Chapter 32

Camp Cooking - How to Use Reflector Baker

A reflector baker is one of the most useful equipment items that you can take along on your hunting, fishing and camping trips.

Reflector Bakers come in two models. A non-collapsible as shown, and a collapsible.

Cooking with a reflector baker is easily learned. If you use the baker outdoors, build a small fireplace or “pen” of stones or green logs. I prefer stones. Select stones about eight or ten inches square that are as flat as you can get in the vicinity, and build a small pen having sides, back and top. Two or three thin stones will suffice for the top, and you may be lucky enough to find one stone that will do the trick. The little pen should be 12 or 14 inches high, 18 inches deep and 12 inches wide.

If you can’t find suitable stones for constructing a makeshift fireplace, make one of green logs, splitting those for the top so that your cooking pots will set level.

Build your fire in your fireplace. Place the reflector baker about four inches from the front, so the blaze hits the bottom and reflects upward, also the blaze hits the inside top and reflects down, and you can bake anything that can be baked in an oven. You can regulate heat by moving the baker.

If you use any type of wood-burning stove that doesn’t have an oven, place the baker against the side of the stove, as close as possible. With a bit of experimenting, you can use a reflector baker in conjunction with a gasoline stove.

It is possible to bake beans in a reflector baker without interfering with your other duties around camp if you use a wood-burning stove. Lacking a bean pot in your outfit, use a two-quart pail or dish. Soak the beans overnight, and in the morning place in pail, adding two tablespoons of sugar, teaspoon dry mustard, very little salt and pepper, and nearly one pound of salt pork. Now fill pail with water, place on shelf of baker, and place baker against side of stove.

BILL GORMAN > Professional Maine Guides are known for rustling up multi-course feasts in the wilderness, and the reflector baker is still used by some. Using heat reflected from the campfire, the deceptively simple oven can turn out bread, biscuits, pizza, and just about anything else you’d bake in a home oven, even chocolate chip cookies.

Ordinarily, half a pound of salt pork is sufficient to use in baking two quarts of beans, but you will find that a pound is better if you are away from camp most of the day and can’t attend to your cooking properly. If you plan to be away from camp all day, fill the stove with wood before you leave camp. When you return at night, start your fire and add water to the beans. Add more water before you go to bed. Beans should be well done for one of your meals the next day.

In most states there are public camp sites where fireplaces are built. (See Chapter 36).

BILL GORMAN > The right selection of foods is important when participating in strenuous outdoor activities, especially on multi-day trips. High-energy foods like cookies, chocolate, nuts, fruit leathers, trail mix, hard cheese, and salami not only satisfy your body’s caloric needs but also pack easily and will keep for a few days. If you’re backpacking, consider lightweight (and, these days, surprisingly tasty) boil-in-bag and freeze-dried gourmet dinners, instant cereals and soups, and dried pasta.