Instant Mustard Soup
Potato flakes and mustard powder turn a bouillon cube into something with body.
- calories
- 420
- weight
- 3.5 oz
- cal / oz
- 120
- protein
- 13 g
- serves
- 1, scales
- prep
- 2 min
- cook
- 10 min
- total time
- 12 min
- water
- 475 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
- Lunch
- Canister stove
- Alcohol / Esbit
- Liquid fuel
- Backpacking
- Thru-hike
- Winter / snow
- Bikepacking
- Nut free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Mustard powder | 1 tbsp | Colman's is the strong one; fast-food mustard packets work if you collect them in town |
|---|---|---|
| Dried onion | 2 tbsp | |
| Dried leek | 2 tbsp | |
| Instant mashed potato flakes | 1/3 cup | the thickener, not a side dish |
| Bouillon cube | 1 | |
| Bacon bits or dried sausage | 1 oz | sausage chopped small so it softens |
| Salt and pepper | to taste |
Method
- Put 475 ml of cold water in the pot with the dried onion, leek, and the crumbled bouillon cube. Light the stove.
- Stir in the mustard powder now, while the water is still cold. It clumps if you add it hot.
- Bring it to a boil, then pull the flame down low.
- Add the potato flakes a spoonful at a time, stirring, until it thickens. Stop before it turns into mashed potato.
- Stir in the bacon bits or sausage and give it two minutes on low.
- Off the heat, lid on, five minutes. The dried vegetables are still rehydrating.
Mustard is doing more here than flavor. Dry mustard powder is sharp enough to carry a whole pot on its own, which matters when the rest of the bag is beige powder and bouillon. Cold-start the mustard in the water: it hydrates evenly and the raw heat mellows as it comes up to a boil.
The potato flakes replace a flour roux. A traditional leek soup thickens with flour cooked in fat, which needs a second pan and attention you do not have at camp. Flakes do the same job off-heat with a spoon. Add them slowly. Too many at once and you have a bowl of stiff potato with mustard in it, which is a different and worse dinner.
Packing
Mustard powder, dried vegetables, bouillon, and potato flakes premixed in one bag. Meat rides separately so the grease stays out of the powder.
Variations
- Coarse ground mustard from a packet instead of powder. Heavier, but the texture is better.
- A spoonful of powdered milk at the end if you want it closer to a chowder.
- Swap the leek for dried mushroom and it goes somewhere else entirely.
https://www.hikeforpurpose.com/trail-meal-instant-mustard-soup