One-Pot Fish Chowder
Foil-pouch salmon, potato flakes, and powdered milk. Camp chowder without a cooler.
- calories
- 640
- weight
- 5.8 oz
- cal / oz
- 110
- protein
- 30 g
- serves
- 2, scales
- prep
- 2 min
- cook
- 10 min
- total time
- 12 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
- Campfire coals
- Liquid fuel
- Backpacking
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Canoe / raft
- Winter / snow
- Gluten free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Foil-pouch salmon or tuna | 5 oz | pouch, not can, the can is dead weight |
|---|---|---|
| Instant mashed potato flakes | 1 cup | |
| Whole milk powder | 1/3 cup | stands in for the can of evaporated milk |
| Cooked bacon crumbles | 1 oz | the shelf-stable bits sold near the salad dressing |
| Dried minced onion | 2 tbsp | |
| Ghee or butter powder | 2 tbsp | |
| Salt | 1 tsp | |
| Black pepper | 1/4 tsp |
Method
- Bring 600 ml of water to a boil with the dried onion and bacon crumbles in it. Let it go three minutes so the onion rehydrates and the bacon fat gets into the water.
- Pull the pot off the heat. Whisk in the milk powder first, while the water is still thin. It clumps if you add it late.
- Stir in the potato flakes a third at a time until it thickens to a chowder rather than a paste. Add water if you overshoot.
- Flake the fish in whole, pouch liquid and all, and fold it through gently. It is already cooked.
- Salt, pepper, and the ghee last. Cover for two minutes, then eat.
The original is a scout-camp chowder built on fresh potatoes, an onion, and a can of evaporated milk, simmered a half hour in a big pot. The trail version keeps the structure and drops the weight: potato flakes instead of diced potatoes, milk powder instead of the can, foil-pouch fish instead of fillets, and bacon crumbles instead of raw bacon you would have to render and then carry the grease from.
Order matters more than technique. Milk powder goes into thin liquid or it seizes into lumps, and the potato flakes go in last because they are the thickener and you cannot take them back out. Off the heat for both, which also solves the source’s warning about scorched milk on the pot bottom. The ghee is not optional — without added fat this reads as thin and salty rather than as chowder.
Packing
Potato flakes, milk powder, onion, bacon bits, salt, and pepper premix into one bag at home. The fish pouch and the ghee ride separately.
Variations
- A pouch of smoked oysters or clams in place of half the fish makes it taste closer to a coastal chowder.
- Dried corn or a spoon of freeze-dried peas, added with the onion, gives it something to chew on.
- Old Bay or a pinch of smoked paprika covers for the fact that there is no fresh anything in here.
https://www.boyscouttrail.com/content/recipe/fish_chowder-195.asp