camp meals

Instant Stamppot with Dried Kale and Sausage

Dutch mashed potatoes with greens and cured sausage, rebuilt out of a stove bag.

calories
780
weight
6 oz
cal / oz
130
protein
26 g
serves
1, scales
prep
2 min
cook
5 min
total time
7 min
water
450 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 flakes 1 cup a single sachet works if that is what the store sells
Dried kale 1/2 cup packed or dried leek, spinach, endive, or shredded carrot
Dried smoked sausage 3 oz a hard cured sausage, sliced thin at home
Powdered whole milk 2 tbsp leave out for a dairy-free version
Olive oil or ghee 1 tbsp
Salt, black pepper, and a pinch of nutmeg to taste
Bouillon 1 cube or 1 tsp powder

Method

  1. Bring 450 ml of water to a boil with the bouillon and the dried kale in it. Hold the boil for two minutes so the greens soften.
  2. Cut the heat. Stir in the sausage slices and let them sit in the hot water a minute to loosen up and give off their fat.
  3. Add the potato flakes and milk powder in two or three additions, stirring after each. Stop when a spoon stands up in it on its own.
  4. Pour the oil over the top, season, and stir once more. Let it rest a minute off the stove.

Stamppot is potato, a green, and a piece of meat mashed together, which is already most of the way to a stove-bag dinner. Instant flakes were never really a compromise here. The dish wants the potato broken down anyway.

The order matters more than the ingredients. Kale needs a real boil to come back from dried; potato flakes only need to be stirred into hot water. Boil the greens first, then thicken. Do it the other way and you get a stiff pot with leathery leaves in it. The sausage fat and the oil are the calories, and they are also what keeps the whole thing from tasting like paste.

Packing

Flakes, kale, milk powder, and bouillon go in one bag together. Sausage rides in its own bag because it will grease the rest. Oil goes in a leakproof bottle inside a second bag.

Variations

  • Sauerkraut, dried and crumbled, gives the sharper version. Add it with the kale.
  • Dried onion and carrot in place of kale is the milder version, but blanch the carrot before drying or it stays hard.
  • Skip the milk powder and use more oil for a dairy-free pot.

https://www.hikeforpurpose.com/trail-meal-dutch-instant-stamppot