Camp Coffee
Agrontrutta Bismarck,
ND
Fly fishing camps
require certain essentials. Coffee from a campfire in the morning, for example.
Whether it’s at Salmon Forks Camp on the South Fork of the Flathead River in
the “Bob” or at Lyman Run in Penn’s
woods, camp coffee clears the head and gets your mind right. At Rossiter Lodge
we cheat and drink the brew from an electric coffee maker because we can’t be
trusted with fire that early in the morning. Coffee from the Trout Shop Café in
Craig, Montana is the next best thing to camp coffee.
John Gierach captured
the cosmological connections of camp coffee and gave some practical tips on its
making in Trout Bum. Ernest
Hemmingway in Big Two-Hearted River
has Nick, the story’s protagonist, trying to remember how his friend Hopkins (“Hop”,
killed in WWI) made camp coffee—boiled or simmered. Nick boils it and the
bitter tasting result reminds him of the right way. He ends up sweetening the
black bitter brew with the syrupy dregs from a tin of apricots.
I can’t channel John
Gierach and the closest I’ll ever get to Papa’s spirit is Hemmingway Flats on
the Missouri River. I don’t even have my own camp coffee recipe. So, here’s one
I stole from Tom Perini’s Texas Cowboy cookbook. It’s actually from Richard
Bolt, a cook at the Pitchfork ranch near Guthrie, Texas.
The
night before: Fill
coffee pot (1 gallon) with water to one-inch below the spout. Add 1 to 1 and ½
cups coffee grounds (depending on strength). Let sit overnight.
In
the morning: Put over
a low fire and bring to a simmer. Take the pot off the flame and dash it with
cold water (settles the grounds). Enjoy.
