From the test kitchen

Recipes

Our test kitchen is a truck. These recipes were developed on tailgates, at rest areas, and once, memorably, on the hood while it was still warm. Each one names its marker, because substituting flavors changes the geography.

The Tailgate Board

Serves 4, or 2 with opinions

A charcuterie board for eating the jerky in the exact spot it came from. Drive to the marker on the bag, drop the tailgate, and build. Purists insist the board faces the direction of travel.

1. Slice I-80 Mile 214 and AZ-86 Mile 39 on a bias, about a finger wide.
2. Add sharp cheddar, whole-grain mustard, dill pickles, and the sturdiest crackers you own. The shoulder of a highway is windy.
3. Park legally. Rest areas count as the marker if they fall within two miles, per our house rules, which we printed.
4. Raise a cracker to the marker before eating. This part is not optional.

Passing Lane Trail Mix

Makes one long drive's worth

Built around MT-200 Mile 88, whose juniper rub does the seasoning for you. The elk is lean, so it keeps well in a glove box, a fact we confirmed over several regrettable months.

1. Tear one bag of MT-200 Mile 88 into thumbnail pieces.
2. Add a cup of roasted almonds, half a cup of pepitas, and half a cup of dried cranberries.
3. Shake in a jar. The jar matters. Bags puncture, and then the passenger footwell smells like juniper until you sell the car.
4. Ration by mile, not by handful. A handful lasts three miles. Plan accordingly.

Moose and Maple Oatmeal

Serves 1, before a long haul

The patrol breakfast. Route 2 Mile 118 is glazed with syrup from eleven miles up the road, so it was already halfway to breakfast when we found it.

1. Make oatmeal the way you normally do. We will not tell you how to make oatmeal.
2. Chop a quarter bag of Route 2 Mile 118 and stir it in while the oats are hot.
3. Add a little extra maple syrup if you want, though the moose brought its own.
4. Eat standing up, looking at a road. Any road works. The good ones have fog.