Cola Braised Roast, Camp Version
Freeze-dried beef, onion soup mix, chili sauce, and a flat cola simmered down in one pot.
- calories
- 620
- weight
- 5.5 oz
- cal / oz
- 113
- protein
- 34 g
- serves
- 2, scales
- prep
- 5 min
- cook
- 20 min
- total time
- 25 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
- Canister stove
- Liquid fuel
- Campfire coals
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Backpacking
- Dairy free
- Nut free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Freeze-dried shredded beef or roast beef | 3 oz | venison or elk if you have it dried |
|---|---|---|
| Instant mashed potato flakes | 1 cup | stands in for the roast's potatoes and thickens the sauce |
| Dry onion soup mix | 1 packet | |
| Chili sauce | 3 tbsp | squeeze packets, or 2 tbsp tomato powder plus a pinch of cayenne and 1 tsp sugar |
| Cola powder or brown sugar | 2 tbsp | brown sugar plus a splash of vinegar mimics the cola |
| Oil | 1 tbsp |
Method
- Bring 500 ml of water to a boil, then pull it off the heat and stir in the freeze-dried beef. Let it sit ten minutes, covered. It needs the full ten.
- Return the pot to a low flame. Stir in the onion soup mix, chili sauce, and the sugar or cola powder.
- Simmer five minutes, stirring so the sugar does not scorch on the bottom.
- Kill the heat. Add the potato flakes in two handfuls until the sauce grips the meat. Pour the oil over and stir it in.
- Let it stand two minutes before eating. It keeps thickening.
The original is a crock pot roast: cola, chili sauce, onion soup mix, eight hours on low. The sugar and acid in the soda break down a tough cut while the soup mix supplies the salt and the browned-onion flavor. None of that survives a backpack, so this version keeps the flavor triangle and drops the eight hours.
Freeze-dried beef rehydrates in ten minutes instead of breaking down over an afternoon, which means the sauce has to do the heavy lifting. Brown sugar and a little acid stand in for the cola. Potato flakes replace the potatoes that would have cooked in the pot and thicken the sauce at the same time, so nothing pools at the bottom of the bowl.
Packing
Soup mix, sugar, and potato flakes go in one bag; the beef in its own bag so it stays dry. Chili sauce packets ride in a side pocket in case one splits.
Variations
- A packet of instant gravy in place of the onion soup mix makes it heavier and less salty.
- Dried mushrooms tossed in with the beef rehydrate on the same soak.
- At a car camp with a dutch oven, use a real 3 lb roast, a can of cola, a bottle of chili sauce, and the soup packet, buried in coals for hours.
https://www.huntingpa.com/threads/camp-menus.317667