Outdoor cooking in Vålådalen
Uteliv(e)
A weekend during late March 2021, Utemagasinet was live streaming from a tentipi in Vålådalen, Sweden. Viewers from all over Sweden were able to follow along from the comfort of their home and learn about wintercamping, outdoor food, hiking with dogs, outdoor drinks, campfire music and more!
Trangia was there with ambassador and outdoor chef Eric Tornblad, and held a cooking workshop on the Trangiastove.
In the mountains, the weather can quickly turn. With -20 degrees and a snowstorm incoming, the organisers had to turn to plan B and livestream from a sauna hut. For the cooking workshop, the stoves were set up on footstools around a fire pit, with a bag of ingredients for each participant next to it. The live-streaming began with Eric cooking for presenter Marie Kjellnäs and her guest Emelie Sellberg from Outdoor Buddies. Eric is an experienced host when it comes to outdoor cooking classes. He is all about keeping it simple and showing how easy it is to cook a great meal with few ingredients. He always leaves room for creativity and encourages the participants to put their own touch on the food.
“Keeping it simple is the key“
There are participants who have never used a Trangia stove before in almost every workshop, it is therefore important to start with the basics and not assume that people know the Trangia system. Eric always starts with something super easy like a potato hot cake, that leaves room for people to start off at their own pace.
Eric shows one dish at a time and explains the different cooking methods and how a little twist or change of ingredient can change the dish. He says it’s ok to forget the food for a moment at times, especially when frying eggs or potato, that sometimes gives the food the crispy surface we want. People often “over stir”, says Eric with a laugh. After the potato hotcake, the participants made wraps with fried cabbage and red onion, with a variety of toppings to choose from. There were cornichons, chiliflakes, sriracha sauce, lime and sour cream. For desert they made fried apple pie with cinnamon, maple syrup, roasted hazelnuts and vanilla ice cream, and nordic camp coffee of course!
“I didn’t know something so simple could taste so good!”
After the workshop the participants were asked to reflect on what dish they liked best, if they had learnt anything new and if there were any specific takeaways they wanted to share. Most of the participants were surprised about how something so simple could taste so good. Others said they felt more confident now to get out and try more on their own.
