Wilderness Chef: The Ultimate Guide to Cooking Outdoors

Great naturalist, teacher, and bushcraft specialist. Fun book long overdue!

perfect for camping

Wow, this cookbook deserves more than 5 stars! I can't even summarize all the information jampacked into this book along with some fantastic looking recipes. I will say that I would consider it to be the "be all and end all" of wilderness cookbooks. It addresses EVERYTHING you should know before heading out on a trip into the wilds, be it a simple trip not too far from home to even cooking in remote settings! I loved the historical knowledge the author presented about ancient methods of cooking plus his own experiences among remote tribes in the present day and how they cook! He goes over the various types of considerations that one should be aware of according to the type of trip (will you be going by canoe and only have to carry your food and supplies while portaging or will you be hiking and be carrying it all the way, will you be flying somewhere to a remote camp and can afford a few more heavy items? etc. etc. etc.) which I think is very informative. He also offers lists of what to take for various types of trips and the book has a multitude of pictures to show you what he is talking about too. He also talks about foraging for certain ingredients in the wild (ex. how to make yourself wild teas while in the bush!) I can't even explain all the information packed into this book but believe me it would make a great coffee table book for all the interesting and coversation-provoking content but even better, a great book to help you plan out your next trip into the wilds. I thoroughly recommend it, it's a book you should hang onto for life in my opinion! :)

I received a copy of this ebook from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.This book was around 3.5 stars for me.It is packed with information on outdoor cooking! From what tools to use to different cooking options there is a surprising number of considerations and recipes in this book. The pictures of the food are beautiful as well! There is a great breakdown of different food options from camping to glamping to help you cook.I personally like cook books that have pictures of each recipe. While the pictures that are in this book are beautiful, there isn't one for every recipe which makes it hard to visualize some of them that I'm less familiar with. There is also a lot of meat heavy recipes which may not be ideal depending on how long you're outdoors for or how much meat you eat.While some recipes are a bit complex for me this is definitely a way to step up your outdoor cooking!

Only a relatively small part of the book contents are really to do with outdoor and campfire cooking techniques and equipment, most of which is already well covered in other books and programmes. A large part of the contents beyond that are just general household and everyday recipes that are very familiar from lots of other cookery books, magazines and the like, including unlikely wilderness ingredients such as cream, creme fraiche, mirin, butter, wine, balsamic vinegar, sour cream, minced beef to name just a few. It does include recipes and instructions for making boiled and scrambled eggs, omelette, eggs benedict and chicken supreme though followed by jam roly poly or spotted dick, so quite comprehensive for your next wilderness outing or home dinner party ! Love most of Ray's output, and there is some good knowledge in here, but just largely repackaged from other sources and padded out generously with some Good Housekeeping style tips and recipes, disappointing really.

Lots of gear recommendations, lots of recipes, great instruction on technique - it packs quite a bit into a small book, including things you can do with children and for the avid wilderness chef.There are really good written accounts on techniques where doing bushcraft cooking - there's clear instruction on how to cook with skewers, improvised grills, rocks, planks, stones, ground ovens, cleft sticks, hook suspension, in leaves, pots and pans. A couple of diagrams might be useful for the uninitiated, but if you're keen to give it a go and have an outdoorsy background, there's enough here to work it out.Gear wise the book is aimed at people who drive into the wilderness, and Uncle Ray often refers to what is packed in the back of his Landrover. Fine to some extent, but there's a gap between those heavy cast iron pots for camping out the back of your car and bare-bones survival - I'd like some more detail for casual minimalist backpacking off the beaten track, where lightweight apparatus meets sticks, stones and fire (instead of a gas hob and MRE).Another area it falls down in my opinion are the ingredients - again it's for car-campers - unless someone can tell me where I can forage balsamic vinegar, ascorbic acid and mirin! There are a few places where the book offers alternatives (arrowroot for cornflour) to make it more possible to live off the land, but it would be really neat to link 'Wild Food - by Ray Mears' (where and how to hunt and gather) with the preparation, combination and cooking of those locally found foods into a veritable feast.There are however some very useful tips on how to make flavour and how those flavours combine, so the savvy chef might be able to create that link from the flavour descriptions in Wild Food to make substitutions in the recipes here - that person probably doesn't need recipes though.All in, a very good book, I'm glad I bought it and read it, but with a little extra thought it could have been a lifelong companion for my adventures.

Every scout leader should read this book. That includes beaver and cub leaders. Especially the opening notes on HYGIENE. So many times I have had to tell leaders these things and been hated for it. Great to find a book that reinforces these practices missed so often . The recipes brilliant and Ray does not skimp on planning for the different types of camping. Excellent book that should be on every adventurer's shelf. form a leader with 50 years experience not only in scouts but with DofE and Mountain Leadership. Get it I learnt something!

Liked quality and layout of book, Recipient for birthday does wild camping and has been on Ray Mears camps so appreciated this book.

Bought this book because I have massive respect for Ray mears. It surprised me to how basic this is. 1 page on how to boil rice. Another on how to boil brown rice? Another, how to roast potatoes in a Billy can? I was expecting some knowledge on wild salads with muscles or porci? Foraged and cooked like a chef. This book isn't that. Sorry Ray, youve failed on this one mate.