Bacon Cheddar Chowder
A roux-thickened cheese soup built from dry milk and freeze-dried cheddar. No fridge involved.
- calories
- 720
- weight
- 7 oz
- cal / oz
- 103
- protein
- 36 g
- serves
- 2, scales
- prep
- 15 min
- cook
- 12 min
- total time
- 27 min
- water
- 775 ml boiled
- cost
- $$
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Dinner
- Canister stove
- Liquid fuel
- Alcohol / Esbit
- Backpacking
- Basecamp
- Car camping
- Winter / snow
- Nut free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Diced dried onion | 2 tbsp | |
|---|---|---|
| Dried garlic | 1/4 tsp | |
| Flour | 2 tbsp | |
| Ground black pepper | 1/8 tsp | |
| Worcestershire sauce powder | 3/4 tsp | or 2-3 tsp of the liquid in a leakproof bottle |
| Powdered milk | 1 cup | |
| Freeze-dried cheddar | 3 oz | |
| Shelf-stable bacon or bacon bits | 3 tbsp | |
| Olive oil | 1 tsp | a single-serve packet works |
Method
- Pour 60 ml of water over the onion and garlic and leave them alone for 15 minutes. Skip this and you get crunchy onion in your soup.
- Heat the oil in the pot on a low flame. Add the soaked onion and cook until the edges go gold.
- Stir in the flour, pepper, and Worcestershire powder. Keep it moving for a full minute so the flour loses its raw taste.
- Add the bacon, then pour in 715 ml of water in stages, stirring the whole time to keep lumps out.
- Whisk in the dry milk. Raise the heat and bring it to a boil, still stirring, until it thickens slightly.
- Cut the heat, add the cheddar, stir, and put the lid on for five minutes. Serve once the cheese has gone smooth.
This is a real roux soup, which is unusual on a stove that only knows two settings. The flour cooked in oil is what gives it body; without that minute of stirring you would need twice the cheese to get the same thickness, and freeze-dried cheddar is the expensive part of the bag.
The order matters more than the technique. Milk goes in before the boil so it thickens, cheese goes in after the heat is off so it melts instead of splitting. Rehydrate the onion first, in cold water, while you are setting up camp. It costs nothing but time you were spending anyway.
Packing
Four bags: onion and garlic together, the flour mix together, milk on its own, cheese and bacon together. The oil packet rides in the same stuff sack. Write "3 1/4 cups water" on the outside so you are not doing arithmetic at dusk.
Variations
- Instant potato flakes stirred in at the end turn it into something closer to a stew.
- A handful of freeze-dried corn added with the water makes it a corn chowder.
- Smoked paprika covers for the bacon if you want to leave the meat home.
https://trailcooking.com/soups/bacon-onion-cheese-chowder