Feast by firelight Simple recipes for camping, cabins, and the great outdoors

Food blogger, Next Food Network Star finalist, and Firelight Camps cofounder Frisch proves campfire dining doesn't have to mean eating cold food out of a can. Here she offers more than 75 camp-friendly recipes that, for the most part, emphasize flavor over fuss. Though the need to make from scratch one's own graham crackers for s'mores is debatable, Frisch's do-ahead approach makes a lot of sense in this collection. All the ingredients for Zero-Degree Chili, coal-baked potatoes with fixings, and rosemary corn bread with hard-cider butter are put into ziplock bags and brought to the camp site; all the cook has to do is prepare a fire, transfer them to a pan, and the meal is good to go. Other dishes-such as a smoked-salmon spread; praline bacon; and lemon, parsley, and potato salad-come together quickly and can be prepped at home. Salient tips on outfitting an outdoor kitchen, the art of efficiently packing a cooler, and, perhaps most importantly, building and maintaining a campfire go a long way toward ensuring success for novices and veteran campers alike. Those who love the outdoors and want to elevate the experience will find Frisch's book as vital as a good knife and extra matches. (Apr.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Frisch, owner of Firelight Camps, a self-described "glamping" facility in Ithaca, NY, more than meets the challenge of creating a great camping cookbook, offering varied, fun, and manageable recipes for a wide range of dishes, from cocktails to desserts. Each recipe provides a "Prep" section outlining the steps to be taken in advance of departing on a trip. Make no mistake, these recipes involve some serious cooking, but almost all of the work takes place in the home kitchen. The steps to finish a dish at mealtime are relatively simple and very clear. Gluten-free and vegetarian options abound, and are among the most interesting and delicious. Spiced sweet potato and kale tacos, for example, provide a memorable variation on a standby, made complete with a complex and satisfying flavor profile. -VERDICT -Beautifully illustrated, with welcome extras such as lists of recommended equipment, tips for efficiently packing your coolers, and engaging headnotes accompanying each recipe, this terrific resource will inspire outdoors enthusiasts who want to add flavor and flair to their camp meals.-Christopher Myers, Lake Oswego P.L., OR © Copyright 2018. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

I go into the wild to still the noise inside my mind. I feel as if I've come alive when pockets of evergreen perfume drift inside my nose and the soft murmur of creeks trickle into my ears. Being outdoors heightens the senses in every way, cultivating an ideal mind-set for cooking. Humans have always relied on sensory cues for making meals, and written recipes are no exception. Dishes need to be understood not just with taste but also with sight, scent, sound, and touch. When I competed on Food Network Star , I showed an audience of four hundred people how to massage cabbage for a slaw. Wiggling my fingers in the air, I said, "Don't forget your most important tool!" The judges loved it, because they knew it was true. Cooking outdoors is an opportunity to fine-tune our senses, a practice easily lost when we judge grilled chicken from an image in a book or on a screen. A Dutch oven and timer are helpful but it's the smell of toasted, sweet kernels that slaps me in the face, telling me the cornbread is ready. We're built with tools as equallyimportant as pots and pans, and there's hardly a better time to use these gifts than when we're in nature. Excerpted from Feast by Firelight: Simple Recipes for Camping, Cabins, and the Great Outdoors by Emma Frisch All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.