Snapper Skillet Stew
A turtle-camp recipe rebuilt around pouched meat, dried mirepoix, and crushed crackers.
- calories
- 640
- weight
- 6 oz
- cal / oz
- 107
- protein
- 38 g
- serves
- 1, scales
- prep
- 2 min
- cook
- 12 min
- total time
- 14 min
- water
- 400 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
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Canoe / raft
- Nut free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Pouched chicken or turtle meat | 5 oz | the original uses a snapper you caught yourself; foil-pouch chicken is the version you can carry |
|---|---|---|
| Dried onion, carrot, and celery | 1/4 cup total | sold as soup vegetable blend |
| Saltine or Town House cracker crumbs | 1/2 cup | crush them at home, sandwich bag and a rolling pin |
| Flour | 2 tbsp | |
| Butter powder | 2 tbsp | or 1 tbsp olive oil |
| Garlic powder | 1 tsp | |
| Salt and black pepper | 1/2 tsp total | |
| Bouillon | 1 cube |
Method
- Put the dried vegetables and the bouillon in the pot with 400 ml of water. Bring it to a boil.
- Simmer eight minutes on the lowest flame the stove will hold. The vegetables need that time; they are the whole flavor base.
- Stir in the flour, garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Keep stirring or the flour will clump against the pot wall.
- Add the meat, break it up, and let it warm through for a minute.
- Kill the heat. Stir in the cracker crumbs and the butter powder. It thickens fast.
- Let it sit two minutes off the flame before eating. It keeps thickening while it stands.
The source recipe is a two-day kitchen job: simmer the meat with mirepoix, cool it in its own broth, then bread it in egg and cracker crumbs and bake it. None of that travels. Eggs, butter, and an oven are all out, and the fried-and-baked structure needs two vessels and forty minutes of fuel.
What survives is the flavor logic. Meat, onion, carrot, celery, garlic, and crackers is a good combination whether or not it ends up crisp. So the simmer stays, the crumbs move from the outside to the inside as a thickener, and butter powder does the fat. Dried vegetables need the full eight minutes to rehydrate, which is the only part of this worth being patient about. Real turtle works here if you have it and it is legal where you are; check your state before you plan a dinner around it.
Packing
Vegetables, flour, bouillon, and spices go in one bag. Cracker crumbs and butter powder go in a second bag, since they only get added at the end and crumbs turn to paste if they meet moisture early.
Variations
- A splash of hot sauce or a squeeze of lemon juice concentrate cuts the starch.
- Instant potato flakes in place of half the crackers make it heavier and cheaper.
https://www.hunttalk.com/threads/recipes.215429