Cooking with a mucket

[adbranaman]

How about some recipes for a mucket cooker.Whats your favorite?How do ya make coffee in it?Put your beans in a neckerchief?

 

[oomcurt]

Er...I'm kinda new at this....what is a "mucket"?

 

[shmrck1]

oomcurt,
I am not new at this but i ::
also. Whatever it is Webster never heard of
it and Google only knows it as a food(mussel).
I guess it mite be a slang term that we have
never heard before or maybe somebody pulling
our chain. Whatever i'm sure we will find out
soon.
snake-eyes :hmm: :m2c:

 

[Griz]

http://www.backwoodstin.com/
click on cooking section and scroll down a couple of items and you will se a very nice mucket. This man makes some of the nicest items and his prices are very good. I have several of his items and can't say enough good about the quality.

 

A 'mucket' is short for a massive bucket... :crackup: :crackup:

 

[Mossyrock]

www.backwoodstin.com

Wow. These folks have some nifty stuff! So what time period would be correct for a "mucket"? A friend of mine has one that he has used for YEARS. It's butt-ugly, but he never treks or rondies without it.

 

[Griz]

your asking the wrong guy for time and documentation. Ghost seems to be the resident knowledgable fellow on that kinda stuff. I just use it and it works. He does have some great stuff.

 

[Stumpkiller]

Well, now we're getting down to my levels of abilities. I don't know a Dutch oven from an iron pot, but I can boil.

Get the fire going and scrape some coals over to one side. Cook on coals, not over an open flame. Works better and you don't have the soot on the boiler to mess with afterwards. Trying to hang it over a working fire will cause a spill EVERY time. Add more wood as you need it, and scrape fresh coals over to the side as required.

Recipe #1 Fill boiler (Mucket) to within 1" of top. Bring to boil. If it's "local" water, boil an extra three minutes to kill the guppies. Add handful of rice and chopped venison jerky. As soon as it boils again remove from coals and allow to sit three minutes (shame on you for bringing a watch!).

Recipe #2 Substitute cracked corn for rice and maple sugar for jerky.

Recipe #3 Use half as much rice, and when setting aside to steep, slice in a few chunks of Nonesuch dried mince. (Available in the pie fixins isle at the grocery store). This stuff keeps a year + without refrigeration and is near-nuff a pemician substitute. It looks like ****, but it is delicious and is a balanced meal with the rice. As far as I know, this is my own discovery. I carry the Nonsuch in my hunting pack as an emergency ration (you can eat it as is, but it will make you THIRSTY).

Jerky gives a salty taste and maple sugar gives sweet. Toss in any fruits or vegetables you happen to have with either.

Ain't fancy, but it's wholesome.

Scaryest thing I ever saw was a guy crushing roasted coffee beans in his lead ladle to make coffee! :shocking: I ain't no rocket scientist, but I have heard enough scary stories about lead paint, ceramics and solder to know that ain't smart. I passed on sharing that brew. I futzed around with smashing beans on the flat of a tomahawk head, and ended up with 25% dirt by the time I had enough in the pot. As it all needs to be strained through your teeth as you drink it to remove the grounds, I guess it don't matter. Much as I like coffee, I've become a tea drinker when packing light.

When it don't matter, I sneak in a couple of the new, individual serving coffee bags and keep my mouth shut. :nono:

I drink my tea and coffee black, so that simplifies life everywhere. You can carry one of the little infuser balls (they look old, no idea how long they've been in service) or buy block tea and strain it afterwards (teeth, muslin, etc.). Find the "pot" sized infuser ball for coffee grounds, the little cup size won't do a proper billy boil.

I haven't actually tried the block chocolate that several trekkers recommend. I'd rather just eat it as is and wash it down with coffee. ::

 

[Stumpkiller]

Something else just came to me.

Irish oats. These are an "old fashioned" version of oatmeal, they are chopped "pin-head" oats. Boil the water and then add to the oats and allow to set for three minutes. Nuttin easier, but don't be afraid to add salt, walnuts, fruit or maple sugar unless you like eating wet sawdust. This also works if you've thought ahead and brought a tin cup. Eat the oats in the cup and heat the water in the boiler for coffee/tea.

I love the provisions you can find at the grocery store that are still "correct". Irish oats, dried beans, dried apple slices, mince-meat, walnuts, rice (white or "wild"), even jerky, salt cod and salt cured bacon that doesn't need refrigeration (if you have a good meat market nearby).

 

[oomcurt]

Ah...er..I heard that they are taking mince meat off the market. Seems some dang tree huggers got a law passed that qualifies the mince as an endangered specie. Seems possible...I mean when is the last time anyone saw a mince in the woods...... ::

 

[Stumpkiller]

Yes, it's not like the old days when flocks of mince would darken the sky for hours as they flew over.

I remember Momma clubbing hundreds of them out on the glacier for her special crottled greeps and mince casserole. *sigh*



Borden's uses only domestically farm raised, free roaming mince.

 

[Holley]

With my dyslexia problem...I kept thinking you were talking about Mice :shocking: Read it that way and your recipe gets scarry.

What is a mince anyway... :what:

 

[Stumpkiller]

Didja ever read "Never Cry Wolf"? ::

"Mince" used to be pounded meat (pulverized scraps of the lesser cuts originally) to which spices were added to help preserve and flavor it. It was mixed with suet for body.

Might be a Scottish thing, I'm not sure.

Here's a pre-Civil War recipe:

Thoroughly cleanse 4 pounds of currants, and remove the stones from 4 pounds of raisins; cut up 2 pounds of candied citron, 1 pound of candied lemon, and 1 pound of orange-peel into shreds or very small dice; remove the skin, and then chop 4 pounds of fresh beef-suet and place this with the currants and the candied peel in an earthern pan; next chop the raisins with 4 pounds of peeled apples, and add them to the other ingredients. Trim away all the sinewy parts from 8 pounds of roasted sirloin of beef, and chop all the lean of the meat quite fine; this will produce about 4 pounds, which must also be placed in the pan. To the foregoing must now be added 4 pounds of moist sugar, 4 ounces of ground spice consisting of nutmegs, cloves, and cinnamon in equal proportions, with the grated rind of 12 oranges, and of the same number of lemons; the whole must then be thoroughly mixed together and pressed down to a level in the pan. Two bottles of brandy, and a like quantity of Madeira, sherry or port, should be poured into the mince-meat. Put the lid on the pan, place a cloth over it, and tie it down close, so as to exclude the air as much as possible, and also to prevent the evaporation of the brandy, etc. The mince-meat should be kept in a cool place, and will be fit for use a fortnight after it is made.

My nephew makes it out of caribou and gives mason jars of it out as Christmas gifts. Yummmmm.

The Nonesuch stuff is condensed to remove moisture and is basically suet, apples, raisins, orange skins and spices (brown sugar or rum?). Sort of like pemmican . . . kind of.

You never had mince pie at Thanksgiving or Christmas? Why, that's what takes the place of candied yams and sweet potato pie combined to us New Englanders

 

mucket--- does that mean a mug that will also serve as a bucket?

Woody

 

[fatboy]

I heard of mucking out horse stalls sure hope you aint kinda confused :applause: :: :blah: :sorry:

 

[adbranaman]

I didn't know what a mucket was either till I got involved with this Civil War stuff.It's basically a corn boiler(Revolutionary War) with a handle(CW).Technology didn't move fast in those days.I've never been one to boil much food so I'm at a disadvantage.Irish oats?Doesn't sound like peaches and cream in a packet to me.I read some where were CW soldiers would break up hardtack and boil it with jerky to make a gruel of sorts.The rice sounds better and I don't even know what cracked corn is.Can't say I've ever seen maple sugar at Walmart either.I will look for Nonesuch.I'll try most things once.It's got to be better then opossum. :front:

 

Technically, the mucket is a Civil War item. Wasn't until then that they attached the lid.

Practically, who cares. Remove the little link that holds the lid and it is PC and acceptable on most sites.

I have two of them and use them constantly, espically since my 1 qt. boiler nests inside the 1 pt. mucket. It makes a good set.

I saw a guy cook a whole squirrel in a mucket one day. Got in all four sections and a handfull of rice! Pulled the lid off to check on it and there was the little head staring up at him!

:crackup: :crackup:

 

[Holley]

Fur on or Off :: :shake: :crackup: