Trail Meatball Skillet
Dried meatball mix rebuilt in a pan over a fire, then simmered in tomato.
- calories
- 640
- weight
- 6 oz
- cal / oz
- 107
- protein
- 38 g
- serves
- 2, scales
- prep
- 10 min
- cook
- 20 min
- total time
- 30 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
- Campfire coals
- Grill grate
- Canister stove
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- One pot
- Dehydrate ahead
- Shelf stable
- Actual cooking
Ingredients
| Dehydrated lean ground beef | 4 oz dry | cooked, rinsed of fat, then dried at home |
|---|---|---|
| Dehydrated Italian ground sausage | 2 oz dry | mild or medium, same treatment as the beef |
| Panko or plain breadcrumbs | 1/2 cup | |
| Powdered whole egg | 1 tbsp | plus 2 tbsp water to reconstitute |
| Powdered parmesan | 3 tbsp | the shaker kind, not shredded |
| Onion powder | 1 tsp | |
| Garlic powder | 1 tsp | |
| Dried basil, oregano, and thyme | 1 tsp total | |
| Salt and black pepper | 1/2 tsp each | |
| Dried parsley | 1 tsp | |
| Olive oil | 2 tbsp | |
| Tomato powder | 3 tbsp | optional, makes the sauce |
Method
- Pour 250 ml of boiled water over the dried beef and sausage in your pot. Cover and leave it twenty minutes, until the meat is soft all the way through. Drain nothing.
- Stir in the breadcrumbs, parmesan, herbs, salt, pepper, and the egg powder slaked in 2 tbsp water. The mix should hold a shape when squeezed. Add breadcrumbs a spoonful at a time if it is loose.
- Roll into balls about the size of a walnut. You should get ten to twelve.
- Heat the oil in the pot over a low fire or a grill grate set high above the coals. Brown the meatballs on all sides, turning often, about eight minutes. High flame will scorch them before the middles set.
- Whisk the tomato powder into 150 ml of hot water and pour it over. Simmer five minutes with the lid on, then eat straight from the pot.
The original is oven work with raw meat and a fridge, neither of which exists at camp. The rebuild dries the beef and sausage at home, then rehydrates them and binds the result with breadcrumbs and powdered egg. Fully cooked meat means the meatballs only need browning, not a temperature probe, which is the part campfires are bad at.
Dried ground meat drinks more water than looks reasonable. Underdo the soak and the middles stay gritty. The fat matters too: rinse the cooked meat well before drying or it goes rancid in the bag, and add the oil back in the pan where it belongs.
Packing
Dry the cooked meat at home and vacuum-seal it; it keeps about a week without a cooler. Breadcrumbs, parmesan, egg powder, and all the seasonings go in one bag as a single premix. Tomato powder rides separately so you can skip the sauce.
Variations
- Skip the meatball step and cook it as a loose bolognese over instant polenta. Faster, and nothing falls apart.
- Swap the breadcrumbs for instant potato flakes to lose the wheat.
- A packet of shelf-stable pepperoni chopped in adds fat and salt if the sausage was lean.
https://domesticsuperhero.com/air-fryer-meatballs-homemade