Hunger Is the Best Sauce

Hungry Campers and Homemade Noodles

I’ve been trying to plan a weekend camping trip to the Pisgah National Forest for me and my oldest. I have a lot of memories associated with that place—some good, some terrifying.

In 2016, I took a handful of teenaged boys for an overnighter. The plan was to pitch tents on a bald spot of a little knob where I’d camped before. It was only about an hour hike in—totally manageable for inexperienced little guys. And while there were “bear advisories” for the area, it added no real danger—only a bit of mystique—to the trip.

The actual danger lay in the hurricane that was about to bear down on us. Yes—a hurricane in the Appalachians of North Carolina. It was quite literally the perfect storm. A northbound tropical storm and southbound rain clouds collided directly over our campsite.

Seventy-mile-an-hour winds tore at our tents all night. Lightning ripped through the sky. Rain pelted us. Our sleeping bags grew sopping. We all held on and prayed for morning.

At about 4:30am, dawn felt less than an hour away, so I quietly unzipped the door, squished out in soggy shoes, and started making breakfast. The restless night combined with the previous day’s hike made for a rumbling appetite.

I coaxed fire enough from my little pocket stove to boil some water. One of the bleary-eyed boys came out shivering and hungry. We shared a quiet breakfast as the sun rose.

I gotta tell ya, that instant oatmeal—accented by a bit of campfire ash, stirred with a stick, and eaten with a spoon still caked with bits of dinner—was one of the best meals I ever had.

In his eclectic cookbook The Supper of the Lamb, Robert Capon captures the point:

“Hunger remains the best sauce.”

I discovered the goodness of oatmeal on a hurricane-harassed mountain—but not until starved of sleep, warmth, energy, and food. In modern America, we rarely go hungry—which might be why we fail to relish what is truly good: “In this vale of sorrows, we should be careful about allowing abundance to con us out of hunger. It is not only the best sauce; it is also the choicest daily reminder that the agony of the world is by no means over.”

Another author commended the sauce of hunger to his followers when he said, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.”

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Homemade Noodles That Will Satisfy!

I’ve been absolutely loving The Supper of the Lamb, and the other night I made Capon’s homemade noodles for the first time in years. It’s hardly a recipe, but these noodles will definitely satisfy hungry little bellies.

Ingredients

• 3 cups flour

• 4 eggs

Make it

• Dump the flour onto a clean countertop. Form a volcano, then break the eggs into the center. Make sure the center is deep enough to prevent the eggs from escaping over the edge!

• Use a slow hand to break up the eggs and mix into the surrounding flour until it forms a very stiff dough. (In the event of very thirsty flour, you may have to add an additional partial egg to pick up all the flour—I did!)

• Knead the dough until it forms a smooth, stiff ball. Leave to rest on the counter for 30 minutes under a damp towel.

• Boil a large pot of salted water.

• Cut the dough into thirds. Flour the counter. Use a rolling pin to roll each piece as long and flat as you can get it. Flour the top of each oblong dough liberally, then roll it up.

• Cut each roll into thin spirals. If you’ve floured well, the noodles should unravel easily.

• Boil the noodles for 3-5 minutes until desired doneness. Top with your favorite homemade tomato sauce!