The Great Hardluck Cook-Off | Amelie '27 | Midland School

The Great Hardluck Cook-Off

Fall 2025

Earlier this year, while outlining our goals as Stewards for the semester, I dreamed up an idea: some sort of fun experience to give students who haven’t yet interacted with the outdoor program a chance to learn some important backcountry skills in a joyful environment that inspires them to go on more hardlucks and hopefully draw some new faces to the Outdoor Leadership Program. Introducing The Great Hardluck Cook-Off: my gameshow-style overnight trip to teach people how to cook in the backcountry and build psych for the Outdoor Program. Think Great British Bake Off, but teenagers instead of old brits, whisperlite stoves instead of ornate kitchens, mac’n’cheese instead of cake week, and the Midland property instead of the UK countryside. 

After a few weeks of planning and a lot of excited emailing, we were all set. The day rolled around, the bags got packed, and the ingredients got bagged. The only caveat- a storm rolled in, bringing five inches of rain in the days before and an additional three expected to fall on our intrepid chefs.

 

In a last minute pivot, we decided to relocate our overnight to the Kit horse barn. Although this sacrificed the backcountry aspect of our hardluck, it kept the main goal in sight: teaching students to use backpacking stoves to cook food, and ensuring they enjoy it, rather than associating backcountry cooking with wet, cold and mud. 

Despite being a group of generally amateur chefs, these cooks pulled together three impressive mac’n’cheese meals and four deliciously complex desserts. Each student got to learn the art of the whisperlite stove, and everyone claimed they felt more confident in their cooking skills! Special shout out to the Shae ‘26, Layla ‘29, and Yota ‘29, whose team won Best Mac’n’Cheese Dish, as well as Veronica ‘26 and Lorelei ‘28 for winning the Dessert category with their Apple Crisp.

We fell asleep to the rhythm of pouring rain, bellies full and hearts warm. Cheers to the new generation of Midland Backcountry Chefs, they sure have a way with food!

Written by Amelie ’27, photos by Maude ’26

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