Outfitter's One-Pot Camp Supper
A packer's dinner: one pot, prepped at home, cooked over coals while somebody else holds the horses.
- calories
- 720
- weight
- 7 oz
- cal / oz
- 103
- protein
- 32 g
- serves
- 4, scales
- prep
- 10 min
- cook
- 25 min
- total time
- 35 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
- Campfire coals
- Canister stove
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Canoe / raft
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Instant white rice | 2 cups dry | |
|---|---|---|
| Summer sausage | 10 oz | cured, no cooler needed; dice at home |
| Dried onion and bell pepper flakes | 1/2 cup total | |
| Bouillon cubes | 3 | |
| Tomato powder | 3 tbsp | or a 6 oz can of paste if weight is not the problem |
| Hard cheese | 4 oz | grated at home, bagged |
| Cooking oil | 2 tbsp | |
| Garlic powder, black pepper, paprika | 1 tbsp total |
Method
- Build a small fire and let it burn down. You want coals with a steady bed, not flame licking the pot.
- Set the pot on a grate or a flat rock at the coal edge. Warm the oil and brown the diced sausage until the fat renders out.
- Add the dried vegetables and 600 ml of water. Bring it to a boil and hold it there two minutes so the vegetables rehydrate before the starch goes in.
- Stir in the bouillon, tomato powder, and spices. Dump in the rice, stir once, cover, and pull the pot off the coals.
- Wait ten minutes without lifting the lid. Residual heat finishes the rice; sitting over coals only scorches the bottom.
- Fold in the cheese and serve straight from the pot.
Outfitters cook this way because the alternative is spending the day at camp instead of in the saddle. Everything that can be chopped, grated, or measured happens at home; camp is browning meat and boiling water. The original relies on a cooler and frozen prepped bags, so the trail version trades those for cured sausage, dried vegetables, and tomato powder — same dish, nothing that spoils.
The off-heat rest is the part people skip. Instant rice needs steam, not more fire, and a covered pot pulled from the coals holds plenty. Leave it over the bed and you get a scorched crust glued to the bottom, which is the one thing that turns a one-pot meal into dishes.
Packing
Rice, dried vegetables, bouillon, tomato powder, and spices go in one bag at home. Sausage and cheese ride in a second bag. Two bags, one pot, one spoon each.
Variations
- Swap the rice for instant potato flakes and stir them in off the heat for a thicker, faster version.
- A can of beans stretches this to six people if a rider shows up hungry.
- No fire: the whole thing works over a canister stove with the same off-heat rest.
http://highmountainhorse.blogspot.com/2010/01/camp-meals-and-menu.html