Brown Sugar Orange Ham and Rice
Canned ham cooked down in reconstituted orange juice and brown sugar, over instant rice.
- calories
- 720
- weight
- 9 oz
- cal / oz
- 80
- protein
- 30 g
- serves
- 2, scales
- prep
- 3 min
- cook
- 12 min
- total time
- 15 min
- water
- 600 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
- Campfire coals
- Liquid fuel
- Car camping
- Canoe / raft
- Basecamp
- Bikepacking
- Gluten free
- Dairy free
- Nut free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Canned ham or canned chicken | 1 can, about 10 oz | pull-tab cans save carrying an opener |
|---|---|---|
| Powdered orange drink mix | enough for 1 cup | reconstitutes to the 1 cup of juice the glaze needs |
| Brown sugar | 3 tbsp | packs hard, so break it up before it goes in the bag |
| Instant rice | 1 1/2 cups | |
| Cider vinegar or lemon powder | 1 tsp | cuts the sugar |
| Mustard powder | 1/2 tsp | |
| Salt and black pepper | to taste | |
| Oil | 1 tbsp |
Method
- Mix the drink powder into 240 ml of water in a bottle. Set it aside.
- Heat the oil in the pot. Drain the ham, break it into chunks, and brown it for three or four minutes.
- Pour in the orange juice, brown sugar, mustard powder, and vinegar. Simmer until it goes thick and sticky, five to eight minutes. Stir often near the end or the sugar will scorch on the pot bottom.
- Scrape the ham and glaze into a bowl or the empty can.
- Boil 360 ml of water in the same pot, stir in the instant rice, cover, and pull it off the heat for five minutes.
- Fluff the rice and pour the ham and glaze back over it.
This came out of long-boat provisioning, where the fresh food runs out on day three and the back half of the trip is cans and dry starch. The glaze is the whole point. Canned ham is salty and one-note, and an acidic sugar syrup gives it something to push against.
The juice is powdered drink mix, not a carton, because a cup of liquid orange juice is half a pound of water you would be carrying for no reason. Reduce it hard. If the glaze is still thin when the ham is hot, keep the burner on and stir, since the sugar has to concentrate before it will coat anything.
Packing
Brown sugar, drink powder, mustard, and salt go in one small bag as a premixed glaze packet. Rice in another. The can rides on its own; it is the heavy part.
Variations
- Canned chicken or a foil pouch of pork works the same way and weighs less than the ham.
- A handful of dried cranberries in the glaze thickens it and adds tartness.
- No stove: skip the glaze, cold-soak the rice, and eat the ham straight from the can.
https://www.sailnet.com/threads/menu-planning.4039