5 Camp Cooking Tips With Outdoor Chef Brian Lee

When camping with friends, chef Brian Lee likes to see how minimal he can keep the menu. One frying pan, maybe a Dutch oven, just the classics, But when destination calls for it—like it did on a recent trip to Mexico's Baja Peninsula with a group of adventure-driven folks brought together by CamelBak—the chef who specializes in outdoor cooking pulled out all the stops. We’re talking yellowfin tuna diced into sashimi with soy sauce, wasabi, and thinly sliced jalapeño, halibut served as aquachile with fruit juice, and snapper—caught while spearfishing—grilled over the fire with lemon. All prepared tailgate-style on the beach at sunset. Far from hot dogs and s’mores my friends.

Lee lives in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Echo Park neighborhood, and he's the first to admit there are far more convenient places for folks who like to spend time exploring outside to live. Yet ironically, the City of Angels played the pivotal role in leading Lee to the niche he occupies now, or rather, Venice's famed bakery, Gjusta, did. It was during a year and a half long stint there that Lee learned about the farm-to-table movement, seasonality, and the value of good ingredients.

He observed how a close connection between cook and crop impacts the quality of the food they prepare. And later, while working as a sous chef at Rory's Place in Ojai, Lee found himself even nearer to the source. "We'd have uni divers and fishermen come in with buckets of fresh uni," he recalls. Even if LA isn't the absolute best place for access to the outdoors, it’s an amazing place for accessing fresh produce.

In the midst of all this, Lee linked up with the Western-inspired apparel brand Seager and was tapped to accompany them on production trips as team chef. With access to a budget, Lee was able to experiment. Outside and over an open flame no less. Even while horsepacking through Montana. "I'd finally found a way to bridge two things I love doing, being outdoors, camping, backpacking, and also being able to provide something to the group."

Now, Lee also works as the head chef for Wilderness Collective, an adventure travel company that runs multi-day trips to Yosemite, Zion, the Grand Canyon, and far beyond. Groups can number as many as 30, so mealtime calls for more planning and prep than a standard camping trip, but Lee still emphasizes attention to detail and the intention of the food.

If you ask him what he likes to cook, what he specializes in, Lee will tell you that he feels most connected to the process when he's cooking over a fire pit. But it's clear that fellowship and setting are equally important to a good meal. "The culinary experience has always been an environmental thing for me," he says. "The food needs to be really good, but the environment's ability to bring friends together creates this communal thing that I've always been into."

It's safe to say that Lee has learned a thing or two about cooking outside—whether it's a quick overnighter at a nearby state park or a multi-day international excursion like his recent trip to Baja. Luckily, Lee is willing to share some of it with the rest of us. "I don't have any of those TikTok-style hacks," he cautions. "But there's a lot of bleed-over from restaurants that help out in camping cooking."

Read on for the top camp cooking tips from Chef Brian Lee for a better backcountry or car camping experience with campfire cooking, how to save time with camp kitchen clean up, and how to elevate camping meals with one simple tool (spoiler: it’s a cast iron griddle).

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Chef Brian Lee's Top 5 Beginner Friendly Camp Cooking Tips

Bring Sheet Trays and Other Nesting Containers

Counter space is always limited when you're camping. You have your tailgate or your picnic table at the campsite, but often that’s about it. Keep all your steaks on one sheet tray, all your foil packets and veggies on another tray so you can move your ingredients all at the same time, as opposed to playing 24-ingredient-pick-up.

Pre-Clean With a Rubber Spatula

I hate doing dishes. It's a weird topic, cleaning dishes outdoors, because even if your soap is biodegradable and organic, you don't want to blast the river with mac and cheese leftovers. For more conscious clean up, I like using a rubber spat to really squeegee all the camping food out of whatever I cooked with, whatever bowl I ate out of, into a trash bag to pack out. This makes sanitizing your cookset the sole responsibility—and minimizes your footprint.

Do Your Prep at Home

Every camper knows preparation is the key to success, so if you're cooking a meal from raw, whole ingredients at the campsite, you're absolutely fucking up. Ideally, I suggest cooking as much as you can beforehand. Or at least doing all the prep work like dicing veggies, marinating meat, portioning out sauces and condiments, etc at home where cutting boards are aplenty. And if you have access to a vacuum sealer or if you have reusable containers, use those. Save yourself the effort of having to do all that outdoors and you and your campmates will be thankful for it.

Conserve the Cooler

I think a lot of people get confused about what needs to be refrigerated and what doesn't. Cooler space is super limited; nobody ever brings a 125-liter cooler to go camping for two people. So pick and choose what vegetables you put in. If you have a zucchini or an onion, don't put it in the cooler. Granola and olive oil? Keep ‘em out. Use your storage space correctly.

*Lee’s pick for best cooler for backcountry camp cooking? The CamelBak ChillBak 30 Soft Cooler and Hydration Center. "It’s easy to carry at the beach, on a boat, and while hiking, and has tons of space to pack ingredients for dinner."

Cast Iron Is King

Cast irons are the best, especially if you use enough fats and oils to keep things from getting stuck. Barebones makes a really amazing and affordable cast iron skillet that looks very classic. My favorite though, is a cast iron griddle that I take when I'm on production trips that fits over a two-burner camp stove really perfectly. You can cook for so many people on that thing, whether using a campfire or propane. Plus you can find it in just about any kitchen supply store.

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