Corned Beef Hash, Packed In
Canned hash, dried potatoes, and fried onion. A hot dinner that survives a week in a pannier.
- calories
- 720
- weight
- 9 oz
- cal / oz
- 80
- protein
- 28 g
- serves
- 2, scales
- prep
- 5 min
- cook
- 15 min
- total time
- 20 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.
- Dinner
- Breakfast
- Campfire coals
- Canister stove
- Liquid fuel
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Canoe / raft
- Dairy free
- Nut free
- One pot
- Grab and go
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Canned corned beef hash | 1 can (15 oz) | the meat and the fat both matter here |
|---|---|---|
| Dried hash brown potatoes | 1 cup | the boxed shelf-stable kind, not frozen |
| Dried minced onion | 2 tbsp | |
| Fried onions | 1/3 cup | the crispy canned kind, added at the end |
| Oil | 1 tbsp | or the fat that comes off the can |
| Black pepper and hot sauce | to taste |
Method
- Pour 300 ml of water over the dried potatoes and minced onion in the pot. Let them sit ten minutes off the heat until they soften.
- Put the pot on the fire or the stove and cook off the loose water, stirring so nothing welds to the bottom.
- Add the oil and the whole can of hash. Break it up with the spoon and spread it flat.
- Leave it alone for four or five minutes. That is where the crust comes from. Flip it in sections, then leave it alone again.
- Pepper, hot sauce, and the fried onions over the top right before it comes off the heat.
This started as a horse-packing meal, where a cooler and a can opener are both fair game. The can is heavy and the calories per ounce are mediocre, so this is a car-camp, basecamp, or boat dinner, not a backpacking one. Everything in it is shelf-stable, which is the point: no cooler, no ice, no timeline.
The dried hash browns are doing the work the source recipe left to fresh potatoes. Rehydrate them first, then drive off the water before the hash goes in, or the whole pot stays wet and never browns. The crust is the entire reason to cook this over a fire instead of eating the can cold, so resist stirring it.
Packing
Dried potatoes and minced onion premeasured into one bag. The can rides upright at the bottom of the pannier or the food bin. Pack the opener; not every can has a pull tab.
Variations
- Foil-wrap the whole thing and bury it in coals instead of pan-frying, if the fire is already down to embers.
- Add a packet of powdered eggs stirred into the rehydrated potatoes to push it toward breakfast.
- Instant refried beans in place of half the hash cuts the weight and the cost.
https://www.hunttalk.com/threads/food-for-camping.206403