Clam Chowder in a Pot
Instant potatoes, milk powder, and a can of clams. Chowder without a fridge or a roux.
- calories
- 470
- weight
- 5.5 oz
- cal / oz
- 85
- protein
- 24 g
- serves
- 2, scales
- prep
- 2 min
- cook
- 8 min
- total time
- 10 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
- Lunch
- Canister stove
- Liquid fuel
- Campfire coals
- Car camping
- Canoe / raft
- Backpacking
- Basecamp
- Winter / snow
- Nut free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Dump and stir
Ingredients
| Instant potato flakes | 2/3 cup | |
|---|---|---|
| Powdered whole milk | 2/3 cup | whole, not nonfat, if you can find it |
| Dried leek or onion soup mix | 1 packet | most contain wheat starch, so read the label |
| Canned or pouched clams | 6 oz | keep the juice, it is half the flavor |
| Black pepper | 1/4 tsp | |
| Bacon bits or crumbled jerky | 2 tbsp | optional, added at the end |
Method
- Put 600 ml of water in the pot with the soup mix and the milk powder. Stir before it gets hot or the powder clumps.
- Bring it to a boil, then drop the flame to a simmer.
- Add the clams and all the liquid from the can. Simmer five minutes.
- Off the heat, rain in the potato flakes while stirring. Stop when it coats the spoon.
- Pepper it, scatter the bacon bits on top, and let it sit two minutes to thicken.
Chowder is normally thickened with a butter-and-flour roux and finished with cream, neither of which travels. Instant potato flakes do the same job in one step: they thicken and they add body, and they go in off the heat so nothing scorches on the bottom of the pot. Whole milk powder replaces the cream and carries the fat that makes it read as chowder instead of salty water.
The canned clams are the only heavy thing here, and they are worth the weight. Pour the packing juice in with them; that liquid is where the shellfish flavor actually lives. Add the flakes slowly. Too many at once and you get a paste that no amount of stirring will loosen.
Packing
Potato flakes, milk powder, soup mix, and pepper go in one bag at home. The clam can rides on its own and the empty comes out with you.
Variations
- Half a cup less water makes it a thick stew you eat with a spoon standing up.
- A pouch of smoked oysters or a foil packet of salmon works if you cannot find clams.
- A tablespoon of olive oil stirred in at the end adds 120 calories and covers for skim milk powder.
https://oregonriverrunners.org/recipies-soups.php