Bushcraft Memorable Meals – Part 2 – Before & After

The next instalment of Bushcraft Memorable Meals. The theme is ‘Before & After’ – I’ve paired up pictures of food ready for cooking with the finished product.

I went for a visit to Dingly Dell at the BCUK Bushmoot last year and had a great chat with Steve Mesquite Harrall and John Fenna. John had this pot of pre-prepared nettle soup thawing out by the fire for the group meal we have. Unluckily I did not get to taste this as the hordes beat me to it but I was told it was a good soup. However…………..

Previously I was at one of the Moots at Mark Beer’s site and Jon Searle poured me out a quite extraordinary bowl of nettle soup.

One of my favourite ways to cook fish is to Ponasse it over an open fire. This one was prepared for the BCUK Bushmoot group meal.

It is gently cooked over an open fire and this time I did get some and it tasted a treat.

Every year my sister sends me down a Guga in the post. This is a young Gannet and my family still are allowed to undertake the annual Guga Hunt to a rocky island called Sula Sgeir off the coast of the Isle of Lewis every August. This is my favourite food. I have put a link to a website at the bottom of the blog that explains the hunt.
The guga is boiled for half an hour and the water is then changed and boiled again for another half hour. Alison does not let me cook it in the kitchen as the house reeks of guga for days – personally I don’t see the problem with that.

Thankfully though my kids love this annual feast.

I was taught by Ian Holt Jones at John Ryder’s Woodcraft School how to butcher venison and prepare it.

We had some memorable meals on the Woodcraft courses.

I love to bake bread and have a savoury tooth.

After sitting the pot in embers the results can be quite delightful.

My cadets love pizza so being outdoors is no excuse for not having any. Thanks to Simon and Helen Hunt for experimenting with this campfire pizza oven at Ferny Crofts this year.

The results were brilliant. I only got a little piece as the cadets kept getting in front of me.

For the perfect bushcraft breakfast, split one green log, peg on some bacon and……….

Lay it by the fire and enjoy.

To finish pop out and collect some blackberries (get others to do the job if you can) and…………

…hopefully some excellent cook like my wife Alison will bake you a beautiful crumble.

I hope you enjoyed this little ‘Before & After’ blog: I know I certainly enjoyed eating it all.

George
The Guga Hunters of Ness