What we cook when it rains

Rain is not an emergency. It is a menu problem, and it has a solution that fits in one pot.

When the forecast turns, the plan changes from grilled over fire to cooked under the tarp. The rule we use is simple: if a dish needs more than one pan, it is not a rain dish.

Lentils, sausage, whatever greens survived

Brown lentils, a smoked sausage cut thick, onion, garlic, a tin of tomatoes and a handful of kale that was going to be a salad. Forty minutes at a low simmer, lid on, stirred when someone remembers. It holds for an hour if people are late back from the walk and it is better the next day, which matters when the next day is also wet.

Dishes dry slower than you think

At 90% humidity a tea towel is decoration. We boil a kettle at the end of the meal, rinse everything in hot water, and hang it on a line under the tarp overnight. Two cloths, no soap in the ground, and nothing to wash at breakfast.

The morale detail

Something hot to drink before anything is cooked. It sounds trivial and it is the difference between a wet evening people tolerate and one they remember fondly.