On the Menu at Brunswick Lake Lodge

One of the great joys of any fishing trip is the food. Whether it’s the excuse to eat junk food on the road trip, snacks by the fire, or fresh-caught fish prepared right away, these moments bring us together and add to the entire enjoyment of the trip. My name’s Aldo, and I’m one of 2 cohosts of the So Fly podcast, but in my everyday life, I work in Food and Bev. Now, I’m no chef, but I love to eat and cook, and on fishing trips, this is no different. 

This fishing trip was unique as even though we were flown into Brunswick Lake Lodge, a remote camp, our cabin had a fully stocked kitchen with a fridge, range, and any pot/pan we needed. Our cabin even had a propane BBQ and a propane fish fryer. We were seriously set up for success. I was joined by my equally food-obsessed pals Nick, Aidas, and David on this trip, so we had plans to make some wicked meals. The great thing about a fly-in outpost camp is that, so long as you plan for your weight, you can bring exactly the type of food you’re looking for. Furthermore, when you travel with Hearst Air, they offer to DO YOUR GROCERIES FOR YOU! What!? So we jumped at this chance, and when we arrived at the air base for our flight, our provisions were waiting for us.  

Being a slightly neurotic former front-of-house manager, I planned a “theme” to our menu. We were going to take some cabin classics and turn them up a slight notch. Still really familiar camp favourites but with a simple twist.

Brunswick Lake Lodge Cabin 4 Bistro Menu

Steak frites “au poivre”.

Steak at camp is pretty much a must in my eyes. Always fun to kick off the trip with a banging steak. So we thought we’d take a classic camp fav, steak and potatoes, and bring it up a notch. Nick was the chef tonight, and we were in for a treat; he had brought some ribeyes from a local butcher back in his hometown of Elora. He made them “au poivre” in a pepper sauce, and those were paired with sautéed mushrooms and fries. Steak frites are a bistro classic, but since we were at a fly-in camp, some frozen fries did the trick. We did, however, fry the frozen fries in the propane deep fryer until crispy and golden. Chef’s kiss.

Walleye Fish Tacos.

Are you even at a northern camp if you don’t have walleye? Instead of a shore lunch, we opted to get our walleye later in the day and prepare them for dinner. We were going to prepare them “baja fish taco” style. This means we cut our fillets into smaller “fish finger” sized chunks. We then beer-battered- a mix of corn flour batter and Muskoka Brewery lager – and fried the fish. We toasted the corn tortillas on the burner of the gas range and topped the fish with a mango salsa and vinegar-coleslawed cabbage. Served with some tortillas and guacamole on the side. This was August, so tacos on a warm Ontario summer evening with a cold beer were perfect. 

Campfire Chilli Cheese Dogs.

Normally, on a fly-in or camping trip, I usually pack in some hot dogs to enjoy by the fire, but this time we flew in some Berreta Farms Sweet Italian sausages and Nick, once again, had pre-prepared some amazing chilli. This particular day was a downpour, and we had planned for this to be lunch. We weren’t going to let a little rain stop that. We landed the boats at a beach campsite, and Aidas, our resident fire expert, got to work making a fire in the rain. We had the fire going just long enough to warm the chilli in a pot, toast our buns, cook our sausages, and melt our aged cheddar for one heck of a chilli cheese dog. And boy, was it needed in that rain. 

With a few little tweaks, you can really enjoy some amazing meals. That’s part of what we love so much about travelling to an outpost camp. Especially one with such a robust kitchen. You can eat and prepare exactly what you want, which adds to the fun. Plus, whoever catches the biggest fish that day can be on dish duty.