Cauliflower Chowder
Freeze-dried cauliflower and potato flakes, rebuilt into a thick soup with milk powder and bacon bits.
- calories
- 580
- weight
- 4.5 oz
- cal / oz
- 129
- protein
- 24 g
- serves
- 1, scales
- prep
- 2 min
- cook
- 8 min
- total time
- 10 min
- water
- 500 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
- Lunch
- Canister stove
- Alcohol / Esbit
- Liquid fuel
- Backpacking
- Basecamp
- Winter / snow
- Canoe / raft
- Gluten free
- Nut free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Dump and stir
Ingredients
| Freeze-dried cauliflower | 1 cup | crush it in the bag before you leave |
|---|---|---|
| Instant mashed potato flakes | 1/3 cup | stands in for the blender |
| Whole milk powder | 3 tbsp | replaces the half and half |
| Bouillon | 1 cube or 1 tsp | chicken or vegetable |
| Dried minced onion | 1 tbsp | |
| Powdered or hard cheese | 1 oz | cheddar powder dissolves, a hunk of jack melts |
| Cooked bacon bits | 2 tbsp | the shelf-stable kind, or freeze-dried |
| Dried chives or green onion | 1 tsp | |
| Black pepper and salt | to taste |
Method
- Boil 500 ml of water. Add the cauliflower, onion, and bouillon.
- Simmer four or five minutes until the cauliflower is soft all the way through. Bite one to check.
- Cut the heat. Stir in the milk powder first, then the potato flakes a spoonful at a time until it thickens.
- Add the cheese and stir until it disappears. Top with bacon, chives, and pepper.
The original blends cooked cauliflower into its own cream. You cannot carry a blender, so the potato flakes do that job: they thicken the pot and hide the fact that the cauliflower stayed in pieces. Crushing the freeze-dried florets at home gets you closer to the smooth texture without any work at camp.
Half and half and fresh cheese are the other two things that do not travel. Whole milk powder covers both the fat and the body, and it rehydrates better if you stir it in off the heat. Add the potato flakes last and slowly, or you get lumps you cannot break up with a spoon.
Packing
Cauliflower, onion, bouillon, milk powder, and potato flakes go in one bag. Cheese and bacon ride separately so the grease stays out of the dry mix.
Variations
- Skip the bacon and use vegetable bouillon for a meatless pot.
- A pinch of curry powder or smoked paprika covers the flatness that freeze-dried cauliflower can have.
- Add a foil packet of chicken if you want this to be a real dinner rather than a first course.
https://domesticsuperhero.com/skinny-creamy-cauliflower-soup