camp meals

Hutspot Trail Mash

Dutch carrot-onion mash rebuilt from dried vegetables, instant potato, and a stick of smoked sausage.

calories
830
weight
6.6 oz
cal / oz
126
protein
26 g
serves
1, scales
prep
2 min
cook
5 min
total time
7 min
water
400 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
  • Alcohol / Esbit
  • Liquid fuel
  • Backpacking
  • Thru-hike
  • Winter / snow
  • Bikepacking
  • Gluten free
  • Nut free
  • One pot
  • Dehydrate ahead
  • Shelf stable
  • Dump and stir

Ingredients

Instant mashed potato 1 pouch (about 91 g)
Dehydrated carrot 10 g grated on a box grater before drying, so it rehydrates fast
Dehydrated onion 10 g
Shelf-stable smoked sausage 1 stick, about 3 oz rookworst if you can get it, cabanossi or a dry smoked link if you cannot
White pepper 1 tsp
Salt 1 tsp cut this if your potato pouch is already salted
Grated nutmeg 1/2 tsp

Method

  1. Put 400 ml of water in the pot with the dried carrot, onion, and spices. Let it sit a minute before you light the stove.
  2. Bring it to a boil and hold it there for two minutes. The carrot needs the full time; the onion is done long before that.
  3. Off the heat, stir in the potato a third at a time so it does not clump.
  4. Slice the sausage into coins, stir them through, and put the lid on for three minutes. The residual heat warms the sausage and finishes the carrot.
  5. Stir once more and eat straight from the pot.

Hutspot is a Dutch mash of carrot, onion, and potato, and almost all of it dries well. The potatoes become instant flakes, the vegetables go through a dehydrator for six to eight hours, and the whole dinner drops to about 6.5 ounces dry.

The order matters more than anything else here. Carrot is the slow ingredient, so it rides through the boil while the potato waits outside the pot. Flakes go in last, off heat, or they turn to paste and the carrot stays crunchy. Nutmeg and white pepper are not garnish in this dish; without them it reads as plain potato.

Packing

Vegetables and spices in one small zip bag. Leave the potato in its own pouch or bag it separately, because it goes in after the boil, not during. Sausage stays in its factory wrapper until you cut it.

Variations

  • Skip the sausage and it is a vegan, dairy-free dinner, minus about 220 calories. Add oil back to make up the difference.
  • A spoon of olive oil or a knob of hard cheese stirred in at the end pushes it past 1,000 calories.
  • Dried parsnip in place of half the carrot is the older version of this dish.

https://www.hikeforpurpose.com/trail-meal-hutspot