By April Herbert (1970)
[FROM THE PREFACE]
The idea of serving gourmet meals away from the convenience of home was handed to me on a silver platter. Or, more accurately, on an aluminum grill, by a slightly charred and hungry husband as he served up the hamburgers. He suggested that there might be something else, sometime, to feast on in a National Park.
That was many trips ago, and since then I have been known to serve hamburgers now and then -–I love— And have added to my repertoire Swedish Meatballs and Hawaiian Beef Balls, UN Burgers and Hamburger Cassoulet, along with other meat concoctions, poultry creations, and seafood preparations.
The winter of that same year we cautiously took up skiing. That entailed a four hour drive to the mountains and back again each weekend, and we quickly tired of plain dry sandwiches. I began to experiment with transportable concoctions that would also provide more variety and nourishment before and after a weekend's hard skiing period
Common to all but a few of the recipes is the idea that exceptionally good meals can be whipped up from a simplified list of cooking ingredients and techniques. a classic dish, such as Boeuf en Daube, classically simmers and bubbles for hours (using up time and fuel supplies), but it can be prepared in half an hour by using a more tender cut of meat. Even “convenience foods” – canned vegetables and prepared mix – can become part of a gourmet meal if they are cooked in season to the proper touch.
VINTAGE HARDCOVER - GOOD CONDITION, NO DUSTCOVER