Roasted Vegetable Venison Stew
Dried venison, dried vegetables, and a gravy packet. A hunter's stew rebuilt for a pot on a stove.
- calories
- 620
- weight
- 4.5 oz
- cal / oz
- 138
- protein
- 38 g
- serves
- 1, 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
- Basecamp
- Car camping
- Winter / snow
- Dairy free
- Nut free
- One pot
- Dehydrate ahead
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Dehydrated venison, cooked and shredded | 2 oz | braise, shred, and dry it at home; jerky works but stays chewy |
|---|---|---|
| Dried carrot slices | 2 tbsp | |
| Dried diced potato | 1/3 cup | the boxed hash brown kind rehydrates fastest |
| Freeze-dried corn | 3 tbsp | |
| Instant lima or navy beans | 2 tbsp | flaked or powdered, not whole dried |
| Dried minced onion | 1 tbsp | |
| Garlic powder | 1 tsp | |
| Beef stew seasoning packet | 1 packet | |
| Flour or instant potato flakes | 1 tbsp | thickener |
| Olive oil | 1 tbsp | dropper bottle |
| Salt and pepper | to taste |
Method
- Pour everything except the oil and the thickener into the pot with 600 ml of water. Stir once.
- Bring it to a boil, then drop the flame as low as it will go.
- Simmer 10 minutes, stirring every couple of minutes so the potato does not weld to the bottom.
- Cut the heat. Sprinkle in the thickener while stirring or it will clump.
- Stir in the oil, put the lid on, and wait five minutes. The meat needs that time more than the vegetables do.
- Salt and pepper at the end. The seasoning packet is already salty, so taste first.
The original is a pressure-cooker stew with a tray of vegetables roasted separately, so they go in near the end with some texture left. You cannot roast anything on a canister stove, so the trail version fakes it: dried vegetables that never fully collapse, plus a thirty-second toast of onion and garlic in oil if you want the browned edge back.
The venison has to be cooked before it is dried. Raw dried meat will not soften in fifteen minutes at any altitude, and a hard simmer is the one thing that turns this into shoe leather. Keep it barely bubbling. The thickener goes in off the heat because flour dumped into boiling liquid seizes into lumps you will be chewing around all night.
Packing
Everything dry goes in one bag except the meat, which rides in its own bag so you can check it stayed dry. Oil in a dropper bottle, upright, in a side pocket.
Variations
- No venison? Two foil pouches of chicken go in at the end, off the heat.
- A splash of red wine from a small flask at the stir-in stage does what the deglaze did at home.
- Toast the dried onion and garlic in the oil for thirty seconds before adding water. It gets you partway to the roasted flavor.
https://www.huntingpa.com/threads/venison-stew-the-fast-way.7954