A DELICIOUS END TO A FUN DAY OUTDOORS
‘Backcountry’ recipes go above and beyond hearty meat and potatoes
Rocky Mountain Cooking
Katie Mitzel/appetite by Random House
$30, 213 pages
Altitude can have some unexpected effects on food preparation, primarily baking, as Katie Mitzel knows all too well.
“I recall one late morning, cooking at just over 7,200 feet (2,200 metres),” Mitzel says.
“A storm was moving in and the atmospheric pressure was dropping rapidly. I really wanted to join some fellow lodge staff on a traverse of a big peak and we knew we would have to have an early start.”
Mitzel “rushed” to create a chocolate cake, sticking to the recipe rather than adjusting ingredients and steps to the altitude.
“I threw the ingredients together, popped the cake in the oven and went to get my hiking gear together. When I returned to the kitchen, there was smoke billowing out of the oven,” Mitzel recalls.
“The cake had exploded all over the oven and the mess, smell and missed trip were all fantastic at convincing me that I needed to pay closer attention to the elevation.”
She went on to master the art of cooking and baking at high elevations. That prowess is on display in her latest cookbook Rocky Mountain Cooking, which features a variety of rib-sticking recipes she’s compiled during her years living in the Rockies, including in Alberta and British Columbia.
Recipes are designed for fellow outdoor enthusiasts as well as those who are just hungry for “lodge food.”
“People often ask me what exactly backcountry cooking is, and Rocky Mountain Cooking tells the story by bringing a variety of unpretentious, down-to-earth recipes to your own home,” Mitzel says.
“Lodge recipes are mainly compiled of ingredients that most people already have. The genius is in their simplicity. Most of the recipes were created to get folks outside in the shortest time possible.”
What it is not is finicky and overcomplicated.
“A lot of recipes feel complicated and like you have to take a trip to the moon for the fixings,” Mitzel says.
“Being a hiker and skier myself, I developed the recipes so I could also get out and enjoy the splendour of whatever the day had to offer.”
While Mitzel admits many of the recipes are hearty dishes made for “calorie-depleted” individuals fresh off a day of fun outdoors, she assures there’s a lot more to it than just “meat and potatoes.”
“Folks are recognizing that a balanced diet is a favourable one and this has found its way into all of the backcountry lodges that I cook at,” Mitzel says.
“There are certainly the classics like Pan-seared Beef Tenderloin with Peppercorn Gravy and Mountain Pork Medallions with Hinterland Mushrooms.
“But the reader will also find an incredible amount of gorgeous and easy-to-prepare vegetables: Asparagus Fries with Roasted Garlic Aioli, Chickpeas and Kale in Pomodoro Sauce, Brussels sprouts with Homemade Pesto.
“There is also an immense array of sumptuous and simple salads and dressings ... that eat like a meal.”
Mitzel points to Baked French Toast Casserole with Streusel as a personal favourite and “family staple;” also the Lemony Lavender Buttermilk Cake, which Mitzel says is “made at least once a week;” the “simple to make” Killer Vegetarian Chili that is “a favourite with everyone;” and the Arancini with Vodka Marinara, which has been made “over a million times.”
Rocky Mountain Cooking, she says, boils down to three main ideals: “Gorgeous. Abundant. Essential.”
The cookbook also gives readers a glimpse at the backcountry she holds so dear.
“The mountain and food photography are so immensely riveting that even if you aren’t a terrific cook, you could easily become one just by the inspiration of the dazzling images,” Mitzel says. “And the stories of each of the lodges in Rocky Mountain Cooking are a great way to begin and end a meal, recognizing that these beautiful places are much like our own lives, built with love and nurtured by the people who come into them.
“I hope people are able to bring these recipes into their homes and recognize that it is the delight of creating a home-cooked meal that is the true inspiration of Rocky Mountain Cooking.”