Trail Beef Ragu
Freeze-dried beef, tomato powder, and a slow rehydrate that does the work a slow cooker used to.
- calories
- 720
- weight
- 5.5 oz
- cal / oz
- 131
- protein
- 38 g
- serves
- 1, scales
- prep
- 5 min
- cook
- 15 min
- total time
- 20 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
- Dairy free
- Nut free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Freeze-dried cooked beef | 1.5 oz | shredded beef rehydrates faster than diced |
|---|---|---|
| Tomato powder | 3 tbsp | stands in for the can of tomatoes |
| Dried carrot | 2 tbsp | diced small, not shredded |
| Dried mushrooms | 2 tbsp | crumbled, any variety |
| Garlic granules | 1 tsp | |
| Dried thyme | 1/2 tsp | |
| Bay leaf | 1 | |
| Salt and black pepper | 1/2 tsp total | |
| Small pasta or instant polenta | 2 oz | orzo or broken angel hair cooks fastest |
| Olive oil | 1 tbsp |
Method
- Bring 600 ml of water to a boil. Drop in the carrot, mushrooms, and bay leaf and hold at a simmer for five minutes. They need the head start.
- Add the pasta and cook until it is almost done, stirring so nothing welds to the pot.
- Kill the heat. Stir in the beef, tomato powder, garlic, thyme, salt, and pepper.
- Lid on, off the stove, ten minutes. Wrap the pot in a jacket if it is cold out.
- Fish out the bay leaf. Stir in the oil and eat.
A slow cooker ragu works because eight low hours pull chuck roast apart and reduce the tomatoes down. Neither is available on a stove that burns a canister a week. So the collagen work happens at home instead: use cooked, freeze-dried beef, which is already tender, and let the soak in camp do nothing but put the water back.
The order matters more than the ingredients. Carrot and mushroom are dense and take the longest, so they simmer alone first. Tomato powder goes in last, off the heat, because it scorches on a pot bottom and thickens as it sits anyway. The off-stove rest is where the dish actually finishes, and it costs no fuel.
Oil is not garnish. Without it this is lean and thin, and freeze-dried beef brings almost no fat of its own.
Packing
Vegetables, beef, and spices go in one bag; the pasta goes in another, since it gets added at a different time. Bay leaf tucks in whole. Oil rides in a leakproof dropper bottle.
Variations
- Skip the pasta and stir in instant polenta off the heat for a thicker bowl and a shorter simmer.
- A packet of tomato paste in place of half the powder deepens it if you are willing to carry the weight.
- Parmesan in a small bag holds fine for a few days out and adds fat.
https://dontwastethecrumbs.com/slow-cooker-beef-ragu