookbook - modern South Indian food
  
• Indian Harvest - Vikas Khanna's family cookbook
  
• Made in India - classic Indian food, from street to home
  
  Indonesia
  
  
• The Food of Indonesia - everything you need for a rijstaffel!
  
  Japanese
  
  
• Japanese Farm Food - authentic rural Japanese cooking
  
• Preserving the Japanese Way - how to make awesome Japanese pickled vegetables
  
• Sushi Chef - not strictly speaking a cookbook, but "Jiro Dreams of Sushi" book in English
  
• The Japanese Grill - authentic hibachi and Japanese grill recipes
  
• Japanese Comfort Food - lots of traditional Japanese recipes
  
• Nanban - Japanese "soul food"
  
• Tokyo Cult Recipes - hip modern urban food from Tokyo
  
• Yum Yum Bento Boxes - updated modern take on bento boxes
  
• Ivan Ramen - traditional ramen for a Western audience
  
• Izakaya - traditional Japanese pub food & small plates
  
• Nikkei - emigrant Japanese food culture in South America
  
• Donabe - traditional Japanese hot pot recipes
  
• Kyotofu - very unique Japanese dessert cookbook
  
  Korean
  
  
• K Food - modern take on Korean street food
  
• Maangchi's Real Korean Cooking - great resource for Korean cooking in a non-pro kitchen
  
• Traditional Food - omnibus of four regions of Korean food
  
• Koreatown - authentic, approachable guide to Korean food in a US context
  
• Smoke & Pickles - Edward Lee's fusion of his Korean heritage and southern barbeque
  
• The Kimchi Cookbook - many, many recipes for kimchi...
  
  Malaysian
  
  
• Malaysian Cooking - good overview of Malay cooking
  
  Middle Eastern
  
  
• The New Persian Kitchen - modern Iranian food
  
• Ottolenghi - Israeli-Palestinian collaboration
  
• Persiana - dynamic modern recipes from throughout the Middle East
  
• Zahav - modern Israeli food
  
• Sweet Middle East - traditional and modern desserts
  
  Philippine
  
  
• Filipino Homestyle Dishes - good intro to classic Filipino dishes
  
  Russian
  
  
• Mamushka - focus on Ukraine
  
  Sri Lankan
  
  
• Hidden Kitchens of Sri Lanka - beautiful photo-cookbook on Sri Lankan cuisine
  
  Taiwanese
  
  
• The Food of Taiwan - um... food... from Taiwan
  
  Thailand
  
  
• Nong's Thai Kitchen - she beat Bobby Flay in pad thai
  
• Pok Pok - Portland's most AWESOME Asian restaurant
  
  Turkish
  
  
• Istanbul:Recipes from the Heart of Turkey - lovely focus on urban Turkish food
  
• Anatolia - wonderful approachable approach to Turkish cuisine
  
• Essential Turkish Cuisine - focus on history and evolution of Turkish food
  
  Vietnamese
  
  
• The Slanted Door - great Vietnamese restaurant cookbook
  
• Vietnamese Market Cookbook - focus on simple Vietnamese from fresh ingredients
  
• Into the Vietnamese Kitchen - traditional Vietnamese home cooking
  
• The Banh Mi Cookbook - the greatest sandwich in the world!
  
• Vietnamese Home Cooking - another great overview
  
  (edit: screwed up a couple links)

> I would describe us a foodies on a budget.

If this is the case my advice would be to try and find an airbnb with an asado grill, ask someone local to you which butcher he goes to, fire it up and enjoy the most Argentinean experience possible! My partner is from Bsas but I'm from the UK. I love all the interesting cuts they have over there that you don't see anywhere else. Tira de asado, matahambre, chorizo, morcilla, mollejas are a good place to start. Get some bondiola and ojo de bife too. Then buy this book: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Seven-Fires-Grilling-Argentine-Way-ebook/dp/B00MMSXR94 :)


Interestingly at the moment THE fashionable thing is gormet burgers and craft beer. Pretty much every other place you're going to see is doing that at the moment, check out Colegiales for a nice relaxed barrio with cool little bars and restos like this away from the beaten trail

​

> street food

Not really much of a scene for this in Argentina IMO be cautious of anything that's not an empanada

> walk around, find nice hidden cafes

It takes an hour or so to get there but go to San Isidrio for this, thank me later. Tigre is also a good shout

> chill at the park

Bosques de palermo

> What’s the situation on the ground now?

Be particularly vigilant if you're in the south part of the city at night. San Telmo is great for milongas and bar hopping but be on your guard. Other than that I'd say it was the equivalent of going to NYC. Not a dangerous city so to speak, but certainly in parts and people might try to take advantage of you IF given the opportunity- keep your wits about you and you'll not have any problems

​

You're going to absolutely love it!

​

Every man, by the time they're 20? Well shit, I'm almost 20! Here's my list:

• Have a basic understanding of major vehicular systems. As a mechanic, I see people nearly every week who don't understand how to install a spare tire, or why you need to change your oil every 5,000 Km, or what lug nut torque is or why it's important. You may not want to work on your vehicle yourself, but at least understand why your tie rod needs replacing or what is involved with changing that "cat" your mechanic keeps telling you is plugged.
  
  
• Learn how to sharpen a knife, build a fire/shelter, and skin a rabbit/deer/wolf/forage for leafy foods in your area. Hunting isn't for everyone, but there may come a situation in the future when you are the ONLY PERSON YOU CAN DEPEND ON. If that day comes, you will thank yourself for learning basic survival skills. I highly recommend this book if you're at all interested, it's an exhaustive (but still very compelling) resource on nearly everything outdoorsy, and is the one book I would take with me in an emergency.
  
  
• Pick up an instrument or learn to draw/write/sing/otherwise spend time by yourself doing something you A: enjoy, and B: are becoming better at. As you progress in whatever art form you choose, you'll feel good about yourself for becoming skilled at it, and you'll have something that you can fall back on to relax with and be alone when shit goes down and you need to think.
  
  
• LEARN WHEN TO SAY NO. Had too much to drink and your friends are bugging you to drive home? Not a good idea. Have a long-term girlfriend and some cute girl is bugging you to "hang out"? Tell them to have a nice day. Seriously, having self control and ability to know WHEN to practice restraint is both one of the most attractive qualities to the opposite sex, and very important to life down the road. Learn how to judge a situation and to choose the right options based on that judgement. This one takes time and a lot of mistakes, don't beat yourself up too much as long as you legitimately had good intentions for whatever you chose.
  
  
• Save your fucken money, brah. Being able to keep that hot plastic embedded in your pocket will do many things for you, including, yunno, being able to pay for more important things you may want down the road (a house, a fast car, a rowboat, that houseboating vacation you've always wanted to take in the Shuswap). Life is all about choices, and being able to delay gratification is a VERY GOOD CHOICE if you know when to do it. But also remember that the biggest savings account in the world won't buy you happiness. If you want to learn to drum and there's a sale on a quality kit on Craigslist, and you can afford it, then you know what? Go, have fun. Cute girl in your college science class wants to take a weekend road trip somewhere? Spend the money on gas and make a memory! Life's too short to be scared. Just be smart about what you do with your money.
  
  
  Robert Heinlein had this to say: "A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects." Learn everything you have the chance and ability to. Have fun. Make stories, love, and popsicle stick crafts. And don't forget to forgive yourself when you fuck up.

Whoa boy, great question! And I've been thinking about this myself a lot lately. I have two stoves, the pocket rocket and the dragonfly. They are both fantastic, but definitely have pros and cons.

The pocket rocket is amazing if all you want to do is boil water and add the boiling water to some freeze dried food or something similar (which I plan to do this summer for a trip to the Shenandoah), but I find it really hard to cook meals on it. I also find the pot holder to be a little bit small if you're using a larger pot for cooking. I've never had one fall off, but it still worries me sometimes.

The dragonfly is great if you are down for some backcountry cooking (I would highly recommend the NOLS Backcountry Cookbook if you do, because they have some AMAZING meals to prep.) Bad news is the stove is a little bulky and it takes a few practice rounds to set up the stove and learn to use it properly.

SO... The dragonfly is great if you have lots of people camping with you (I'd say 4+) and you are ready to do some serious woods cookin. The pocket rocket is great if it's just you or you and a few buddies, and you mostly plan to use it to boil water.



tl:dr

Pocket Rocket Pros: lightweight, small, easy to set up.

Pocket Rocket Cons: small, not very versatile

Dragonfly Pros: cook like a pro, cooking versatility, cooks for lots of people.

Dragonfly Cons: bulky, heavy, slightly complex if you haven't used it before

I am no expert in this particular field but I have seen and heard that old Wrestling VHS is a very good seller. Further, there was a discussion in regards to selling VHS here that might be useful

As far as books go...again no expert here and I simply can not comprehend the concept of Amazon penny books. I can say that when you are at Goodwill take the time to flip through the first couple pages to find out if it is 1. A first edition and 2. If it is signed. I have stumbled across several signed editions of various books this way including 'Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil' (I kept it for my personal collection). First edition books are an art in itself to sort out and I think abebooks helped me figure out if it was a first edition. Nautical themed reference books are good as well as flight books for the rare occasions that I have sold such things. Personally, I am a recipe/cooking book fanatic because I like to cook and love to keep my eyes peeled for the occasional ancient book as well as some celebrity books like Gordon Ramsey and when it comes to BBQ Steve Raichlen is second to none with books like Planet BBQ that's pretty much all I had for now. Hope it somewhat helps!

My dear friend, one can learn a lot about a culture by their history of food. Texas is known as a BBQ state. What you may or may not know, is that Texas was once part of Mexico and there is a Mexican influence, it's known as Tex-Mex. There is a guy named Robb Walsh who has written two great books on each topic. What I like about each book is they have recipes but they also have details history about how and why, with small stories about regardless of differences in color, culture or class, everyone loves great food.

I would suggest the following books for you to read:
Legends of Texas BBQ and The Tex-Mex cookbook

The park is BIG and driving about takes time. I always plan to be gone all day when I head out in the morning. So, bring something for lunch, bring plenty to drink. All the visitor areas have food, but, its so much better to sit by a river or valley and eat lunch vs. waiting in line at a snack bar.

I really like this book. It is small and easy to use when driving. It breaks down the loop road into sections and give you highlights of the section referenced.

I like this book also

Binoculars or a spotting scope are great for Yellowstone as there are many long distance vistas.

All the recipes I got from this Backpack Gourmet book. (Hint: you can look inside the book on Amazon and see a bunch of the recipes)

The lasagna is pretty much just a basic lasagna with some salsa added. I've made the spicy chicken pasta before and it is delicious. It's the first time I'm making the other two.

I highly recommend the book though. There are a ton of great recipes I'm looking forward to trying, especially some breakfast ones. And you can always just make them to eat at home, the don't HAVE to be dehydrated lol

Looks great! I tell all new smokers to grab this book: http://www.amazon.com/Wicked-Good-Barbecue-Fearless-Competition/dp/1592334997/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1449622069&sr=8-1&keywords=wicked+good+barbecue

The chefs, Andy Husbands and Chris Hart, are just awesome guys that love cooking. This was/is my bible when it comes to competition style smoking. They go step by step with photos on their tips and techniques on how they cook for competition. There are a few nuances that I learned from the different chapters. They also include some favorite side dishes and sauces they serve at their restaurant here in Boston.

I used the book Lip Smackin Backpackin
https://www.amazon.com/Lipsmackin-Backpackin-2nd-Christine-Conners-ebook/dp/B00H32C9DY/

for ideas on drying food for camping. They use a combo of off the shelf food and dehydrated for recipes for back country. They also describe a system for long trips where you just bring base ingredients (potatoes, veggies, meat, beans, rice, lentils, etc.) and then cook meals from that instead of bringing pre-set meals. On longer trips it is a little more flexible with both taste and portions - if you find you are running short you can just make a little less for a few days to add a day or two to your trip.

Ovens work, and I think convection is the key - you need to have air flow. If air isn't moving stuff rots. Don't get a dehydrator that doesn't have a fan and uses heated air to cause air flow. It needs to have a fan.

I only use self dehydrated or instant meals now. It is soooo much better. I do cook and dehydrate things that may seem unnecessary, like beans. It saves field prep and cook time, and fuel. When I hit camp I put stuff in hot water, let it set for a while, then do any finish cooking that needs to be done and eat. It is pretty sweet.

It's all about the enjoyment of the outdoors with the ability to still have a great meal. All in the prep work my friend.

NOLS has a great cookbook for backpackers/hikers/campers - https://www.amazon.com/NOLS-Cookery-Library-Claudia-Pearson/dp/0811719812/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1537350390&sr=8-1&keywords=NOLS+Cookery


It's a great resource and I use it constantly.


Having said that, I love bannock bread and I usually sprinkle in dried fruit and nuts. I will make some in the morning and eat it throughout the day.


Also, there are a plethora of companies producing high quality dehydrated meals if weight and space are issues.

You gotta love these little cottage manufacturers. There is some real gold out there if you can find them. I try to keep it as simple as possible when I go out and usually stick to one-pot meals. For four days, I would plan on two different meals and just alternate them. I like this website for recipes: http://onepanwonders.com/dinners.html. I also have a couple of cookbooks that have some good one-pot recipes. I like this one a lot: http://www.amazon.com/Lipsmackin-Backpackin-Lightweight-Trail-tested-Backcountry/dp/1560448814/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1368190884&sr=8-1&keywords=lip+smacking+backpacking.

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Negima usually uses the white parts of the scallion, but I prefer the green, too.

You can puree the bacon with paprika and use it as a marinade for the chicken. The fat and salt keep it tender, and it picks up a nice smokiness as it cooks.

If you like Japanese grilling, check out Tadashi Ono's "The Japanese Grill". There are many good books on robata and izakaya, but Ono's is the most accessible and consistent.

I like doing foil packets on my camping trips. Here's a free Kindle ebook that I've used before. These are all very minimalist in terms of creativity and seasoning, but you can definitely play around with them and make it your own.

I'm Texan so I'm a bit biased but Legends of Texas Barbeque is one of the best books ever. Insight, history and recipes of some of the best BBQ places in Texas. 5 freaking stars on Amazon. HighlyRecommended

I have this book and love it: http://www.amazon.com/Cooks-Illustrated-Guide-Grilling-Barbecue/dp/0936184868

Very good, technique is more applicable to charcoal though. I'd also highly recommend reading everything you can on http://amazingribs.com/, specifically the techniques section. More info than you could possibly need there.

The sauce that I've been making for the past few years is from the Wicked Good Barbecue cookbook. This website posted both the IQUE BBQ Sauce and Rub Recipes (scroll down).

Some of the items might be hard to find, like the Long Peppercorns and the Szechuan Peppercorns, but believe me, it's totally worth it. The Rub recipe is included because that's an ingredient for the sauce - I've used the rub for the last few years as well.

The sauce is a gastrique sauce, which is a vinegar and sugar reduction (cider vinegar and brown sugar, in this case) infused with whatever else. Yes, ketchup is an ingredient in this sauce, which some may turn their nose up at but it's never bothered me. I'll usually make a 1/2 batch and store it in one of the 32 oz ketchup bottles that I end up emptying while making this.

This Chili-Mac recipe is a great one to start out with, it's very tasty and very easy to make. I bring it on all my trips.

I also recommend Linda Frederick Yaffe's book Backpack Gourmet.

More about grilling, but a good one is Charred and Scruffed. Meathead (#3 above) gives it some props. I do the board sauce and herb brush pretty frequently.

This man, Kent Rollings is an amazing cook. He also has a great cookbook: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0544275004

Here are all the local Amazon links I could find:


amazon.co.uk

amazon.ca

amazon.com.au

amazon.in

amazon.com.mx

amazon.de

amazon.it

amazon.es

amazon.com.br

amazon.nl

amazon.co.jp

amazon.fr

Beep bloop. I'm a bot to convert Amazon ebook links to local Amazon sites.
I currently look here: amazon.com, amazon.co.uk, amazon.ca, amazon.com.au, amazon.in, amazon.com.mx, amazon.de, amazon.it, amazon.es, amazon.com.br, amazon.nl, amazon.co.jp, amazon.fr, if you would like your local version of Amazon adding please contact my creator.

I enjoyed The Complete Wood Pellet Barbecue Cookbook, nothing crazy but a lot of good solid information that you can use to cook a variety of meat/styles.

For sauces, I've made some pretty solid ones based on recipes from this book

https://www.amazon.ca/Southern-Living-Ultimate-Book-BBQ/dp/0848744802

The nice thing about making your own sauce is even if you're following a recipe, you'll get get results improvising and adding your own ideas and flavours into them.

I've only done it a couple times. Adam Perry Lang devotes a couple chapters to this technique in his book Charred & Scruffed. He recommends blowing off the ash with either a hair dryer or by fanning the coals with a piece of cardboard. He also mentions that you can put a thin wire rack, like a cooling rack, directly on the coals to get the same effect without worrying about coals sticking to the meat. The book has recipes using this technique for strip steak, beef tenderloin, pork chops, lamb chops, and chicken wings.

His other use of this technique is to put food directly on wooden planks, and then put the plank directly on the coals.

Here's one of my favorites, from a great book I have Simple Foods for the Pack.

Sun-dried tomato pasta

• 1/4 C sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
  
• 1/4 C pine nuts
  
• 1/2 t garlic granules
  
• 1 T dried parsley
  
• 1 T dried basil
  
• 1/2 t salt
  
• 8oz angel hair pasta
  
• 1/4 C olive oil
  
• 1 T butter (optional)
  
• Parmesan cheese, grated, to taste
  
  At home: Put tomatoes in a small airtight bag. Put the next six ingredients in another ziplock bag. Pasta may be broken in half or thirds. Place in a third bag. Carry oil, butter, and Parmesan cheese separately.
  
  In camp: Place tomatoes in a small cup and cover with water. Set aside. Boil a pot of salted water for the pasta and cook until done (3-5 min). Drain. Pour the water off the tomatoes and combine all remaining ingredients, except the cheese, in the saute pan, briefly stirring together over the heat. Top with Parmesan cheese.
  
  
  
  Also check out Practical Backpacking Forums. Good info there.

If you want to learn techniques that are extensively tested and have great introductions/instructions on why they do what they do, you cant go wrong with Cooks illustrated grilling book.

Wood pellet grills are the way to go! You will love it. Just know that anything you can cook in your kitchen oven, you can do on the wood pellet grill. Check out this book: cookbook

Same here. I like Simple Foods for the Pack to help prepare backpacking meals.

Pick up a copy of Planet Barbecue, you will never get bored:
https://www.amazon.com/Planet-Barbecue-Steven-Raichlen/dp/0761148019

My favorite is the spicy jerk marinade, which is good on pork or chicken

Not just Dutch Oven but Cowboy Kent Rollins book is one of my favorites. https://www.amazon.com/Taste-Cowboy-Ranch-Recipes-Tales/dp/0544275004

:) http://www.amazon.com/Charred-Scruffed-Adam-Perry-Lang/dp/1579654657/

Wicked Good BBQ

First, I highly recommend this book I got the recipe from.

https://smile.amazon.com/Lipsmackin-Backpackin-2nd-Lightweight-Trail-Tested-ebook/dp/B00H32C9DY/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1549418252&sr=1-1&keywords=lip+smacking+backpacking

It's the most complicated dehydrator meal I make on the regular.

Mix 1 pound ground beef with 1/4 tsp each thyme, allspice & paprika and 1/2 tsp each sage & black pepper. Cook it and dehydrate it.

Also dehydrate 15 oz. can beans, 8 oz canned green chilies & 15 oz canned tomatoes

Mix up what you've dehydrated thus far to make 4 bags of part A.

For part B combine 1 cup masa harina (corn flour), 1 Tbsp chili powder, 1/4 tsp ground cumin & 1 packet dry onion soup mix. 4 bags

Trail prep : mix one bag part A with 12 oz water. Boil it. Stir in one bag part B. Let set five minutes.

My version makes 4 servings 500 kcal 35g protein.

America The Cookbook


If you go the Southern Living route, I like Ultimate Book of BBQ

The 2 books I recommend.

http://www.amazon.com/Cooks-Illustrated-Guide-Grilling-Barbecue/dp/0936184868/
and
http://www.amazon.com/Project-Smoke-Steven-Raichlen/dp/0761181865/

Marinade/Basting Garlic Soy sauce:

1/4 Cup Soy Sauce

8 cloves garlic. grated

1/4 cup olive oil

2 teaspoons of pepper

​

Marinade fish for 20 minutes, flipping it 4 times.

​

Avocado Wasabi Puree:

2 avocados cut into small pieces

1 tablespoon of wasabi

1 tablespoon of lime juice

1 tablespoon of salt

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On hot grill, add fish and cook for about 10-12 minutes, flipping it 4 times and basting it with the left over marinade sauce.

Fresh scallions to decorate and serve, you can also use chives.

I also grilled mushrooms and scallions as a side dish.

Both recipes from Japanese Grilling book:

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https://smile.amazon.com/Japanese-Grill-Classic-Yakitori-Vegetables/dp/158008737X/ref=sr_1_2?crid=2RS04RW6P57S1&keywords=japanese+grilling+cookbook&qid=1556916369&s=gateway&sprefix=japanese+grilli%2Caps%2C152&sr=8-2

Buy this. I've never gotten more complements on food in my life. Google Adam Perry Lang if you want to see some videos by the same guy to get the basics down.

Here are a couple I'm thinking of checking out:

https://smile.amazon.com/Smokin-Myron-Mixon-Winningest-Barbecue/dp/0345528530/ref=sr_1_2?

https://smile.amazon.com/Complete-Wood-Pellet-Barbeque-Cookbook/dp/0757003370/ref=sr_1_21?

Check out Kent Rollins cookbook. https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0544275004/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1517772521&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=kent+rollins+cowboy+cookbook&dpPl=1&dpID=51fLs%2BtCTIL&ref=plSrch

I was using a Traeger Pellet Smoker like this guy and smoking chicken thighs and legs. Took forever and never really got good smokey flavor. just kinda BLAH. I didn't know what I was doing. I've since bought this book and have been thinking of given their Ribs a try.

When my g/f and I did the Long Trail a couple years ago I was fine eating the same few meals day in and day out, she was not. She bought a cookbook designed for backpacking and dehydrating. For a couple weeks we made meals, dehydrated and stored them ready for the hike. This method worked great, she's not a super picky eater but this method allowed her to be excited for different meals each night.

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I don't know your backpacking experience or what you know about the LT but let me tell you it's HARD. I've thru-hiked the AT and PCT, the LT is some of the hardest trail I have encountered. We planned 18 days as well, after 3 days we abandoned our SoBO of the LT. We were almost 20 miles behind schedule at that point and I didn't want to kill my g/f on a 2 week death march to complete the LT. What we did instead was spend more time in town and B&B, hitch back to the trail somewhere else, go NoBo or SoBo based on difficulty and which town we wanted to end up in next. Keep the option to yoyo around and visit small town Vermont.

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Backpack Gourmet is a good resource.

https://www.amazon.com/Backpack-Gourmet-Dehydrate-Healthy-Eating/dp/0811713474/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1557845459&sr=8-24

Yeah, this was a campsite with logs and charcoal. Fire was only a little bit charcoal, and after reading "seven fires" recently I think I'll do it on a wood fire next time:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00MMSXR94/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1