Thanksgiving is my favourite holiday. Gratitude and food are two things I can really get behind. For years, Colin and I have spent the Thanksgiving weekend camping. One year I decided to make thanksgiving dinner and the tradition was solidified.
As the dinners evolved, I began to look forward to it more and more. It’s the one weekend where food takes priority over hiking. It has become something akin to Gordon Ramsay turned wood-sprite does Come Dine with Me.
This year, we camped at the Williams Campground at Mount Carleton Provincial Park. The site is a 150m walk-in on Big Nictau Lake. Our guests were Chuck & Andrea, who we met while snowshoeing in Fundy this past February. The menu was my most elaborate yet. As an added element of difficulty, there was no store nearby to rescue me if I either forgot something or worse, ruined the entire meal. The nearest convenience store was 40km. The closest restaurant, much further.
Pulling off a fancy dinner at camp takes planning and prep. I choose menu items by considering the steps involved and how much I can do in advance. I also need to think about what is needed to get it table-ready at the campsite. I bake using a cast iron Dutch oven. I need ideal weather conditions to bake more than two separate items. Planning more than that could be asking for trouble. I also have a gas stove because it’s inevitable that you’ll have to warm something. Boiling potatoes, sautéing green beans and warming dish water are all things best handled by the stove. And since I was serving ice cream with dessert, I brought along my ice cream ball. I got everyone to toss it around before dinner to churn the ice cream.
Prep takes two forms: actually making or starting menu items and packing ingredients. Essentially, you prep a meal the way meal delivery services do. Start what you can at home: bake bread, make dips, make soups, cook bacon, toast nuts, combine spices, assemble toppings. For the step you need to complete on site, package and label your ingredients, pre-measured, where possible. Good labels can act as your recipe card at camp. I make lists – lots of lists. And plan your tools and cookware too. This trip involved turkey so a thermometer was critical. And until now, I can’t say I’d ever gone on a camping trip that required a salad bowl either. Or a cheeseboard. I also had to pull together the rest of the meals for the weekend. And not let them look like after thoughts.
A special meal also deserves a properly adorned table and a party game. My centrepieces were a pair of mason jar tea light holders decorated with leaves (collected from Queen’s Square). The game was called ‘The Dirty Turkey’, which is a thanksgiving version of pass the present. Thanks to Anne at the Feel Good Store for her savvy assistance creating the gift box.
The aperitif was Harvest Punch, served in 1 cup mason jars – easy transport and easy clean. Fall coloured paper plates, napkins and a tablecloth made an easy but thoughtful table.
The weather was sunny and cool, with the treat of impending rain. The turkey breasts took 2 hours in the Dutch oven. I also used it to warm the dressing, prepared at home. The rice pilaf was best served at room temperature which was a prime reason I had chosen that recipe.
The apple crumble was also baked in the Dutch oven. I did forget the nut topping at home. Luckily, I had 2 packages of maple and brown sugar instant oatmeal in my daypack that I carry for emergency food.
I tossed the apples with the cinnamon mixture, combined the candied pecans intended for the cheeseboard with the oatmeal and coconut oil and used it as a topping. It wasn’t quite as intended but no one was any wiser to my quick fix.
As we settled in for our meal, the weather turned. We remained warm and dry for the majority of dinner. By dessert, things were getting damp. It was a full blown thunderstorm before we finished off our dishes of warm apple crumble with vanilla ice cream. Over the evening, plans for next year began to take shape. While it can be tough to convince people to come for a campsite dinner, it’s never difficult to get them to come back.