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Cache Lake Food Field
Report
December
31, 2002
Company: Cache Lake
URL: http://www.cachelake.com
Report Date: December 31, 2002
Items Tested:
Fryin’ Pan Biscuits ‘n Gravy
Caramel Breakfast Fryin’ Pan
Bread
Turkey Ham Slices
Pizza Fryin’ Pan Bread
Smoked Turkey Italian Sausage
Test Area and Conditions:
These items were tested in North and Central Texas on
overnight trips. Temperatures
ranged from 60* F to 30* F (16* C to –1* C) with winds in the 15 to 25 MPH (24
to 40 kmh) range. All meals were cooked
on an MSR Pocket Rocket (http://www.msrcorp.com)
using GSI Outdoors (http://www.gsioutdoors.com)
5 piece Hard Anodized cook set.
Field Report:
Fryin’ Pan Biscuits ‘n Gravy: The biscuit mix and gravy are packaged separately inside a
4” x 5.5” (102 x 140mm) 8oz (235g) package.
The contents of the biscuit mix are mixed with water to create the
biscuit dough and placed in a pan with 1 tablespoon of oil for frying.
While the directions called for spooning the biscuits into 4 equal parts,
it would have worked better for us if all the batter were poured into the pan to
fry the biscuit, and then cut the one large biscuit into portions.
The gravy is mixed with water and heated in a pan to pour over the
biscuits. Both items were quick and
easy to prepare and very tasty. We
were quite surprised with how tasty the gravy mix was.
This gravy had a good spicy flavor, was thick (not runny), and had
sausage bits for extra protein. This
meal is supposed to serve two and fed my 13 year old son and me well. Note that you will dirty one pot for mixing the biscuit
batter and the biscuits will need to be kept warm while the gravy is warming up
if you only have one cook stove. The
three empty plastic packages are easily collapsible for packing out. The
biscuits and gravy have 2474 calories, 2434mg sodium, 0mg cholesterol, 8.25g fat
(5.5g
saturated), 44g carbohydrate, and 10g protein.
Caramel Breakfast Fryin’ Pan Bread:
The bread and caramel mix are packaged separately inside a 4” x 5.5”
(102 x 140mm) 9oz (255g) package. The
bread is prepared by mixing with water and frying the bread in a pan with oil.
After cooking the bread on one side, the caramel mix is added to the top
and the bread is flipped over for additional cooking. Determining when to flip and actually flipping the bread was
problematic for us with both this product and the Pizza Fryin’ Pan Bread.
The instructions say to wait until the top has set.
We had trouble determining when the top was set because the batter was
still quite runny. We lowered the
heat to keep from burning the center of the bread (easy to do with a Pocket
Rocket) and moved the pan around the heat to evenly cook the bottom of the
bread. The top batter was still runny when we added the granular
caramel mixture and flipped it over to keep the bread from burning.
Flipping the bread over in a 8” (203mm) pan with a lexan spoon is quite
a challenge. At this point, you
have your caramel mixture on the bottom of the pan while you continue to cook
the bread. I would strongly suggest
cooking this in a non-stick pan as the cooked caramel will happily adhere to any
and all surfaces for many washings to come.
Once cooked, the result is very tasty and we enjoyed the bread.
The texture of the bread is heavier than the biscuits, but is still very
tasty and a treat. All refuse was 3
plastic packages that were easily collapsed and packed out. This
product has 276 calories, 529mg sodium, 3g fat (0.9g saturated), 345mg cholesterol,
45g
carbohydrate, and 5g protein.
Turkey Ham Slices: Four
3” x 4.5” (76 x 114mm) slices packaged in a 4.5” x 5.5” (114 x 140mm)
vacuum-sealed plastic bag. The 4 oz
(113g) vacuum-sealed pouch is shipped inside a larger box with preparation and
refrigeration instructions. This
product does not require refrigeration until after the package is opened.
Unfortunately, the package is not resealable so a separate zip-lock type
bag would need to be carried for placing the contents inside a cooler.
The taste was of dark turkey meat, which was confirmed by referencing the ingredient
list. The main ingredient is turkey thigh meat. The
refuse was the vacuum-sealed plastic bag and some liquid.
This product has 70 calories, 460mg sodium, 30mg cholesterol, 4g fat (1g
saturated), 1g carbohydrate, and 7g protein.
Smoked Turkey Italian Sausage: Three 1” x 5” ( 25 x 127 mm) sausages packaged in a 4”
x 6” (102 x 152 mm) vacuum-sealed non-resealable 4.75oz (135g) plastic pouch.
These sausages were quite tasty and spicy with a good firm consistency.
I got these primarily to make with the Pizza Fryin’ Pan Bread, but
ended up eating one as an appetizer while the pizza was cooking. The spices used mask the turkey meat and make the sausage
quite tasty. The refuse was the
vacuum-sealed plastic bag. This
product has 80 calories, 550mg sodium, 6g fat (2g saturated), 35mg cholesterol, 1g
carbohydrate, and 6g protein.
Note the Turkey Ham Slices and Smoked Turkey Italian
Sausage must be used within 5 days and refrigerated after opening the package.
The Turkey Italian Sausage must not be heated in a conventional oven.
Pizza Fryin’ Pan Bread:
The 4” x 5.5” (102 x 140mm) 8 oz (235g) package contains two separate
packages for the bread and pizza sauce. The
sauce contents are emptied into a cup and combined with 1 tablespoon of oil and
water. My sauce contents had
hardened and after mixing with the water and oil did not reconstitute well.
It took us quite a while and quite a bit of effort to break up the sauce
mix to get a smooth consistency. The
bread is cooked in similar fashion to the Caramel Breakfast Fryin’ Pan Bread;
mix the contents of the package with water, fry half the bread in a pan with
oil. Once one side of the bread is
done, spread the sauce over the bread, add the remaining bread mix, and flip it
over. Per the recommendation on
Cache Lake’s web site, we added the Smoked Turkey Italian Sausage to the pizza
after spreading on the sauce and before the remaining mix was added.
The bread has a heavy consistency like that of the Caramel Breakfast
Fryin’ Pan Bread. The sauce was
VERY spicy and overwhelming – so overwhelming that I would recommend packaging
straight tomato sauce and separate spice packages to fit individual
preferences. The sausage was a
great addition and provided good flavor. Total
refuse was the 3 plastic packages that were easily collapsible and packed out.
Although the package indicates that it will serve 4, we felt that after a
day on the trail, it would only serve 1 or possibly 2 if they were light eaters
or combining this meal with something else. Excluding the Smoked Turkey
Italian Sausage, this product contains 165 calories, 558mg sodium, 4g fat (1.7g
saturated), 21g cholesterol, 21g carbohydrate, and 6g protein.
Conclusion:
The Fryin’ Pan Biscuits ‘n Gravy, Caramel Breakfast
Fryin’ Pan Bread, and Smoked Turkey Italian Sausage were of excellent quality
and very tasty. The Pizza Fryin’
Pan Bread would be excellent except for what I considered the overwhelming
flavor of the spices in the sauce mix. While
these items could be used on a backpacking trip, some consideration would have
to be made for the cleaning of the pots needed to mix the breads.
The vacuum-sealed packages for the Smoked Turkey Italian Sausage and
Turkey Ham Slices were clearly marked for easy identification so you could
dispose of the box at home. While
they could be easily consumed by one person in one sitting, some consideration
would need to be made for refrigeration if they are not.
The packaged breads are lightweight and produce little refuse.
I would highly recommend the breads.
I would like to thank Cache Lake and BGT for the
opportunity to test these great products.
Respectfully,
Bill Baldwin
Personal Bio:
Name: Bill Baldwin
Age: 42
Gender: Male
Height: 6' 00" (1.82m)
Weight: 170 lbs (77kg)
Email: bill dot baldwin at bigfoot dot com
Residence: Dallas, Texas
Background:
I am active in Boy Scouts as an adult leader and enjoy taking the older boys
on high adventure trips backpacking, canoeing, rappelling, and mountain
climbing. I am an active outdoorsman and camp/hike/backpack at least once
a month. I grew up camping with my parents and have enjoyed backpacking
and camping for the last 10+ years with my children on our family trips as well
as with Scouts. I am a recent convert to lightweight backpacking and am
slowly upgrading and updating my equipment to lighter weight cool toys. I
have eaten all my life and have taught others on lightweight meal preparation.
Read more reviews of Cache Lake Foods gear
Read more gear reviews by Bill Baldwin
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