Yesterday’s Globe and Mail (Toronto) had an interesting article on
“Canada’s real-life Iron Chefs”, a description of army field catering
in Afganistan (i.e. out of a tent or a kitchen trailor in the forward
bases south of Kandahar[1]. It appears that the cooks are doing their
best to keep the troops well-fed and helping to keep morale up.

While I doubt that the troops eat this well every day one Friday night
menu at the Vandoos’ forward base in the Zhari District was beef
tenderloin and crab legs, grilled onions and peppers, baked mushrooms
with a home-made mushroom basil sauce accompanied by salads, fresh
cheese and cakes and Haagen-Dazs ice cream for dessert.

Some of the field “treats” recipes follow. to me,this looks closer to
what the regular catering is like.

1. Globe and Mail Wednesday 6 May 2009 pg A15

Field doughnuts
INGREDIENTS
One loaf of white or whole wheat sandwich bread
One jar each of peanut butter and jam or jelly
White granulated sugar
Pancake batter (mixed according to box instructions)
Cooking oil
Cinnamon
PREPARATIONS
Take two pieces of bread and spread with peanut butter and jam
Cut sandwich into four and dip each section into pancake batter until
fully coated
Drop sections into deep pot or fryer of hot oil
Remove from oil when brown and roll in sugar and cinnamon.

Simple Sugar Pie
INGREDIENTS
14 pounds of brown sugar
2 cups of flour
8 cans of evaporated milk
24 eggs
2 tablespoons of vanilla
PREPARATIONS
Preheat oven to 350F
In a large mixing bowl, mix the sugar and flour
Add in evaporated milk, vanilla and eggs, mix til batter is uniform
Pour mixture into pie plates or cake pans
Bake for 30 minutes or until the pie is stiff in the centre. (texture
should be like pumpkin pie)
Serves 150 – 200

Pudding Chomeur –Field recipe
INGREDIENTS
Many boxes of vanilla instant cake mix
19 pounds of brown sugar
Vanilla
40 cups of water
1 box of cornstarch (optional)
PREPARATIONS
Preheat oven to 350F
Mix instant cake batter according to box instructions , pour a 2 -inch
layer of batter into cake pan(s) Set aside
In a large stove pot, mix together brown sugar, butter, vanilla and
water. Stirring occasionally, bring syrup to a boil. Reduce heat and
add cornstarch
Layer syrup on top of cake batter so ratio of cake to syrup appears
1:1.5
Bake in oven for approximately 445 minutes or until tester inserted in
centre of cake comes out clean. Syrup will remain somewhat runny but
batter should be cooked through.
Serves 150-200.
(Recipes can be reduced for smaller servings)

John Kane > wrote:
> Yesterday???s Globe and Mail (Toronto) had an interesting article on
> ???Canada???s real-life Iron Chefs???, a description of army field catering
> in Afganistan (i.e. out of a tent or a kitchen trailor in the forward
> bases south of Kandahar[1]. It appears that the cooks are doing their
> best to keep the troops well-fed and helping to keep morale up.

A couple years ago I saw a cooking competition show on television
that was for military cooks/chefs. They had US Army, Navy, Marine,
and maybe Air Force and Coast Guard (I'm not sure). One round had
them all cook for 100 men using a field kitchen setup. Another
round was to cook for 25 VIPs at a formal dinner. Each round was
judged by other professional chefs tasting the results and judging
the ability to make use of the available equipment and supplies
for each situation. I thought it was one of the more interesting
cooking competitions I've seen, and really showed the range and
ability those military cooks had. Even the field cooking looked
really good.

I don't remember all the details, and I'm sure there were more
rounds, but it's been at least a couple of years and I only
caught part of it.

Bill Ranck
Blacksburg, Va.

On May 7, 11:31*am, wrote:
> John Kane > wrote:
> > Yesterday???s Globe and Mail (Toronto) *had an interesting article on
> > ???Canada???s real-life Iron Chefs???, a description of army field catering
> > in Afganistan (i.e. out of a tent or a kitchen trailor in the forward
> > bases south of Kandahar[1]. It appears that the cooks are doing their
> > best to keep the troops well-fed and helping to keep morale up.
>
> A couple years ago I saw a cooking competition show on television
> that was for military cooks/chefs. *They had US Army, Navy, Marine,
> and maybe Air Force and Coast Guard (I'm not sure). *One round had
> them all cook for 100 men using a field kitchen setup. *Another
> round was to cook for 25 VIPs at a formal dinner. *Each round was
> judged by other professional chefs tasting the results and judging
> the ability to make use of the available equipment and supplies
> for each situation. *I thought it was one of the more interesting
> cooking competitions I've seen, and really showed the range and
> ability those military cooks had. *Even the field cooking looked
> really good.
>
> I don't remember all the details, and I'm sure there were more
> rounds, but it's been at least a couple of years and I only
> caught part of it.
>
> Bill Ranck
> Blacksburg, Va.

I'd have liked to have seen it. I know that Canadian Forces cooks go
from field kitichens to catering for the Govenor-General and almost
anything in between so they must be fairly versitle.

John Kane Kingston ON Canada

John Kane > wrote:

> I'd have liked to have seen it. I know that Canadian Forces cooks go
> from field kitichens to catering for the Govenor-General and almost
> anything in between so they must be fairly versitle.

I found a couple links. I think this is the competition I saw:
http://www.quartermaster.army.mil/ac...mpetition.html

It's an annual (mostly) competition and though it's called the US Army
Culinary Arts Competition, the link below with pictures from the 2007 event
shows there are Marine, Air Force, and Coast Guard cooks involved, too.

http://www.militarycity.com/gallery/...d=culinaryarts

I see they are open to the public for the field exercise, so regular
folks can go and try out some military chow. I might have to go see
this some time, it's not that far for me . . .

Bill Ranck
Blacksburg, Va.

On Thu, 7 May 2009 16:39:37 +0000 (UTC), wrote:

>John Kane > wrote:
>
>> I'd have liked to have seen it. I know that Canadian Forces cooks go
>> from field kitichens to catering for the Govenor-General and almost
>> anything in between so they must be fairly versitle.
>
>I found a couple links. I think this is the competition I saw:
>http://www.quartermaster.army.mil/ac...mpetition.html
>
>It's an annual (mostly) competition and though it's called the US Army
>Culinary Arts Competition, the link below with pictures from the 2007 event
>shows there are Marine, Air Force, and Coast Guard cooks involved, too.
>
>http://www.militarycity.com/gallery/...d=culinaryarts
>
>I see they are open to the public for the field exercise, so regular
>folks can go and try out some military chow. I might have to go see
>this some time, it's not that far for me . . .
>
>Bill Ranck
>Blacksburg, Va.


Used to look after Lipsett Hall the Gym for the 2PPCLI Infantry. We
had one of those cookoffs anumber of years back behind the gym.
I'm pretty sure it was the Army, Air Force, and I think they invited
the cooks from Bragg. The three wanted to win so the food was
terrific, even got some to put in the fridge for the next day.