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We don't hear enough about Japan these days. Japan with its great intelligence and mystery was so much front and center in the 1980s and now we hear so little about it as if it no longer exists; as if economics were the harbinger of all things worth knowing.... but that ain't so. Japanese culture still has a lot ofcool stuff to share with us and one of those things is camp cooking.
There is a special stew in Japanese culinary culture called nabemono. It is mostly vegetables, tofu, and mushrooms of all kinds, noodles, and fish. It is bubbling hot and delicious. It is cooked in a big pot that everybody shares from; using spoon and chopsticks. This is fun in challenging each other to pickup hot tofu with chopsticks, of courses. GAME ON! You can cook this over a stove or over a campfire. If you cook in traditional earthenware, you can put it on the picnic table and it will continue to bubble as you eat, otherwise keep it on a low flame while everybody sits around and enjoys together.
I learned about nabemono staying with Japanese farmers back in the day - when the rooms were warmed with charcoal hibachi pots and NOT with central heating.We ate nabemono stew together with everybody's legs tucked under the single communal "kotatsu" table blanket. We warmed up with this hot delicious meal and then either went to the ofuro hot-tub or scurried off to our thick futon mattresses on woven tatami rice mats. Oh how soundly we slept under those thick cotton futon blankets while our nostrils poking from under them inhaled frigid ambient air. Much like camping, the barrier between inside and outside was a thin un-insulated wall. Cold outside meant cold inside. In the morning, we would wake to mama san's rice porridge (often made with the previous nights left-overs) or rice, pickles, and hot miso soy soup. Those were the days. I doubt that modern "conveniences" have truly improved life experiences and the human camaraderie that one-ness with nature brings people together. So much of the human exeriene is missed when people eat separately with a computer screen in front of them or eating fast food in a car.
Traditionally, this meal is cooked in a large basin style ceramic pot, but practicality rules when camping, so any large pot will do.
This is a great way to use some freshly caught fish or hunted shellfish while camping as just about any fish can be used from crabs to cod. I have never used zebra mussels, but if you can find a use for those bastards, let’s hear it.
I think you will find this a delightful meal to share with friends and family. It is so much more than typical slurry stews as the ingredients are mostly whole so that you pick and choose your favorite things.
Here are a couple recipes or you can Google a thousand others: http://www.bento.com/rf_nabe.htmlOR http://www.thekitchn.com/cooking-jap...abemono-106649
There is a special stew in Japanese culinary culture called nabemono. It is mostly vegetables, tofu, and mushrooms of all kinds, noodles, and fish. It is bubbling hot and delicious. It is cooked in a big pot that everybody shares from; using spoon and chopsticks. This is fun in challenging each other to pickup hot tofu with chopsticks, of courses. GAME ON! You can cook this over a stove or over a campfire. If you cook in traditional earthenware, you can put it on the picnic table and it will continue to bubble as you eat, otherwise keep it on a low flame while everybody sits around and enjoys together.
I learned about nabemono staying with Japanese farmers back in the day - when the rooms were warmed with charcoal hibachi pots and NOT with central heating.We ate nabemono stew together with everybody's legs tucked under the single communal "kotatsu" table blanket. We warmed up with this hot delicious meal and then either went to the ofuro hot-tub or scurried off to our thick futon mattresses on woven tatami rice mats. Oh how soundly we slept under those thick cotton futon blankets while our nostrils poking from under them inhaled frigid ambient air. Much like camping, the barrier between inside and outside was a thin un-insulated wall. Cold outside meant cold inside. In the morning, we would wake to mama san's rice porridge (often made with the previous nights left-overs) or rice, pickles, and hot miso soy soup. Those were the days. I doubt that modern "conveniences" have truly improved life experiences and the human camaraderie that one-ness with nature brings people together. So much of the human exeriene is missed when people eat separately with a computer screen in front of them or eating fast food in a car.
Traditionally, this meal is cooked in a large basin style ceramic pot, but practicality rules when camping, so any large pot will do.
This is a great way to use some freshly caught fish or hunted shellfish while camping as just about any fish can be used from crabs to cod. I have never used zebra mussels, but if you can find a use for those bastards, let’s hear it.
I think you will find this a delightful meal to share with friends and family. It is so much more than typical slurry stews as the ingredients are mostly whole so that you pick and choose your favorite things.
Here are a couple recipes or you can Google a thousand others: http://www.bento.com/rf_nabe.htmlOR http://www.thekitchn.com/cooking-jap...abemono-106649