As a wider theme of military history, and how it relates to camp cooking, I've made some observations that I hope are correct.
It seems apparant that perhaps from the first or second world war, until the end of the cold war, some European armies, particularly central, southern, and eastern ones, wouldn't fight necessarily hungry, but did operate on a much more "resource-poor" basis than comparable American, Canadian, or even British units.
Germans, Polish, Hungarians, Bulgarians, Soviets, all seemed to follow the concept of group cooking in a camp kitchen cauldron quite a bit further in time than Americans and Canadians did. Soldiers would carry around large mess tins, to join smaller cooking outfits, rather than having hay boxes of hot food brought out to them in the front lines.
Making use of available local bread, soup, stew or goulash could be added to that, thinned with water where needed in lean times.
Today I've cooked up a version of European Goulash that I found a reference to, my recipie has omitted some of the additional fat that would have once been added, back when fat was much more precious and harder to come by than today.
I've attached a photo of my spice packet I bought nearby at a european food store, it worked well, and these spices cost me about $2 US.
In this area, we are beginning the offseason for offroading. Some roads in the area are snowed in. It's a good time to begin perfecting trail recipes, and a historical rediscovery is one angle that I've taken here.
It seems apparant that perhaps from the first or second world war, until the end of the cold war, some European armies, particularly central, southern, and eastern ones, wouldn't fight necessarily hungry, but did operate on a much more "resource-poor" basis than comparable American, Canadian, or even British units.
Germans, Polish, Hungarians, Bulgarians, Soviets, all seemed to follow the concept of group cooking in a camp kitchen cauldron quite a bit further in time than Americans and Canadians did. Soldiers would carry around large mess tins, to join smaller cooking outfits, rather than having hay boxes of hot food brought out to them in the front lines.
Making use of available local bread, soup, stew or goulash could be added to that, thinned with water where needed in lean times.
Today I've cooked up a version of European Goulash that I found a reference to, my recipie has omitted some of the additional fat that would have once been added, back when fat was much more precious and harder to come by than today.
I've attached a photo of my spice packet I bought nearby at a european food store, it worked well, and these spices cost me about $2 US.
In this area, we are beginning the offseason for offroading. Some roads in the area are snowed in. It's a good time to begin perfecting trail recipes, and a historical rediscovery is one angle that I've taken here.
