Cook Mountain-Man style with sourdough

By Mike Marsh
Published in Sports on October 24, 2008 1:46 PM

• Print
• Email

There's nothing like waking up to the sound of a rippling brook, with trout rising in eddies downstream of rocks worn smooth as bowling balls by the passage of water and time. The only thing that could make such an outdoor mountain outing better is the scent of wood smoke and campfire cooking.

Such was the scene I experienced a few weeks ago at the Southeastern Outdoor Press Association's annual conference in Gatlinburg, Tenn.

Soc Clay, one of the most respected outdoor photographers and writers in the nation, was clad in traditional garb worn by trappers and miners from the past century. He cooked up a batch of sourdough biscuits in essentially the same way. While he used bagged charcoal and a folding Coleman grill, rather than firewood and a rock ring, his sourdough starter was the real McCoy.

"I've kept my sourdough starter in a freezer for five years and it was still good," said Clay. "Every time you make a batch, you save some of it to keep the starter alive."

In 1931, Soc Clay's Mad Trapper Sourdough Starter was carried was along on the famous hunt for Albert Johnson, a 34-year-old trapper in the Northwest Territories. Johnson was accused of invading other trappers' territories and when Mounties tried to question him, he opened fire and escaped.

More than 100 citizens and dozens of mounted police tracked him down in 50-below temperatures, finally resorting to an airplane. He was brought down after being struck with nine bullets. No one ever heard him speak a word. He really had gone "mad."

The sourdough starter originated during the Alaska gold rush in 1899-1901. Sam Robertson acquired a starter from the original after he landed in Alaska during World War II and kept the starter going during the 30 years he lived in Alaska. He made a living as a trapper, bear guide, commercial fisherman and travel writer.

Robertson brought the starter with him to Tennessee during the 1960s and continues to use it. In 1980, he gave Clay a start of the famous starter and Clay has used it ever since. Using a unique process he developed, Clay de-hydrates the original starter into a meal so his Mad Trapper Sourdough Starter can be shipped anywhere in the world.

"It's a yeast in a flour mash," said Clay. "Sourdough was used for making bread in Egypt 4,000 years ago. It was brought to America from Europe, then to the West Coast in wooden kegs and taken to Alaska with miners and trappers.

"It's come back into style again as a natural food. It's even served in restaurants. But it's fun to make and eat at home, just like making and eating jerky."

Lodge cast iron cookware is the only cast iron cookware made in the United States. Manufactured in South Pittsburg, Tenn., it has been made in the same foundry since 1896. It was the same cookware that hardy men carried to the Far North as they sought their fortunes.

"Chances are, if you've ever used cast iron cookware, we made it," said Mark Kelly of Lodge Manufacturing. "Nothing is more integral to the American culture as cast iron cookware. Cast iron cookware can be used to cook anything except the most delicate sauces.

"You can use it to cook on a stove, fire, fireplace or oven. You can do almost anything with it. One woman even murdered her husband with one of our skillets!"

Historically, cast iron skillets required seasoning, Kelly said. While that process required 15 to 17 uses, Lodge's current crop of cookware comes coated with special vegetable seasoning.

Clay simply mixed the batter, then put the batter into a new Lodge Dutch oven set over hot coals. A rim around the lid kept additional coals from falling off. He lifted the lid occasionally to check his cooking until he pronounced it done.

Then he set the finished bread on a table set with mountain honey and fresh butter. The replica revolver on his hip was unnecessary to elicit positive comments about his cooking from several dozen guests.

As I taste-tested the feast, I couldn't help thinking about how wonderful hot sourdough would be for breakfast at an opening-day deer camp or as the basis for a pan of squirrel and dumplings.

To order Mad Trapper Sourdough ($10 postpaid) or an autographed copy of "Soc Clay's Mad Trapper Sourdough Baking: On The Rise Since the 1800s" ($15 postpaid), send a check to P.O. Box 515, South Shore, KY, 41175.