River Runner Beef Hash
Dehydrated ground beef, sausage, and a pile of dried vegetables rehydrated in one pot with ketchup and mustard.
- calories
- 700
- weight
- 5.5 oz
- cal / oz
- 127
- protein
- 38 g
- serves
- 2, scales
- prep
- 2 min
- cook
- 15 min
- total time
- 17 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
- Liquid fuel
- Backpacking
- Canoe / raft
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Dairy free
- Nut free
- One pot
- Dehydrate ahead
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Cooked ground beef, dehydrated | 3/4 cup | brown it lean at home, rinse the fat off, dry at 145F until it rattles |
|---|---|---|
| Cooked ground pork sausage, dehydrated | 1/2 cup | same treatment; the fat that stays behind is what shortens its shelf life |
| Instant potato flakes | 1/2 cup | |
| Freeze-dried broccoli | 1/2 cup | |
| Freeze-dried corn kernels | 1/3 cup | |
| Dried mushroom slices | 1/4 cup | |
| Dried minced onion | 2 tbsp | |
| Bell pepper flakes | 2 tbsp | |
| Celery flakes | 1 tbsp | |
| Tomato powder | 2 tbsp | |
| Garlic powder | 1 tsp | |
| Ground cumin | 1/2 tsp | |
| Salt and pepper | 1/2 tsp total | |
| Olive oil | 2 tbsp | dropper bottle |
| Soy sauce | 2 packets | |
| Ketchup | 3 packets | |
| Yellow mustard | 1 packet |
Method
- Dump the meat, vegetables, and everything powdered except the potato flakes into the pot. Add 600 ml of water.
- Bring it to a boil, then drop to the lowest flame that still bubbles. Fifteen minutes, lid on, stirring every couple of minutes so the tomato powder does not scorch on the bottom.
- Check a mushroom slice. If it still has a crunch, add a splash of water and give it three more minutes.
- Off the heat, stir in the potato flakes a spoonful at a time until the liquid thickens into hash.
- Add the oil, soy sauce, ketchup, and mustard. Stir and taste before you add salt; the packets carry a lot of it.
This started as a campfire skillet with a pound of raw hamburger and fresh vegetables, which is fine off a raft with a cooler and nowhere near workable out of a pack. Everything perishable got swapped: the meat is browned, drained, and dried at home, the vegetables come dried or freeze-dried, and the tomato is a powder instead of a can. Condiment packets do the work of a bottle of ketchup at a fraction of the weight.
The potato flakes go in last and are the reason this eats like hash rather than soup. Dried meat needs the full fifteen minutes of simmering to soften all the way through, so resist thickening early. Draining the fat before dehydrating matters more than it sounds: fat left in the meat goes rancid in a few weeks, and the oil you carry separately replaces those calories without the risk.
Packing
Meat and vegetables go in one bag, the powders and seasoning in a second, and the potato flakes in a third so you can meter them at the end. Condiment packets and the oil bottle ride in the lid pocket.
Variations
- Skip the potato flakes and serve it over instant rice if you would rather have two pots and a drier plate.
- A foil pouch of chicken instead of the pork keeps the fat down on hot trips.
- Chipotle powder in place of the cumin turns it into something closer to chili.
https://oregonriverrunners.org/recipies-river-running.php