Camp White Gravy
Roux, powdered milk, and enough pepper to notice. Poured over anything starchy.
- calories
- 260
- weight
- 1.8 oz
- cal / oz
- 144
- protein
- 6 g
- serves
- 2, scales
- prep
- 2 min
- cook
- 8 min
- total time
- 10 min
- water
- 300 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.
- Breakfast
- Dinner
- Canister stove
- Campfire coals
- Liquid fuel
- Car camping
- Backpacking
- Basecamp
- Bikepacking
- Vegetarian
- Nut free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Butter | 2 tbsp | ghee or a shelf-stable butter powder rehydrated with the milk both work |
|---|---|---|
| All purpose flour | 2 tbsp | |
| Whole milk powder | 1/3 cup | whole, not nonfat, or the gravy comes out thin |
| Salt | 1/2 tsp | |
| Black pepper | 1/2 tsp | coarse ground, more than you think |
Method
- Whisk the milk powder into 300 ml of cool water in your mug or bottle. Set it aside so the lumps settle out.
- Melt the butter in the pot over low heat. Keep the flame small; a hot spot will scorch flour in seconds.
- Dump in the flour and stir it into a paste. Cook one to two minutes, until it smells toasted rather than raw.
- Pour the reconstituted milk in a splash at a time, stirring hard after each addition. Add it all at once and you get lumps you cannot fix.
- Simmer and stir until it coats the spoon. Pull it off the heat, add salt and pepper, and use it immediately.
Standard white gravy is butter, flour, and cold milk from the fridge. On the trail the milk is the problem, so it becomes whole milk powder reconstituted in a mug before it ever hits the pot. Whole matters: the fat is what makes gravy read as gravy instead of paste.
The roux is the only step that needs attention. Flour cooked in fat for a minute loses its raw taste and gains the ability to thicken without clumping, but a camp stove concentrates heat in a small ring and will burn it fast. Low flame, constant stirring, and add the liquid slowly. It exists to make instant potatoes, biscuits, or rice into a real dinner.
Packing
Flour, milk powder, salt, and pepper premix into one small bag per batch. Butter travels in a screw-top jar; ghee handles heat better than stick butter above 70 degrees.
Variations
- Stir in crumbled jerky or a foil packet of sausage for a heartier version.
- Rice flour or a gluten-free blend swaps in one for one, though it sets up softer.
- A spoonful of powdered bouillon in place of half the salt gives it more backbone.
https://onepotrecipes.com/easy-white-gravy-recipe