Hot and Sour Venison Camp Soup
Paprika, cabbage, and vinegar over rehydrated venison. Sour enough to wake you up after a cold day.
- calories
- 390
- weight
- 4.5 oz
- cal / oz
- 87
- protein
- 26 g
- serves
- 2, scales
- prep
- 10 min
- cook
- 35 min
- total time
- 45 min
- water
- 900 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
- Campfire coals
- Canister stove
- Liquid fuel
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Winter / snow
- Dairy free
- Nut free
- Gluten free
- One pot
- Dehydrate ahead
- Shelf stable
- Actual cooking
Ingredients
| Dried venison or beef, cooked and shredded | 4 oz | browned hard in a pan at home, then dried; browning is where the broth flavor comes from |
|---|---|---|
| Dried mushrooms | 1 oz | honey mushrooms if you have them, otherwise shiitake or porcini |
| Dried shredded cabbage | 1 cup | |
| Dried diced onion, carrot, and celery | 1/2 cup total | |
| Sweet paprika | 1 tbsp | |
| Tomato powder | 1 tbsp | stands in for tomato paste |
| Bouillon | 2 cubes | chicken or beef |
| Sliced garlic, dried | 1 tsp | |
| Crushed red pepper flakes | a pinch | |
| Bay leaf, peppercorns, allspice, juniper | 1 leaf plus a few of each | tied in a scrap of cheesecloth or a tea bag |
| Rice wine vinegar | 3 tbsp | in a small leakproof bottle |
| Cooking oil | 1 tbsp | |
| Salt and ground pepper | to taste | |
| Dried dill or chives | 1 tsp |
Method
- Heat the oil in the pot and toast the paprika and garlic for about ten seconds. Pull it off the heat before the paprika darkens or the soup turns bitter.
- Add 900 ml of water, the dried meat, mushrooms, vegetables, tomato powder, bouillon, pepper flakes, and the spice bundle.
- Bring to a boil, then hold it at a low simmer for 25 to 30 minutes. Add a splash of water if it drops below the solids.
- Fish out the spice bundle. Stir in the vinegar a tablespoon at a time, tasting between each one. Stop when it tastes sharp rather than flat.
- Salt and pepper it, scatter the dried dill on top, and let it sit two minutes off the heat before eating.
The original is a two-hour braise built on searing a whole chunk of venison. You cannot do that in a pot on a stone, so the browning moves home: sear the meat in one piece, shred it, dry it, and carry the flavor with you. Rehydrating shredded meat takes half an hour, not ninety minutes.
Mushrooms do the thickening here. Honey mushrooms give a broth real body without flour, and dried ones give most of it back once they swell. The vinegar is not optional. Cabbage soup without acid tastes like nothing at 8,000 feet, and adding it at the end, in stages, is the only way to land it.
Packing
Everything dry goes in one bag except the spice bundle and the vinegar bottle. Keep the vinegar upright and double-bagged; it will find any weakness in a lid.
Variations
- A spoonful of powdered sour cream or a packet of coconut milk powder stirred in at the end softens the edge without a cooler.
- Dried potato dice in place of half the cabbage makes it a heavier meal.
- Skip the meat and double the mushrooms for a vegan pot; use vegetable bouillon.
https://foragerchef.com/sweet-and-sour-venison-honey-mushroom-soup