Indholdsfortegnelse for March 2013 i Outside

RYAN CREARY Creary and split-boarder Mikel Witlox came across this snow-covered boulder field in British Columbia’s Lizard Range on an early April morning. "It was like skiing through a Dr. Seuss book," says Creary, of Revel-stoke, B.C. He snapped Witlox skinning beneath a 20-foot boulder moments after the sun crested the ridge to the east, casting 50-foot shadows. "It was very abstract," says Creary. And fleeting. Ten minutes later the sun was up, and the light went flat. "That’s the joy of the mountains. Some times the perfect shot exists for only a single moment." THE TOOLS: Canon 7D, 70-200mm f/4 lens, ISO 200, f/9, 1/1,250 second STEVE OGLE Ice caves formed by meltwater often run beneath glaciers. Last November, Ogle found this one in the Yahoo glacier near his…

STARTING HERE AND CONTINUING THROUGHOUT THE ISSUE, WE PULL THE CURTAIN BACK ON SOME POPULAR FOOD-INDUSTRY PHRASES —ARI LEVAUX organic adj (circa 1940) Refers to an agricultural product lacking chemicals. The movement arose in r response to problems created by industrial agriculture after World War II, when farms switched to a diet of c chemicals like nitrates originally designed for combat. The movement went mainstream around 1994, when t the USDA institutionalized the term. B.S. METER: Low. Buying organic means you’re buying chemical-free f food. But this often means monoculture crops grown far away. The certification process requires a detailed p paper trail documenting materials and practices for each crop, which is easy for large operations to achieve b but often prohibitive for small, diverse family farms. see also LOCAL…

(“COLD FUSION,” PAGE 72) 8 A.M.: Hanson and boutique distiller scott lindquist, who is legally blind, head out onto prince william sound to harvest the glacial ice used in alaska distillery’s craft vodka. 1 P.M.: Back at the distillery, while hanson is shooting the melting process, a 500-pound block of ice slips from its mooring and hits him in the face (below). 3:30 P.M.: After a visit to the ER, Hanson returns, concussed and with tissue adhesive holding together the cut above his eye. Alaska distillery Coo bella Coley removes her top and poses beside the offending block (above). 9 P.M.: Hanson joins lindquist, Coley, and the distillery crew at schwabenhof, outside wasilla, for shots of smoked-salmon-flavored vodka. 12 A.M.: Properly lubricated, hanson and lindquist drive snowmobiles across a frozen…

ON THE SCREEN, a lone figure fords an icy stream and hopscotches across a high ridgeline. “What is it that inspires someone to fully commit?” asks a voice. It could be a soulful climbing documentary, but it’s not. The 25-minute film, “Searching for West,” stars Bozeman, Montana, bow hunter Mark Seacat, 34, and he’s clad from head to toe in the sort of soft-shell Gore-Tex fabric he wore on the two occasions he summited Denali. There’s one major difference, however: rather than the brilliant cardinal colors that stock the racks at REI, this stuff is patterned in splotchy digital camouflage. The clothing and the film are both the work of a Bozeman company called Sitka, named for a famous hunting hamlet on Alaska’s Baranof Island. Launched in 2005 by pals…

>Caledonia Spirits Barr Hill Vodka, $32 Produced by a beekeeper in Vermont, the honey in this vodka is cold fermented and then added to the still for a richer, less astringent spirit. 375 ml; caledoniaspirits.com >Clear creek Douglas fir Eau de vie, $50 This 95-proof liquor begins as brandy made from oregon grapes, then the distillers add tips of springtime Douglas fir, enhancing the familiar juniper notes. 375 ml; clear >Breckenridge Distillery bitters, $29 Among the new variations of potable bitters, this sipper is an ideal aperitif to settle your stomach before a big dinner, layered with complex flavors of roots, spices, and a hand-harvested alpine herb called genepi, similar to the wormwood in absinthe. 750 ml; breckenridge distillery.com >Troy and sons platinum Moonshine, $30 This smooth ’shine comes from…

PLAYING THE MARKETS Laos and Vietnam TAGS: WATER BUFFALO, OPIUM FACTORIES, HA LONG BAY CRUISING The food in Southeast Asia is wild and diverse, and you’ll want an old hand to get fully immersed in the culture of it. Go with Maxwell Holland, a Wilderness Travel guide based in Thailand who has been eating his way through Asia for the past 20 years. His 14-day Indochine Culinary Expedition (from $5,595; wildernesstravel.com) starts off with the spicy-hot, Thai-like flavors of Laos in Luang Prabang, a Unesco World Heritage Site on the Mekong River. But the trip’s primary focus is Vietnam, from the milder food of the north to the complex flavors in the south, where Holland and coleader Mathew Smith have the inside track on the best local markets, cooking schools,…

SEAFOOD: Most seafood is allowed, but the TSA will seize the ice keeping it chilled; that’s still considered a liquid. If you’re fishing, have the outfitter ship your catch. Or, says David Lebovitz, former pastry chef at Chez Panisse and author of The Sweet Life in paris, "Try canned seafood." MEAT: The threat of disease makes meat too risky to let into the country. A rare exception: canned, precooked foiegras. CHEESE: Most cheese is fine, unless it’s raw milk, aqueous (think cottage cheese), or comes from a country where foot-and-mouth disease is present. Hard cheeses like Parmesan travel well and won’t spoil. SPICES: The majority, including cinnamon, saffron, and curry powders, are no problem. Just be sure they’re dried, clearly labeled, and accompanied by a receipt. PRODUCE: "There isn’t much…

A routine physical turns into a wake-up call for lots of people. Six years ago it was my turn. The numbers were in, and they were bad. Weight, cholesterol, and glucose were all up, and there were other symptoms—apnea, bad knees, and a couple of things I won’t talk about—that were equally discouraging. But my doctor opted for something more radical than pills: he told me to become a vegan. No way, I thought. My job, which I happen to love, takes me to home kitchens and great restaurants all over the world. What? I’m supposed to say goodbye to carnitas, cheddar cheese, and chicken biryani? More like say goodbye to my career. Instead, I struck a deal, with him and with myself. I’d be vegan until dinnertime. After that,…

PHOTOGRAPH BY JOE BARAN PHIL BRUNO WAS SUPERSIZING AGAIN. was just past 5:30 on a spring evening in 2004, and he was driving home from work. He pulled into a White Castle, one of many fast-food outlets lining Route 100 in his hometown of Manchester, Missouri, a suburb of st. Louis. He was only a mile from his house, where his wife, susan, was cooking the usual big Italian dinner for their family of five, but he was hungry now. The urge was automatic. Ten minutes later, with a bag of burgers steaming on the seat beside him, he pulled into a McDonald’s and ordered a Double Quarter Pounder with Cheese, an apple pie, and a chocolate shake to wash it all down. "I did this because I would be…

1. Thinly slice raw red meat, like elk or beef roast, into strips. Remove any fat, which will give your jerky a rancid flavor. 2. Soak the strips in the fridge overnight in a bath of salted miso soup. Brush on a thin layer of wasabi and add some cracked pepper for extra kick. 3. Arrange the meat in a dehydrator—or cook in a 250-degree oven, strips draped over a rack—for four hours. (Oven users: place a baking sheet underneath to catch any drippings.) 4. Jerky is done when the inside is brown but still chewy.…

YOU’RE ONLY AS GOOD AS YOUR LAST MEAL Nowhere is this idea more ingrained than at the United States Olympic Training Center in Colorado springs, where hundreds of elite runners, triathletes, wrestlers, water-polo players, and other aspiring Olympians spend weeks, months, or, in some cases, years on their quest for gold. About 130 athletes live at the center, while another 15,000 visit annually for short-term camps, most of them teenagers who rank in the top 10 percent of their sport. Athletes come here for the center’s state-of-the-art training facilities—to tweak their strokes in the aquatic center’s 50-meter pool, learn more about their bodies in the physiology lab, or nurse injuries in the world-class physical-therapy department. But perhaps the most important building an athlete will visit is the food-court-size cafeteria on…

Direct BEST FOR: Cranking out large quantities of steaks, veggies, brats, or fish. Two-Zone Direct BEST FOR: Searing thick cuts of meat-New York steak, elk tenderloin, pork jmedallions—over high heat, then shifting to the cooler side to finish it off. Two-Zone Indirect BEST FOR: Slow-cooking bigger items like leg of lamb, a whole turkey, pork shoulder, or pizza. Expect to rotate the food, since one side will always be closer to the fire. Four-Leaf clover BEST FOR: Spirited St. Patrick’s Day cookouts.…

The allure of the Egg, as with all kamado-style grills, lies in its ultra-efficient ceramic basin. Whereas metal smokers must be reloaded with charcoal every couple of hours, the Egg can cook for 24 hours or more on one load of wood or lump charcoal. Adjustable top and bottom vents allow you to achieve temperatures low enough to smoke cheese or cure bacon (120 degrees) or hot enough to forge steel (Eggers report temperatures up to 1,200 degrees). In other words, it’s essentially an outdoor oven, which is how thousands of so-called Eggheads use them... religiously. "I cook 90 percent of my meals in it," says Kim Youngblood, an instructor at the Georgia Mountain Eggfest outside Hiawassee, Georgia, one of 30 such annual shindigs. "I’ve smoked pork butt at 250…

FROM THE EDITOR: Beyond the Feedbag I was a little dubious about dedicating an entire issue of Outside to the topic of food. We’ve published plenty of culinary stories in the past—on the quest for the best wild chocolate in the Amazon, say, or the latest theories on sports nutrition—but a whole issue? How would we do it without sacrificing some of our most beloved topics, like travel, gear, and adventure? I didn’t want readers to think they’d picked up a copy of Bon Appetit. One of the things that changed my mind was a meeting we had about meals worth traveling for. As everyone began ticking off favorite dishes from exotic spots, I realized how many entrees I could distinctly remember and wanted to discuss. The ceviche at a…

January’s “Powder dreams,” detailing the proposed linkup of utah’s canyons resort and solitude mountain with a gondola, as well as a new chairlift running from Park city to canyons, was intended as an introduction to the controversial issue. Wasatch locals, however, took exception. This article makes SkiLink sound like the end of the rainbow for skiing in Utah, which couldn’t be further from the truth. Locals know that this is the first step toward development in Big Cottonwood Canyon—land that tourists and locals use every day for recreation. The scariest part is the precedent it sets. If you’re a developer who wants public land, just go to a congressman, give him a campaign contribution, and ask him to sponsor a bill forcing the government to sell it to you. Brilliant.…

Before he began writing "Stranglehold" (page 60), an investigation into how fat can take over your body, Gifford bought a scale. "I was the heaviest I’d ever been," says the New York writer. Meanwhile, he was poring over reports that showed how fat is like a growing tumor that can lead to cognitive decline, accelerated aging, even impotence. Fortunately for Gifford, who wrote about the cancer charity Livestrong in "It’s Not About the Lab Rats" (February 2012), he does a lot of thinking while exercising. "I’m not a weight fanatic, but this story justifies my lunchtime rides," says Gifford. Without changing his diet, he’s now ten pounds lighter than when he started reporting in August.…

BY THE NUMBERS: GLOBAL RELIEF IN 2011 4.5 MILUONS OF TONS DELIVERED OVERALL 3,924 TONS DELIVERED BY AIRPLANE 45,161 FLYING HOURS THOSE RESPONSIBLE Afghanistan is one of the most dangerous countries to deliver food in, which is why there are only two nonmilitary organizations that fly there: the UN and Pactec, perhaps the world’s most accomplished independent relief supplier. Since 1999, the Idaho-based company has flown an estimated 22,000 flights within the country and delivered 4.2 million pounds of supplies without losing a plane. Nine Pactec pilots stationed in Afghanistan still deliver over 1,000 pounds of rations per day, negotiating 14,000-foot passes and landing on tiny dirt runways. Their secret weapon? The compact, powerful Quest Kodiak, a 4,200-pound, 675-horsepower plane with a 45-foot wingspan that’s ideal for squeezing through tight…

Seafood FISH WITHOUT A DOUBT, BY RICK MOONEN AND ROY FINAMORE (HOUGHTON MIFFLIN, $35) Moonen, a Top Chef Masters finalist and the proprietor of RM Seafood in Las Vegas, was one of the first chefs to take threatened swordfish and Chilean sea bass off his menu. You won’t find bluefin tuna in his book, but you will find more than 250 shockingly easy recipes with zero attitude. Caught a trout? Home-smoke it with a few handfuls of wood chips in about 15 minutes. Shrimp on sale? Toss them into some pineapple-rum ceviche. Cooking tasty fish, it turns out, is about as easy as falling off a log. Greens PLENTY, BY YOTAM OTTOLENGHI (CHRONICLE, $35) Vegetarian cook– books are the wall flowers of the genre; after you’ve tangoed with the sexy…

Each March, 15,000 people flock to Hokitika, a coastal south island town, for chocolate-covered beetles, huhu grubs, live-worm-and-Red-Bull shots, and mountain oysters (also known as lamb testicles). This is the wild-foods festival, a No Reservations meets Mardi Gras meets cirque du soleil bacchanal with moonshine, body paint, and tutus included. Stay in an oceanview room at the beachfront hotel (doubles from $88; beachfronthotel.co.nz) and work off your sins hiking the four-mile mount Tuhua track for panoramic southern Alps vistas.…

TOURISTS HAVE long flocked to Belize for its diverse wildlife and stunning coral reefs. The same tropical climate makes Belcampo Belize, a lodge near the coastal town of Punta Gorda with its own thousand-acre farm, a foodie’s wonderland. The 12-suite property is surrounded by 12,000 acres of protected rainforest just two miles from the fish-clogged Caribbean coast and is the brainchild of Anya Fernald, former director of Italy’s Slow Food Foundation and frequent Iron Chef’judge. As such, Belcampo may be the only place on earth where guests can fly-fish for tarpon and dive with whale sharks on Saturday and turn cacao beans into chocolate bars or help distill small-batch rum on Sunday. Meals are sourced from Belcampo’s farm—allspice, vanilla, citrus, and chili peppers come from its Garden of Flavors, and…

PHOTOGRAPHS BY MISHA GRAVENOR IN THE WINTER OF 2010, RILEY STARKS WAS IN TROUBLE. A fisherman and organic farmer, the 59-year-old owned a small inn on Washington State’s Lummi Island, a nine-mile ridge of fir and hemlock rising out of the sea near the Canadian border, with a year-round population of 964 weathered souls. Starks and his wife had bought the eight-room Willows Inn in 2001, and for a while they lived out their fantasy. Starks supplied fish and veggies to the restaurant, while his wife handled the inn and the cooking. But the economic downturn had clobbered both the inn and their marriage. His wife left in 2009, and Starks was forced to place an ad for a chef on Craigslist. He wasn’t looking for anything special, just a…

WE ALL HAVE A FOOD VICE, WHETHER IT’S CHOCOLATE OR KETTLE CHIPS. IF YOURS IS GETTING OUT OF HAND, HEED THE ADVICE OF CHARLES DUHIGG, AUTHOR OF THE POWER OF HABIT: WHY WE DO WHAT WE DO IN LIFE AND BUSINESS. HIS APPROACH HAS THREE STEPS: CUE, BEHAVIOR, AND REWARD. TO RID YOURSELF OF AN UNHEALTHY CRAVING—SAY, AFTERNOONM&M’S—HE RECOMMENDS THE FOLLOWING. 1. Acknowledge the cue, or what’s driving the behavior. This could be hunger, boredom, or even low blood sugar. 2. Identify the reward you get from the behavior. A trip to the candy machine might provide cessation of hunger or a diversion from work. 3. Think of alternate routines to satisfy the craving. In other words, when you get the urge for a sugar hit, consider a break with…

Take a houseful of drunken St. Patrick’s Day revelers. Add a woman in a black dress dancing in a bearskin and a couple of ruddy guys back from a paragliding trip. Then drop a sliver of ruby red fish in your glass. That’s how I’m served my first shot of the stuff one wintry March night after landing in Anchorage. A couple dozen locals are partying inside a ranch house strung with holiday lights near the frontier bars downtown. Jet-lagged and hungry, snow caked up my jeans, I have been whisked into the kitchenette, where the effervescent hostess, wearing a green beaded necklace, pours me a jigger. "It’s better with this," she says, tossing in the salmon with a tiny splash. The hostess and some others here are from the…

BROILMASTER QRAVE The gas-grill landscape is littered with models that are overbuilt, overpowered, overpriced—or all three. And while it’s fine to pay extra for a grill that looks shiny and cool, grilling experts agree: extra BTUs do nothing for you. The propane-fueled Grave by Broilmaster has plenty of power to sear a steak, but its real specialty is keeping lower temperatures steady. The Qrave features a two-piece, two-level stainless-steel grill for indirect cooking: crank the heat on one side and let the meat slow-roast at 220 degrees on the other. That, in combination with the front-loading wood-chip tray and liquid-catchment container, make this the rare gas grill capable of smoking and steaming, too. BOTTOM LINE: The Qrave isn’t flashy, but it’s of the most versatile gas cookers on the mar…

1. Butterfly a 45-pound pig ($240; mcreynoldsfarms.com) and inject with Cuban Mojo ($5; lacajachina.com), a citrus-and-garlic marinade. 2. Place inside La Caja China (from $320). The pig-size plywood coffin comes in three sizes and 3s lined with sheets of aluminum that reflect the heat back onto el puerco. 3. Cover and place 60 pounds of lit charcoal-three entire bags—on the lid. Wait four hours. Eat. It’s that simple.…

As annoyingly smug as the baristas at specialty coffee shops can be, they’re right about two things: coffee should taste like coffee, not milk and sugar, and manual makers brew a better cup. DRIP Unlike automatic-drip machines that direct a focused stream of water over one area of grounds, pour-over brewers like the six-cup Chemex (top left) allow you to saturate the coffee more evenly, resulting in a balanced and flavorful cup. Not only was the Chemex the best looking of the manual drip systems we tested, but because the cone and carafe are a single sheet of glass, it was the easiest to clean. $39; chemexcoffeemaker.com FRENCH PRESS The baristas at Portland, Oregon-based Stumptown Roasters obsess over every cup. The hardware they use most? The French press, like Bodum’s…

EXPERT RECIPE COCA-COLA ELK RIBS BY GRAYSON SGHAFFER, HUNTING ENTHUSIAST AND AUTHOR OF "DRESSED TO KILL" (PAGE 20), ABOUT HUNTING’S RISE AMONG THEATHLETIC SET “A lot of people leave THE ribs in the field because they can be tough to eat, not to mention they’re unwieldy to strap to a pack for the walk out. I cut them into manageable slabs, trim the fat and interstitial tissue from between the bones, and pressure-cook them in a mix of 75 percent flat Coca-Cola and 25 percent chicken broth for 45 minutes. The combination of acidity, sweetness, and pressure softens the meat. Then i glaze them with barbecue sauce and finish them on the grill.” MARK BITTMAN “I hate to use the cliché, but it took the perfect storm to change the…

MAPLE-BACON CHOCOLATE CHOCOLATE-CHIP COOKIES BY BARBECUE EXPERT AND BIG GREEN EGG GRILLING INSTRUCTOR KIM YOUNGBLOOD (“UP IN YOUR GRILL”, PAGE 86) Ingredients: 12 strips maple bacon ¾ cup softened butter ¾ cup white sugar ¾ cup brown sugar 2 eggs 2 teaspoons vanilla extract 2½ cups all-purpose flour ½ cup cocoa powder 1 teaspoon baking soda 1½ teaspoons baking powder ¼ teaspoon salt 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips Directions: Cook the bacon on the stove until browned; break into bite-size pieces (not crumbles). Reserve 1§ tablespoons of bacon grease and mix in the butter and sugar, then add the eggs, vanilla, and remaining ingredients. form cookies. bake for 10 to 12 minutes at 350 degrees in oven or big Green egg.…

rBsT-free adj (circa 1994) Indicates milk without recombinant bovine somatotropin—a Monsan-to-patented, genetically engineered version of a naturally occurring cow hormone that increases milk output. B.S. METER: Low. This is the good stuff. RBST has proven negative health consequences on dairy cows and is banned in Canada. Organizations like Food and Water Watch suspect human-health implications related to milk from rBST-treated cows. In 2003, Monsanto began suing dairies that were labeling their milk rBST-free but lost repeatedly; in a landmark 2010 case, the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that milk from rBST-treated cows is substantially different from milk produced without the hormone. see also HORMONE-FREE…

DEMAND FOR SEAFOOD has doubled since the 1960s. Worldwide consumption now exceeds 170 million tons per year, and more than 85 percent of the planet’s fisheries are either maxed out or classified as overexploited. Recently, forward-thinking restaurateurs like Casson Trenor, co-owner of Tataki Sushi in San Francisco, and Kenny Belov, proprietor of Fish Restaurant in nearby Sausalito, have upended convention with sustainable menus to help alleviate pressure on the oceans. But few have changed the game as radically as Kristofor Lofgren, who works closely with the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch program to ensure that his Portland restaurant, Bamboo Sushi, offers the most responsibly sourced fish on the market. In February 2008, Bamboo became the world’s first sushi restaurant certified by the Marine Steward–ship Council, ostensibly guaranteeing that every fish…

PEOPLE SAY the hardest part of a long race is the training. Not this one. The hardest part was the perfectly browned pretzel at Sigmund Pretzel Shop on Avenue B in the East Village. The problem was that I ate it minutes after the Katz’s hot dog, which I ate minutes after the Yonah Schimmel knish, which was just after the Eisenberg’s egg cream. The idea was simple: connect eight of NYC’s legendary food institutions together on foot in a gourmand’s marathon. Along with two other New Yorkers, I’d become intrigued by the popularity of masochistic obstacle races. But our hardy trio weren’t interested in signing up for some one else’s race; we wanted to make our own. So, with a copy of Zagat’s NewYork City Food Lover’s Guide 2012/13…

ALEMANY FARMERS’ MARKET SAN FRANCISCO The Get: The 30 varietals of organic peaches from Ferrari Farms taste like candy and get snapped up by local grocers and restaurants. SANTA BARBARA FARMERS MARKET SANTA BARBARA, CALIFORNIA The Get: Just a few blocks off the beach, it’s all about the diverse selection of avocados, especially the superlative and rare bacon varietal—a smooth-skinned, paler-fleshed winter treat. SANTA FE FARMERS MARKET SANTA FE The Get: Matt Romero, a former chef and now head of Romero Farms, is famous for his fresh-roasted greenchiles, which are farmed sustainably and are big, meaty, and hot. DANE COUNTY FARMERS’ MARKET MADISON, WISCONSIN The Get: cheese, like the small-batch, full-bodied Gouda and cloth-wrapped cheddar from Bleu Mont Dairy, is handmade from organic cow’s milk and aged underground for up…

SWEET SURF Montauk, New York The Adventure: With consistent swells up to ten feet, Ditch Plains Beach, just two miles from Montauk’s shop-lined main drag, is one of the top surf breaks in the east. Rent a longboard from Air and Speed Board Shop, rise at dawn, and hit the break before the wind picks up and the crowds arrive (board rentals, $40; airandspeedsurf.com). The Meal: Ditch Witch is a beachside food truck where surfers, locals, and urban refugees congregate for pastries, grilled sandwiches (try the turkey pesto), and breakfast burritos. The basic menu, scrawled on an old surfboard, belies the quality of the food. Even a cappuccino tastes better with a view of the surf. No phone or website (beautiful); east of town, Ditch Plains Road at Otis Road…

MOST PEOPLE DON’T KNOW HOW TO GUT A FISH WITHOUT MAKING A MESS OF IT. HERE’S HOW TO KEEP IT CLEAN AND SIMPLE. 1. Insert a pocket knife in the waste hole of the belly and slice upward to the base of the gills. Then insert the knife just below the jawbone and slice forward, creating a flap beneath the tongue. Grab the flap and tongue and rip backward, removing the gills and innards in one motion. Clean the blood line along the spine with your thumbnail. Rinse with fresh water. 2. Season the inside of the fish with salt, lemon, pepper, and thyme. 3. Place the fish on a sizzling-hot buttered skillet for two minutes on each side. The flesh should lose its translucence but not turn hard.…

WE’RE LIVING IN THE ERA OF ARTISANAL FOOD. Everything that’s good is supposed to be organic and small-batch and preferably produced by a Manhattan refugee who left a high-stress job to make cheese on a Vermont farm where the cows sleep on hypoallergenic mattresses and are raised on a diet of Tibetan poetry and free-range alfalfa. In my own carnivorous way, I’m guilty of this same gastronomic high-mindedness. I once spent ten days wandering the Patagonian countryside in search of the perfect grass-fed steak, and I’ve engaged in the questionable practice of breeding pigeons in my basement in order to replicate the early-20th-century squab recipes of French master chef Auguste Escoffier. I also host a TV show on the Sportsman Channel in which I travel to remote locations to hunt…

1. Freeze cheap canned beer before putting it in your pack or cooler. It’ll be cold when it thaws, and freezing it will hardly affect the taste. 2. Use a stainless-steel bottle, like the ones made by Klean Kanteen, for wine or spirits. 3. The simplest backcountry cocktail is also the tastiest: the old-fashioned. Stash sugar cubes in a ziplock bag and an ounce of bitters in a dropper bottle. At happy hour, drop a cube into a cup, douse with bitters, and muddle with a twig. Add two ounces of rye, stir, and enjoy.…

Purists will tell you they prefer charcoal to gas because it infuses meat with a smoky flavor. What they leave out is the fine print: the dirty (and time-consuming) work of preparing the coals. That’s why we’re such big fans of Weber’s Performer Platinum: you get the flavor benefit of cooking with charcoal without the hassle. The Platinum accomplishes this feat by incorporating a propane bottle and push-button ignition. No more chimneys, lighter fluid, or matches—you just flip the switch, wait for the charcoal to cherry, and get to grilling. Weber stuck with the same porcelain-lined kettle it has used since 1951, but it made cleanup easier by adding a detachable ash-catchment system. The whole unit is embedded in a rolling table big enough to accommodate a large cutting board—a…

Many believe you should sear a steak first, then move it to indirect heat. In fact, the pros do the opposite: they start with the meat on the cold side of the grill. When the steak’s temperature reaches 120 degrees (test it with a digital thermometer), move it directly over the coals. Sear each side for three minutes or until it reaches 130 degrees. it won’t have grill marks, but that even brown color tells you it’s done.…

EDITORS’ CHOICE Blendtec classic fourside Six years ago, a video of an engineer grinding up iphones and glow sticks in a blendtec went viral. We didn’t destroy any circuit boards in our test, but we’re certain the Classic fourside could. With 1,560 watts of power, this little hot rod sounds like a lawnmower on your countertop, but it let us pulverize almonds and perfectly grind flank steak. Six settings match blade speed to blending objective, allowing you to push a button, walk away, and come back to perfectly kneaded bread dough or ground oats. $435; blendtec.com MOST VERSATILE vitamix 7500 when it comes to ease of use, the 1,440-watt Vitamix has no equal. But the main reason it’s the choice of gourmet restaurants is its lowest setting, slow enough to…