Trail Turkey and Onion Mash
Freeze-dried turkey rebuilt in a pot with the same butter-and-spice rub the slow cooker version leans on.
- calories
- 720
- weight
- 5.5 oz
- cal / oz
- 131
- protein
- 42 g
- serves
- 1, scales
- prep
- 5 min
- cook
- 10 min
- total time
- 15 min
- water
- 500 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
- Alcohol / Esbit
- Liquid fuel
- Backpacking
- Basecamp
- Car camping
- Winter / snow
- Nut free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Freeze-dried turkey | 2 oz | diced or shredded, not jerky |
|---|---|---|
| Instant mashed potato flakes | 1/2 cup | |
| Dried minced onion | 2 tbsp | |
| Ghee or butter powder | 2 tbsp | ghee in a screw-top jar does not go rancid |
| Kosher salt | 1/2 tsp | |
| Black pepper | 1/4 tsp | |
| Garlic powder | 1/2 tsp | |
| Dried oregano | 1/2 tsp | |
| Dried thyme | 1/2 tsp | |
| Paprika | 1/2 tsp | |
| Turmeric | 1/4 tsp | color only, and it stains everything |
Method
- Boil 500 ml of water. Drop in the turkey and the minced onion, put the lid on, and pull it off the heat.
- Wait eight minutes. The turkey needs the full time or it stays chewy in the middle.
- Stir the spice mix into the pot while the water is still hot, so the paprika and turmeric bloom instead of sitting on top.
- Add the potato flakes a third at a time until the pot goes from broth to mash. Stop before it turns stiff.
- Stir in the ghee last. Off the heat it melts in without splitting.
The original is a slow cooker roast: a butter-and-spice paste smeared over a whole boneless breast, four hours on low, onions underneath to keep it off the metal. None of that survives a trip. What does survive is the rub, which is where the flavor was anyway, and the pairing of turkey with soft onion.
So the rub goes in dry and the meat comes freeze-dried. Potato flakes replace the pan juices, giving the spices something to cling to and turning a thin rehydration broth into a dinner with weight. The ghee is not optional. Freeze-dried turkey is nearly fat-free, and without a couple of tablespoons of fat this eats like a bowl of salt.
Packing
Spices go in one small bag or a film canister, mixed at home. Turkey, onion, and potato flakes ride in a quart freezer bag. Ghee travels in its own screw-top jar, doubled in a sandwich bag.
Variations
- Foil-packet chicken swaps in for the freeze-dried turkey at a third the price and twice the weight.
- Add a tablespoon of powdered gravy mix for the drippings the slow cooker version gets for free.
- Olive oil instead of ghee makes it dairy-free.
https://www.bowlofdelicious.com/slow-cooker-turkey-breast