Trail Jambalaya
Rice, sausage, and cured ham cooked down with tomato and cayenne in one pot.
- calories
- 720
- weight
- 6 oz
- cal / oz
- 120
- protein
- 29 g
- serves
- 2, scales
- prep
- 5 min
- cook
- 15 min
- total time
- 20 min
- water
- 420 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
- Campfire coals
- Backpacking
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Canoe / raft
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Instant white rice | 1 1/2 cups | parboiled, not minute-brown, which needs longer |
|---|---|---|
| Dry-cured summer sausage | 4 oz | sliced thin at home, no refrigeration needed |
| Country ham, diced and dried | 1.5 oz | prosciutto ends or a shelf-stable ham packet also work |
| Dried onion and bell pepper flakes | 1/3 cup | |
| Garlic | 2 tsp granulated | |
| Tomato powder | 2 tbsp | or a crushed sun-dried tomato handful |
| Cayenne, paprika, black pepper, thyme | 1 1/2 tsp total | |
| Chicken bouillon | 1 cube | |
| Olive oil | 1 tbsp |
Method
- Heat the oil and brown the sausage slices for two minutes. On a campfire, keep the pot at the edge of the coals so nothing scorches.
- Add the dried vegetables, garlic, tomato powder, spices, bouillon, and ham. Stir for thirty seconds in the hot oil.
- Pour in 420 ml of water and bring it to a hard boil.
- Dump in the rice, stir once, cover, and pull it off the heat.
- Wait ten minutes without lifting the lid. Stir and taste before adding any salt.
The original is a ninety-minute cast iron dish built on raw sausage, fresh trinity, and long-grain rice that drinks stock slowly. None of that travels. Instant rice hydrates off residual heat, dried onion and pepper rebuild the vegetable base, and tomato powder replaces canned tomato at a fraction of the weight. What survives the translation is the structure: fat rendered first, spices bloomed in that fat, then liquid, then rice.
Cured sausage and country ham are doing double duty as protein and as the salt in the dish. That is why the bouillon is one cube and why you season at the end. Salt it before the ham has steeped and you will overshoot.
Packing
Rice in one bag. Everything dry except the sausage in a second bag. Sausage and oil ride separately.
Variations
- Swap the ham for a foil packet of chicken if cured meat is not your thing.
- A shake of hot sauce from a small dropper bottle does more than extra cayenne.
https://www.lodgecastiron.com/blogs/recipe/tennessee-valley-jambalaya