October 2023 Akita Food Camping
As autumn deepened and news headlines warned of “Bear Sightings Nationwide,” I decided to camp in Akita.
Why, you ask? Of course, for the delicious camping food.
Actually, my wife’s family’s backyard is practically a perfect campsite.
I can set up my tent, and since bears roam at night, my wife and kids can just sleep safely indoors.
For me, camping is ultimately all about the food.
Sleeping outdoors? Too hot in summer, too cold in winter, and it’s not comfortable.
But there are amazing meals you can only make outdoors, and the stars over a campfire – you can’t experience that anywhere else.
So, I enjoy only the fun parts and cut out the hassle. That’s my style of relaxed camping.
So when I go camping, I put all my energy into cooking from morning.
First, I brew espresso and get lunch going. Gather firewood and cedar leaves to start the fire.
I start grilling a beef fillet I picked up from the local butcher while sipping on a beer. The kids come over, totally absorbed in pretend cooking like in Monster Hunter.
Eventually, I take over as steak chef. I bought the meat from Wakaba Store in Kakunodate, a great place for reasonably priced Akita Yuri beef.
Perfect, medium-well. I like my fillet cooked through.
For the meat, Akita Nagahori’s original BBQ sauce is the best. It goes with any meat.
Then my wife starts prepping beer can chicken. You put a beer can inside the chicken and steam-roast it in a custom-made pot – rustic cooking at its finest.
It pairs perfectly with beer, and the meat just falls apart.
After eating and drinking, as we chat, the sun is already starting to set. Now for the highlight: it’s time for Kiritanpo hot pot.
Not just any Kiritanpo hot pot – it’s “Black Kiritanpo Hot Pot” made in a Dutch oven.
Honestly, I wanted to call it Kurokiri, but a famous sweet potato shochu already has that name. Such a missed opportunity.
We toss in Hinai chicken, Kiritanpo, burdock, wild mushrooms, and don’t forget: green onions and water dropwort are essential for Kiritanpo hot pot.
Place the coals on the lid, and it’s oven time.
Thanks to the iron-rich Dutch oven, the soup and ingredients turn quite dark, but once you get used to it, it’s delicious.
With the heat of the iron oven, it works like a pressure cooker, making the chicken tender and bringing out all the flavors.
Once we’re full, it’s time to sit around the fire and drink with my wife. When you think of Akita, it’s all about sake, but this Chirin rice shochu, diluted with hot water, was also excellent.
But in the end, it’s always sake. I started drinking it cold but then tried warming it in a mess tin – fantastic.
Camping food is so much more than just a meal.
This casual and delicious camping
is what I consider an ideal kind of camping experience.
