In keeping with the theme of labor saving (but surprisingly sumptuous) breakfasts that we discussed here yesterday, I’d like to take a moment and cast a vote for Ziplock Omelets, also known as omelets in a bag.

Long popular with RVers, campers, backpackers, and college students, the Ziplock omelette method allows you to make light fluffy omelettes with a minimum of mess and a maximum of versatility using just about any additional ingredients you prefer (cheese, mushrooms, spinach, onions, diced pepperoni, etc.).

Best of all, unlike traditional omelette preparation, it takes more or less the same time to make 1 Ziplock omelette…or 50!

Additionally, since you are making the omelettes in resealable plastic bags (which function similarly to boil-in bags), post-meal cleanup is easy since you only use a few dishes no matter how many omelettes you make.

As the folks at MerrysKitchen.Com state when sharing their method for making Ziplock omelettes for large groups:

“First, have each person crack 2-3 large eggs into a quart size freezer bag. (it’s best to use a name brand.) Next, have them add whatever ‘omelet goodies’ they want to their bag… bacon, cheese, green pepper, ham, sausage, mushrooms, ect. and choice of seasonings.

Have everyone write their name on their bag, with a ‘Sharpie’ marker. Boil 6-8 bags at a time, in a large pot of rapidly boiling water, for 13 minutes.”

The staff at Lifehacker.Com tested the omelette in a bag theory with a version of the recipe that serves one here.

Here’s a nice Youtube video we found that shows just how easy making these can be:

At last month’s Redwood Creek Campfire Classic event in National Harbor, MD, four semifinalists from the South (including myself) and four from the Northeast met in a combined event to compete in our respective regions.On contest day, we were each assigned to share a preparation table with a semifinalist from the other region who we weren’t competing against.

I had the pleasure of sharing a table with Melissa Mullins, a charming and talented woman who persevered in the face of unforeseen technical glitches to produce first-rate examples of her beautiful, scrumptious sounding Blackberry Hand Pies with Jar-Whipped Lavender Cream and win the finalist spot for the Northeast Region.

I say scrumptious sounding because, sadly, in all the excitement of the event I never did get a chance to taste them!

But they must have been pretty darn wonderful because, I’m thrilled to report, my tablemate went on to win the Redwood Creek Campfire Classic Grand Prize in NYC this weekend!

Hooray for Melissa! Now I really wish I had gotten to taste those pies!

As it says in an article about the 2008 Redwood Creek Campfire Classic Contest in Epicurious:

“Mullins’s empanada-like pies are baked over the campfire in mini-foil ‘ovens’ that allow the air to circulate, helping the crust get crispy. She says shortening works better than butter for the great outdoors since it doesn’t spoil and also aids in crisping the crust.”

Melissa’s love of local ingredients and culinary ingenuity gave her the inspiration for the winning dish. “The campground we were at was just surrounded by blackberries.” Then she found frozen pie crusts at the camping store, and turned her grill into an oven with tinfoil, according to New York’s Daily News.

Want to make her winning dish during your next cookout? You can see her full recipe here on the Metro Sports NY site.

Have you ever wanted to make authentic homemade pulled pork barbecue and didn’t know where to start?

In this excellent 8 minute YouTube video from the BBQ Pit Boys, you’ll learn how to make tender and succulent pulled pork in a smoker; what kind of meat to buy, how much marbling there should be, how to modulate the temperature just right so it comes out as juicy and delicious as every pulled pork meal deserves to be, and more.

You can watch the video below (or you can click here instead):

Leftover pulled pork is also the starting point for Charleston Chili, which features pulled pork, country ham, and boiled peanuts instead of the usual beef and beans. Pulled pork is also excellent in sandwiches.

Here’s a recipe for After the Barbecue Pulled Pork Po Boys.

The BBQ Pit Boys have over 40 videos about all aspects of barbecuing, smoking, and outdoor cooking which you can see here.

Have fun and happy grilling!

Ever wonder where top chefs like Anthony Bourdain, Thomas Keller, and Tom Colicchio like to go on vacation, area restaurants they can’t resist, what their guilty culinary pleasures are on the road, and more?

Then you’ll enjoy this series of interesting pieces from Fodors which features 14 top chefs including Alice Waters, Anthony Bourdain, Thomas Keller, Tom, Colicchio, Ming Tsai, Suvir Saran, Lidia Bastianich, Govind Armstrong, Michelle Bernstein, Gavin Kaysen, Bobby Flay, and Suzanne Goin, sharing their favorite foodie meccas (excerpts below):

Anthony Bourdain on New York:

“What do we do in New York better than anyone else in the world?’ The answer to that question is deli…It’s the food that I miss when I’m away, no matter how well I’m eating. Even in places with fantastic food — Singapore, Hong Kong — the food that I miss first is deli.”

(You can read more from Anthony Bourdain on the subject here.)

Thomas Keller on the Napa Valley:

“When I think of lunch in Napa, I think of something quick that’s kind of comforting. And one of the places I like is Taylor’s Refresher. They have great hamburgers and fish tacos and you can sit outside in the beautiful weather because they have a big lawn right behind it. One of the things about Napa Valley, which is so unique, is that all of our restaurants are really good…People come to Napa Valley primarily to eat and drink, so we have great wine and great restaurants.”

(You can read more from Thomas Keller on the subject here.)

Tom Colicchio on Charleston, SC:

“What’s great about the South is that the idea of hospitality is second-nature. One of my favorites in Charleston is Hominy Grill. It is just the epitome of Southern casual dining. Breakfast, lunch, dinner — every single meal is just wonderful. Usually when I go to Charleston, I go right from the plane to Hominy Grill. I try to get there for breakfast — they do shrimp and grits and different egg dishes. Whatever they serve is usually seasonal, wonderful, delicious. Last time I was there I had shad roe and scrambled eggs for breakfast…

For me, going to South Carolina, it’s not so much about the beaches, it’s about the marshes. It’s just wonderful to get a kayak and go through the marshes. You see everything from redfish to alligators to dolphins. It’s amazing — the amount of birds and wildlife…

There are so many little fish shacks around Charleston. There’s a little place called Bowen’s Island, an oyster grill where you sit at a picnic table, and the guy comes by with a shovel full of oysters that come off the grill and just puts [them] on the table on top of newspaper and they’re kind of steamed open from the grill — and that’s it. You dip them in butter and that’s all they serve…”

(You can read more from Tom Colicchio on the subject here.)

Also, you can see photos of Bowen’s Island on our FlickR Photoset here as well as read the full series of top chef interviews here.

As part of this week’s special two part series on food preservation, here’s the second installment: Fun With Garlic Scapes.

What Are Garlic Scapes?

Heads of garlic are an essential part of any gourmet kitchen, but did you know that there’s much more to garlic than its cloves?

Garlic scapes (also known as garlic tops, garlic shoots, green garlic, spring baby garlic, garlic spears, early garlic greens, or garlic “flowers”) are the curly tipped, extremely tasty green shoots that grow from “heads” of hardneck (or topset) garlic which are usually discarded before harvesting in most of the U.S.

This is quite a shame because garlic scapes are a versatile and nutritious culinary treasure that is valued in Korean, Chinese, Thai, Polynesian, and coastal French cuisine. (Asian markets with produce sections are virtually guaranteed to stock fresh garlic scapes in season, but you can also find them at farmers’ markets, and gourmet supermarkets. Frozen garlic scapes are even easier to find and are readily available year-round in the freezer section of most Asian supermarkets.)

Taste-wise, garlic scapes are to garlic heads what scallions are to onions. They are garlicky but with a fresh “green” taste. They can be used in any dish where one usually uses garlic but wants a brighter, more complex garlic flavor with less bite than one would get from standard garlic cloves.

Garlic scapes work well in soups, salads, stews, salsas, dips, guacamole, omelettes, frittatas, souffles, marinades, pesto, salad dressings, and stir-fry. They can also be pickled and added to homemade flavored vinegars. Scapes are also delightful when cooked into sauces.

A simple but wonderful garlic scape spread can be made by chopping some up and mixing them with softened cream cheese (or sour cream) and dill. When added to mayonnaise to make an aioli, the flavor of chopped garlic scapes becomes milder and the savory notes are more apparent. I also like to make a nice garlic scape dressing with sour cream to add to salads, use as a dip for crackers, Triscuits, toast points, and pork rinds or to spoon over a nice salad.

Garlic scapes also make an interesting side dish. Here’s a simple but good recipe for roasted garlic scapes I came across awhile ago:

Roasted Garlic Scapes

Take the scapes and put them in a lightly oiled roasting pan, top with salt (kosher or sea salt works best). Put the loaded and covered pan in a hot (425°F) oven for 30 to 45 minutes or until they are beginning to turn brown. serve as a side or main dish. Tastes like roasted garlic but creamier. This is also good drizzled with a light cheese sauce.

Here’s a recipe for garlic scape pesto:

Garlic Scape Pesto

1 cup grated Parmesan cheese (or even better in my experience, Tallegio cheese)
3 Tbsp. fresh lime or lemon juice
1/4 lb. garlic scapes
1/2-cup olive oil
Salt to taste

Puree’ scapes and olive oil in a food processor until smooth. Stir in Parmesan and lime or lemon juice and season to taste.

More Uses For Garlic Scapes:

You can also chop up garlic scapes and use them for seasoning, just like regular garlic.

Garlic scapes can be dehydrated, or preserved as a pesto. They also freeze well for future use.

NOTE: The numbers in the photo above correspond to the instructions below…Have fun using your new spice!

Why Make Your Own Garlic Scape Spice?

Since the garlic scape season is a fairly short one in many parts of the country, this recipe will allow you to conveniently add the bright taste of garlic scapes to your meals all year round. This spice can also be added to homemade dehydrated soup mixes so you can have the taste of garlic on the go, and in a lightweight yet durable format for campers, etc. This would also make a great homemade gift for any die-hard garlic lover!

This recipe also allows garlic scape nuts…er afficianados to justify large purchases of garlic scapes in season because dehydrated scapes take up much less space than fresh ones and have a long shelf life while still retaining their flavor and nutritional value.

As far as I know, no company has yet decided to put garlic scape spice on the market, so if you want to enjoy the goodness of garlic scape spice, you’ll have to make your own.

The Method:

To get started, all you need are some garlic scapes, an electric multi-tray dehydrator, and a food processor or sharp knife.

1. Grab a few handfuls of garlic scapes, clean them, and shake the water out. Use a food processor to puree’ your garlic scapes (you may need to cut them in pieces before loading them into the food processor). Or chop your garlic scapes with a sharp kitchen knife as finely as you can.

2. Pour the pureed garlic scapes onto the trays of your electric dehydrator and turn it on. Dehydration should take 4-6 hours. The garlic scapes are done when they are dry and brittle like the dried chives you get in the spice jars you find in the supermarket.

3. To give your garlic scape spice a versatile, dried chive texture, use a mortar and pestle and grind the newly dried spice until it’s the texture you like. If you don’t have a mortar and pestle, you can hand crumble the spice in a bowl instead.

4. To give your garlic scape spice a fine, powdery texture, just pour the dried scapes into your food processor or coffee mill/spice grinder and process until fine. Or just keep processing it until it’s the right texture with a mortar and pestle.

Tip: If you opt for the fine texture, you can mix it with salt and/or other spices to make your own custom garlic scape spice blend. If you opt for the “chive” texture and decide down the road that you’d prefer to make a spice blend, you can always grind it finer and add your salt or other spices later.

5. Store your finished garlic scape spice in a glass bottle…enjoy!

Want to learn more about the pleasures of garlic scapes? The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has a nice overview here.

Are you a gardener? Here’s how to grow the type of garlic that produces garlic scapes.

Spicelines also has a nice Hong Kong inspired recipe for Beef and Garlic Shoots in Oyster Sauce you might want to try.

Note: This original Hugging the Coast article also appears on eHow in three parts as:

• How to Use Garlic Scapes and Shoots in Recipes

• How to Make Your Own Homemade Garlic Scape Spice

• How to Make Fresh Garlic Scape Pesto

(You can see more Hugging the Coast eHow articles here.)

As part of this week’s special two part series on food preservation, here’s the first installment: How to Dehydrate Blueberries, Cranberries, Raspberries, & Blackberries.

NOTE: The numbers in the photo above correspond to the instructions below…Enjoy your berries!

Home dehydration is an easy way to preserve the taste of berries (and other fruits and vegetables) year round, whether you stock up on them on sale, or harvest them yourself. Unlike other methods of food preservation (ie. freezing and canning), dehydration allows you to preserve those tasty jewels with almost no loss of flavor or nutrition.

Note: This recipe also works for cranberries, blackberries, raspberries, etc. but to keep things simple I will be referring to blueberries throught this recipe.

Blueberries are one of the easiest fruits for the beginner to dehydrate well. Unlike some other fruits and vegetables they need almost no advance preparation (blanching, etc.) and require no added sugar, sulfites, or other preservatives. This makes them a truly great fruit to dehydrate…

Store bought dehydrated blueberries are often hard to find and expensive and usually contain sulfites (which are completely unnecessary for blueberries) and added sugar.

Uses: Dehydrated blueberries are great added to muffins, scones, and pancakes, as well as sprinkled in your cereal. They are also great as part of a healthy trail mix if you are a camper, hiker, long distance biker, or mountain climber.

Equipment: To get started, all you need is your fruit, a knife to cut the fruit, a colander, and an electric multi-tray dehydrator. (Depending on your local weather and climate, you can sun-dry many fruits and veggies but an electric dehydrator is quicker in most cases.)

1. Start with fresh, high quality blueberries. Hand wash them with water in a colander, then shake out as much water as possible and put in a bowl.

2. You can dehydrate whole blueberries as easily and as well as halved blueberries, but halving cuts down on the dehydration time quite a bit (about 40%), so I suggest first halving all the blueberries.

3. Lay your halved blueberries cut side down on the dehydrator trays, leaving at least half a blueberry’s thickness sized space between each berry (approx. 1/16 of an inch).

4. Place your first filled dehydrator rack in your open dehydrator.

5. As you continue to fill dehydrator racks with berries, stack the completed racks on top of each other.

6. When you are out of blueberries to stack on racks, put the cover on your dehydrator and turn it on!

Time: Like microwaves, different dehydrators take different times to do their job. Blueberries take between 8-12 hours to dehydrate; my old Wearever dehydrator takes 11 hours to do 6 racks of blueberries. The important thing to remember is that you want the finished blueberries to be leathery but still chewy; like very dry raisins.

Tip: I like to set my dehydrator up a few hours before I go to bed so it can work while I sleep, but you can also set it up just before you leave for work and come home to a batch of preserved berries!

At the 7 1/2-8 hour mark you might want to check on your blueberries to see how they are doing. The blueberries on the bottom racks will dry out sooner than the ones in the top racks as they are closer to the heat source, so you might want to see if they need to be “harvested early”.

Tip: Get a cheap plug in appliance timer and set it for 8 hours and plug your dehydrator in it so your dehydrator turns itself off if it is the kind of dehydrator that doesn’t have a time off option. Dehydrators with built-in timers often cost quite a bit more than those that don’t and it isn’t really worth the extra expense.

After you “harvest” your blueberries, allow them to cool a little before storing them in resealable bags, mason jars, or cannisters to preserve their freshness.

Have fun!

Note: This article is also available in the following convenient format(s)…

Planning to do some serious hiking, biking, or backpacking and need a simple way to make nutritious meals on the run using a minimum of dishes and cooking equipment? Then thermos cooking might be for you.

For most meals made in a thermos (you’ll need a fully stainless steel-lined 1 quart thermos with a small-medium sized opening like the Aladdin Stanley, not those wide-mouthed, styrofoam insulated cheapies that the kids take to school) all you’ll need is a good thermos, the ingredients you plan to cook, some hot water, and a little patience.

Plus, if you’re camping, boating, etc. and don’t have easy access to boiling water, simple hot water will do…however be prepared for the cooking process to take a bit longer. (For many, thermos cooking can also be a good technique to know in the event of an extended power outage.)

The best way to get started with thermos cooking is to read this thread about it which has tips and recipes for successful and easy thermos cookery from people who do it for a wide variety of reasons.

There’s also another good thread here where the author compares his experiences cooking steel-cut oats, grits, stew, pasta, etc. on a conventional stovetop with those he had cooking in a thermos.

Below are two Youtube videos from Videocamper in which he shows how to get started with cooking with foil outdoors. In the video, he makes Cornish game hen, asparagus, potatoes, sweet potatoes, and carrots while demonstrating the technique.

Cooking in foil is a convenient adaptation of a French technique of cooking in parchment paper called en papillote that is perfect for outdoor cooking. Foil cooking seals in all the delicious juices of the foods you are cooking, cuts down greatly on cleanup, and is a fun way to cook in the great outdoors.

In most cases, you’ll want to use heavy-duty foil for best results and improved durability. Cooks.Com has some good recipes on the topic to get you started here.

Part I:

Part II:

Another method that some people use to cook with foil is cooking on a car engine. Instructables.com has a nice series of tips if you’d like to give it a try. Wisebread also has a good article about it here.

Solar oven cooking is a method of cooking which is completely powered by the sun that sometimes uses foil for its heat reflecting and/or insulating properties. Here are some free plans you can use to experiment with solar cooking.

Since this site’s Doug DuCap is going to compete in the Redwood Creek Campfire Classic Semi-Finals this weekend, we thought we’d focus a bit on the joys of outdoor cooking this week…

Cooking with a pie iron is one of the simple pleasures of outdoor cooking. Often made of cast iron, these long handled and inexpensive devices offer campers, RVers, backpackers, and other fans of outdoor cooking a simple and fun way for the whole family to make toasted sandwiches, campfire “pizzas”, cornbreads, and pies over an open fire or briquets.

Commonly available in single (pictured above) or double width (so you can toast two sandwiches or pies at a time), you can find pie irons in the camping, cookout, or kitchen section of most larger stores as well as at a variety of online retailers.

As the folks at ChuckWagonDinner.Com say:

“A Pie Iron is a mold of cast iron or aluminum, with handles. Each side also serves as a small skillet. Bread is placed in first and then the filling into the generous cooking cavity. The two sides close and are then placed over hot coals.

The solid cast iron design holds up to the rigors of the campfire best but must be watched closely to avoid burning. Pie Iron’s are fun to use, and make terrific sandwiches and desserts…Other terms for pie iron fare include: Toasties, Mountain Pies, Hobo Pies, Pudgie Pies and Pie Shams.”

Cast iron pie irons should be seasoned for best performance. You can find out how here.
KOA (Kampgrounds of America) has a delicious list of pie iron recipes, as does PieIron.com.

Also, here’s a few more easy pie iron recipes from ChuckWagonDiner.Com:

• Portabella Melts

• Grilled Salmon Sandwich

• Perfect Pie Iron Pizza

• Chili Cheese Cornbread

• Peanut Butter Cup Melt

• Cherry Cream Cheese Pie

• Grog Cakes

• Fresh Fruit Pies

When you go on a fishing trip or go camping in the mountains, do you enjoy celebrating the pleasure of the great outdoors with a gourmet meal cooked on an open fire?

Fans of outdoor cooking at its finest (as well as gourmet food in general), won’t want to miss the four Redwood Creek Campfire Classic events taking place across the country throughout the spring and summer to kickoff the 2008 camping season.

The most recent event will be held on May 17th, 2008 as part of the Food and Wine Festival at National Harbor in Maryland and will feature the semi-final competitions for the contest for already selected competitors from both the North and Southeast (with Hugging the Coast’s own Doug DuCap competing in the Southeastern Division!).

In addition to the Redwood Creek Campfire Classic cookoffs, the Food and Wine Festival at National Harbor will also feature demonstrations by Michel Richard, the critically acclaimed chef of Citronelle and author of Happy in the Kitchen as well as lectures and samples from dozens of culinary experts from around the country.

Two other Campfire Classic semi-finalist cookoffs will be held in Seattle, WA on May 31st as part of the Pike Place Market Street Festival and in Chicago, IL on June 7th as part of the Chicago Botanic Garden Wine Festival which will determine the finalists from the Northwest and Midwest divisions. (The finalists from the Southwestern division were chosen on May 3rd at Mayfest in Fort Worth, TX.)

Winners of the Campfire Classic Semi-Finals will be awarded $1,000, plus an all-expense paid trip to New York City to compete during the first week of summer for a chance to win a $10,000 Grand Prize. The finals will be judged by Redwood Creek winemaker, Cal Dennison, and Bob Blumer, host of the Food Network’s Glutton for Punishment and The Surreal Gourmet.

Like the poster above? You can get it free here. Also, please see the 2007 Campfire Classic Finalists’ Recipes below to help inspire you on your own culinary campfire adventures:

• 2007 Grand Prize Winner: Coal-Roasted Chuckbox Pozole-Stuffed Onions by Leah Lyon of Ada, Oklahoma

• Chincoteague Scallops by Julia DeCastro of University Park, Florida

• Rocky Mountain Pinon Paella by Paul Heitzenrater of Denver, Colorado

• Down East Lobster Scampi a la Campfire by Brian Mulligan of Bath, Maine

• Lost in the Woods Pork Tenderloin by Kim Wittmers of Minneapolis, Minnesota