Venison Blueberry Breakfast Crumble
Ground venison, maple, and dried blueberries cooked loose in one pot. Sausage flavor without a casing.
- calories
- 420
- weight
- 4 oz
- cal / oz
- 105
- protein
- 30 g
- serves
- 2, scales
- prep
- 10 min
- cook
- 12 min
- total time
- 22 min
- water
- 120 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.
- Breakfast
- Canister stove
- Campfire coals
- Liquid fuel
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Backpacking
- Gluten free
- Nut free
- One pot
- Dehydrate ahead
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Dehydrated ground venison | 4 oz | cooked lean, rinsed of fat, then dried at home |
|---|---|---|
| Bacon or pork fat | 2 tbsp | rendered, carried in a small screw-top jar |
| Dried wild blueberries | 1/4 cup | |
| Maple sugar | 2 tsp | syrup works but leaks |
| Powdered milk | 2 tbsp | |
| Onion powder | 1 tsp | stands in for powdered ramp leaves |
| Ground ginger | 1/2 tsp | |
| Nutmeg | 1/4 tsp | or quatre epices |
| Salt | 1/2 tsp | |
| Black pepper | 1/2 tsp | ground fine |
Method
- Put the dried venison and 120 ml of water in the pot. Bring it to a boil, then pull it off the heat and let it sit ten minutes so the meat rehydrates all the way through.
- Return to low heat and stir in the fat. Cook until the water is mostly gone and the meat starts to sizzle rather than simmer.
- Kill the heat. Stir in the milk powder, spices, salt, pepper, and maple sugar. The milk powder binds the loose meat and holds the fat in.
- Fold in the blueberries last and let them sit two minutes in the residual heat. They soften but stay whole.
- Eat straight from the pot, or spoon it over instant potatoes if you want more volume.
This started as a fresh sausage recipe with casings, a grinder, and a fridge rest. None of that travels. What survives the translation is the flavor logic: lean game meat, real fat, warm spice, and fruit that cuts the richness. Cooked loose in a pot, it does the same job at camp.
The pork fat is not optional. Venison is lean enough to go dry and chalky on its own, and the fat is where most of the calories live. Milk powder does what it does in the original — it binds and emulsifies, so the fat stays in the meat instead of pooling at the bottom of the pot. Dried blueberries replace frozen ones; they rehydrate in the residual heat and hold their shape as long as you add them off the heat.
Packing
Meat in one bag, everything dry in a second bag, fat in a leakproof jar. Keep the blueberries out of the spice bag or they take on the pepper.
Variations
- Ground beef or turkey dries the same way and costs less.
- Skip the milk powder and add a tablespoon of potato flakes instead if dairy is a problem.
- Two of these over a tortilla makes a breakfast burrito, though that drops the gluten-free claim.
https://foragerchef.com/venison-breakfast-sausage-with-wild-blueberries