The text below explains and gives the audience detailed information on how to make a canoe cookery. This text is excerpted from Soule, H. H. (1885). Canoe and camp cookery: A practical cook book for canoeists, Corinthian sailors, and outers. New York, NY: Forest and Stream. Available from The Gutenburg Project.
For conoe cruising a certain amount of food supplies and only the amount of utensils that will be used should be carried in a single box or chest, therefore, when one cooks their meal, they will be able to have certain amount of food that one decided to bring along the journey. For a long journey, the large portion of food should be kept in different areas or spots of the canoe, but the box should contain enough sufficient space for three meals, and can be restored from the larger store when one stops for the night or if planned to stay at the camping place more than expected. The larger the box, the more space and storage one will gain. In other words, it will be more comfortable for one to use to have better space.
Each box made be differently, such as wood, tin or galvanized iron. The box can be also made by the person themselves, but needs to be well taken care of. The box must be water tight and should be varnished inside and out with shellac or boat varnish. One must avoid arbitrary dimensions due to the varying sizes of canoes and the different amounts of provisions carried on the cruises. With that being the case, the canoeist must first determine what amount and variety of eatables he will carry.
5/16 if made of wood (quarter inch) 3/8 if used as a seat Cover should be 2 inches deep Handle should be thin, wide and flat
The Consolidated Fruit Jar Company, 49 Warren Street, New York, makes tin screw-tops for jars and canisters that are perfectly water-tight. Send for several of these tops, of assorted sizes, and have a tinsmith make the tin cans of the dimensions you desire, so that they will nest in the box closely. The same company will also furnish you with a pint or quart earthen jar with water-tight screw-top, in which butter may be kept sweet for a long time in hot weather, and which may be enveloped in a net and lowered to the bottom of the river or lake without fear of its leaking.
Everything should be in their own place. The eggs should always be with the softest things, and should be put near on top of the chest. Cups or plates should be of tin or granite ware. The vinegar goes in a whisky flask, canned goods, condensed milk, baking powder, etc., in their own cans. Coffee pot should be a small size, with handle and lip riveted. The plates should nest in the frying pan, which should have no handle. The knife and fork need to have a sheath for a pair of small blacksmith’s pliers. It is always good to have everything in place that way it can be out of the way in reach of the other things. What needs to be in waterproof bags are: vegetables, extra bread, crackers, flour, meal, pork or bacon. These waterproof bags may be also used for clothing and blankets. They are made of unbleached muslin, sewn in a lap seam, with a double row of stitches. When sewn they are dipped in water and slightly shaken to remove the drops, and then while wet a mixture of equal parts of boiled oil, raw oil and turpentine is applied to the outside with a brush. This takes about a week to become thoroughly dry, and then another coat is put on without dampening the cloth, and if a little liquid drier is added to the mixture, this coat will dry in four or five days. Having prepared several bags, the provisions, clothing, blankets, etc., are put in the bag, and its mouth is inserted in that of another bag of the same size, the latter being drawn on like a stocking as far as it will go. If several bags are used instead of one or two large ones, the canoe can be trimmed and packed to better advantage.
In the video provided, this person explains his ways of the canoe cookery box, you might want to skip the first 4 minutes due to how he only talks about his experience, but after that, he starts talking about how to build up.
There Is a portable oven and it is made of two small basins, one of them which has “ears” on its rim, so that when it is placed bottom up on the other, the ears will spring over the rim of the second basin, therefore making an oven that is not air-tight, allowing gases to escape. Basins should be made of sheet-iron and needs to be kept clean There is also a “flammable force,” which takes up a little more than the folding variety and it does not give more heat, but burns for a longer time. If cooking in large utensils, there needs to be three of these flamme force alcohol lamps, light them and place them side by side. Beware of "folding stoves" to use ashore and burn wood in. They are the greatest possible nuisances—smutty, red-hot and cumbersome. Don't carry an oil stove. But if you really must, put the nasty thing in a large bucket, and only remove it from this receptacle when absolutely necessary.
I have not tried this method of preserving provisions, but the theory is excellent, and I do not see why it would not be a feasible scheme. The Brunswick canned soups are the cheapest made, are easily prepared and as wholesome as any; but I have known squeamish canoeists who would not use them because they didn't like the looks of the powder to which they are desiccated. Dried beef, corned beef, lemons and sardines make good additions to an outfit. Potatoes, onions and other vegetables should be procured en route as needed, if possible.
This food was based on a week cruise last autumn. I did not run short of anything.