Dehydrated Bolognese
A pot of bolognese cooked at home, dried flat, and rebuilt on the trail with pasta.
- calories
- 720
- weight
- 5.5 oz
- cal / oz
- 131
- protein
- 38 g
- serves
- 2, scales
- prep
- 5 min
- cook
- 12 min
- total time
- 17 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
- Canister stove
- Liquid fuel
- Alcohol / Esbit
- Backpacking
- Thru-hike
- Basecamp
- Bikepacking
- Dairy free
- Nut free
- One pot
- Dehydrate ahead
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Extra lean ground beef | 1 lb | 5% fat or leaner, or fat will go rancid in storage |
|---|---|---|
| Onion | 1 medium | diced small |
| Carrot | 1 medium | grated, not chunked |
| Garlic | 3 cloves | |
| Tomato paste | 2 tbsp | |
| Crushed tomatoes | 1 can (14 oz) | |
| Dried oregano and basil | 1 tsp each | |
| Salt and pepper | to taste | |
| Small dry pasta | 4 oz | macaroni or small shells; long noodles will not fit the pot |
| Olive oil | 2 tbsp | carried separately in a dropper bottle, added at camp |
Method
- At home: brown the beef, breaking it fine. Drain every bit of fat you can, then pour boiling water over the meat in a sieve and drain again.
- Add onion, carrot, garlic, tomato paste, tomatoes, and herbs. Simmer 30 minutes until it is thick and no longer loose. Season it slightly harder than you would at the table.
- Spread the sauce thin on lined dehydrator trays and run at 135F for 8 to 10 hours, until it is dry and brittle with no soft spots. Break it up and portion it into two bags.
- In camp: bring 600 ml of water to a boil. Add the sauce crumbles and the pasta at the same time.
- Boil 6 to 8 minutes, stirring so nothing welds to the pot bottom. Add splashes of water if it tightens up before the pasta is done.
- Kill the heat, cover, and wait 5 minutes. The sauce keeps drinking water the whole time.
- Stir in the olive oil and eat.
This is the whole-meal method of dehydrating: cook the dish the way you cook it at home, then dry the finished thing. Drying components separately and mixing them in camp is faster, but the sauce never tastes like it simmered. Half an hour on the stove at home does work that no amount of hot water in a pot at 9,000 feet will do.
Fat is the one thing that does not travel. It will not dry, and what stays behind goes rancid in the bag over a few weeks. So use lean meat, rinse it, and carry the calories as oil you add at the end instead. Dairy stays out for the same reason plus a bacterial one. Skip the parmesan; the tomato and herbs carry it.
Packing
One meal bag holds the dried sauce and the pasta together. Push the air out; oxygen is what turns dried meat rancid. The oil rides in its own bottle in a side pocket.
Variations
- Swap the beef for brown lentils and it dries the same way, faster.
- A crushed bouillon cube in the pot covers for flavor lost in drying.
- Instant potato flakes instead of pasta thicken it into something closer to a shepherd's pie.
https://slowerhiking.com/food/adapt-your-favourite-recipes