Venison Zuppa Toscana, Camp Version
Ground venison, bacon, potato flakes, and powdered cream in one pot.
- calories
- 720
- weight
- 7.5 oz
- cal / oz
- 96
- protein
- 38 g
- serves
- 4, scales
- prep
- 10 min
- cook
- 25 min
- total time
- 35 min
- water
- 900 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
- Campfire coals
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Winter / snow
- Gluten free
- Nut free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Needs a cooler
- Basic
Ingredients
| Ground venison | 1 lb | frozen solid at home, packed at the bottom of the cooler |
|---|---|---|
| Thick-cut bacon | 4 strips | cut into half-inch pieces before you leave |
| Dried onion | 3 tbsp | stands in for one yellow onion |
| Garlic powder | 1 tsp | |
| Chicken bouillon | 4 tsp | replaces a quart of carried broth |
| Instant mashed potato flakes | 1 cup | replaces sliced potatoes and thickens the pot |
| Dried kale or spinach flakes | 1/2 cup | |
| Powdered heavy cream or full-fat milk powder | 1/3 cup | |
| Grated hard Parmesan | 2 oz | a real wedge keeps for days out of the fridge |
| Red pepper flakes, salt, black pepper | to taste |
Method
- Render the bacon in a dry pot over medium heat until the fat pools and the pieces crisp. Leave the fat in.
- Add the venison and break it apart. Venison is lean, so it will brown rather than boil off liquid. Five to seven minutes.
- Stir in the dried onion, garlic powder, red pepper flakes, and bouillon. Thirty seconds, no longer, or the garlic burns.
- Pour in 900 ml of water and bring it to a boil. Add the kale flakes and simmer five minutes until they soften.
- Cut the heat to low. Sprinkle in the potato flakes a few at a time, stirring, until the soup thickens to the body you want.
- Stir in the cream powder off the heat so it dissolves instead of scorching. Top each bowl with Parmesan.
The restaurant version leans on sliced potatoes and a cup of heavy cream, neither of which travels. Potato flakes do both jobs at once: they give the broth body and they dissolve in under a minute, so the pot is off the stove faster. Powdered cream carries the same fat without a carton in the cooler.
Venison is lean enough that the bacon is not optional. Its rendered fat is what the potato flakes and cream cling to, and without it the soup reads thin and watery. Keep the fat in the pot when the bacon crisps.
Packing
Onion, garlic, bouillon, kale, and cream powder ride together in one bag. Potato flakes go in their own bag so you control the thickening. Venison and bacon stay in the cooler; cook them the first night out.
Variations
- Swap venison for bulk pork sausage and skip the bacon. The fat is already there.
- No cooler? A pouch of shelf-stable cooked ground beef or crumbled jerky rehydrated in step four gets you close.
- A splash of olive oil at the end replaces calories the lean meat does not bring.
https://realtree.com/timber-2-table-wild-game-recipes/venison-zuppa-toscana-soup