It is impossible in a book of this kind to say very much about how to cook.  That subject alone has filled some very large books.  We can learn some things at home provided that we can duplicate the conditions in the woods.  So many home recipes contain eggs, milk and butter that they are not much use when we have none of the three.  There is a book in my library entitled “One Hundred Ways to Cook Eggs” but it would not do a boy much good in the woods unless he had the eggs.  If you ask your mother or the cook to tell you how to raise bread or make pies and cakes, be sure that you will have the same ingredients and tools to work with that she has.

It might be well to learn a few simple things about frying and boiling, as both of these things can be done even by a beginner over the camp fire.  There are a few general cooking rules that I will attempt to give you and leave the rest for you to learn from experience.

You use bacon in the woods to furnish grease in the frying pan for the things that are not fat enough themselves to furnish their own grease.

Condensed milk if thinned with water makes a good substitute for sweet milk, after you get used to it.

To make coffee, allow a tablespoonful of ground coffee to each cup of water.  Better measure both things until you learn just how full of water to fill the pot to satisfy the wants of your party.  Do not boil coffee furiously.  The best way is not to boil it at all but that would be almost like telling a boy not to go swimming.  Better let it simmer and when you are ready for it, pour in a dash of cold water to settle the grounds and see that no one shakes the pot afterward to stir up grounds—­and trouble.

A teaspoonful of tea is enough for two people.  This you must not boil unless you want to tan your stomach.  Pour boiling water on the tea and let it steep.

Good camp bread can be made from white flour, one cup; salt, one teaspoonful; sugar, one teaspoonful and baking powder, one teaspoonful.  Wet with water or better with diluted condensed milk.  Pour in a greased pan and bake in the reflector oven until when you test it by sticking a wooden splinter into it, the splinter will come out clean without any dough adhering to it.

If you want to make the kind of bread that has been the standard ration for campers for hundreds of years you must eat johnny-cake or pone.  It is really plain corn bread.  Personally I like it better than any of the raised breads or prepared flours that are used in the woods.  It should always be eaten hot and always broken by the hands.  To cut it with a knife will make it heavy.  The ingredients are simply one quart of yellow meal, one teaspoonful of salt and three cups—­one and one-half pints—­of warm water.  Stir until the batter is light and bake for a short hour.  Test it with the wooden splinter the same as wheat bread.  It may be baked in an open fire on a piece of flat wood or by rolling up balls of it, you can even roast it in the ashes.  A teaspoonful of sugar improves it somewhat and it can be converted into cake by adding raisins or huckleberries.  For your butter, you will use bacon grease or gravy.