and macaroni should, when boiled, be done in from twenty to thirty
minutes. The surest test is to taste them. They will be burned in
that many seconds, if you allow the water to boil off or put them in
the middle of a smoky fire where they cannot be watched.

Fried things are the easiest to cook because you can tell when they
are done more easily. Fried food however is always objectionable and
as little of it should be eaten as possible. You are not much of a
camp cook if a frying pan is your only tool.

A bottle of catsup or some pickles will often give just the right
taste to things that otherwise seem to be lacking in flavour.

In frying fish, always have the pan piping hot. Test the grease by
dropping in a bread crumb. It should quickly turn brown. "Piping hot"
does not mean smoking or grease on fire. Dry the fish thoroughly with
a towel before putting them into the pan. Then they will be crisp and
flaky instead of grease-soaked. The same rule is true of potatoes. If
you put the latter on brown butcher's paper when they are done, they
will be greatly improved.

Nearly every camper will start to do things away from home that he
would never think of doing under his own roof. One of these is to
drink great quantities of strong coffee three times a day. If you find
that after you turn in for the night, you are lying awake for a long
time watching the stars and listening to the fish splashing in the
lake or the hoot owl mournfully "too-hooing" far off in the woods, do
not blame your bed or commence to wonder if you are not getting sick.
Just cut out the coffee, that's all.