Meat Dishes
Recipes (mostly dinners) with meat in them. Also included are some methods of
dehydrating meat at home for use when in the woods.
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Dried hamburger
I dry largish quantities of hamburger before a trip. This is how I prepare it:
Buy 1 lb lean or premium hamburger (find ground round or ground chuck on
sale). Chop up 1 onion, 2-3 cloves of garlic. I like adding a bit of lemon
grass (available fresh at many Asian grocers; dried is OK. 1 tbsp dried; maybe
1/4 cup fresh). Brown hamburger together with onion in a large frying pan;
stir well to crumble things up. Cook until it's almost done (say, until
there's almost no pink left). Tilt pan to collect liquid; drain it off
(that'll get rid of a lot of the fat, which makes things go rancid). Add
garlic & lemon grass; 1-2 tbsp flour, & soy sauce & black pepper to taste.
Cook another minute or two. Remove from heat. Turn everything out onto a large
baking sheet.
Pop baking sheet into a warm oven (120-140); dry until crunchy. Pat remaining
grease off with a paper towel; put into a Ziploc bag. Keeps at least 2 weeks
on the trail. Usage: Reconstitutes in warm water; cooks in about 5 minutes in
boiling water. Makes a great addition to spaghetti sauces, soups, stews, etc.
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Rice Stuffed Trout
Ingredients:
ù1 pkg boil-in-bag brown rice
ù1 tsp oregano
ù1 tsp rosemary
ù2 tsp parsley
ù3 to 6 tsp olive oil
ù1/2 tsp salt
ù3 to 6 freshly caught 9 inch trout
ùheavy duty aluminum foil
Before leaving the house, premix the oregano, parsley, rosemary, salt and
olive oil and store in an appropriate container.
At camp, boil the rice for the required time (usually 10minutes). Remove from
water and allow to cool while preparing the trout. Prepare a bed of coals to
cook on.
To prepare the trout, slit them along the belly and remove the entrails. Make
a small incision at the gills and remove them. Finally, use your thumbnail to
remove the kidney, which is located inside the body cavity right next to the
spine. Do not remove the slippery coating on the skin of the trout.
Open the rice packet, add the spices to it, and mix. Get a piece of aluminum
of suitable size and put one spoonful of rice in the middle. Spread the rice
to provide a bed which will protect the trout from burning. Stuff the trout
with rice and place on the foil. Put another spoonful of rice on top of the
trout and then make a rolled seam with the foil. Try to make the seams tight,
and leave a little room inside the foil for expansion. You can put up to two
trout in the same packet. Place the packets on the coals and let them cook
undisturbed for about 10 minutes. Retrieve the packets, (careful!) open them
and enjoy.
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ù1 cup of bulgur wheat
ù1 can of turkey chunks ( tuna sized can)
ù1 small package of one of those instant gravy mixes from the grocery store.
My current favorite is a green- peppercorn sauce by McCormicks (sp?)
ùAssorted spices, garlic, sun-dried tomatoes, etc.
Cook 1 part bulgur (plus tomatoes, etc) to somewhat more than two parts water
and when close to done, add the turkey and the gravy mix (half a package may
do for two people) which should thicken the whole mess a bit.
Variations are endless, but it is hearty tasting and filling, and bulgur seems
to cook faster than rice or the thicker varieties of pasta, is more compact
than the latter, etc., and is closer to brown rice than white for those
watching their nutrition (look out, there's nutrients in that pot!) Some very
strange things can be done with cous-cous as well and it only needs the
addition of boiling water.
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Dried Hamburger
1.Get the leanest meat you can get. Fat causes the dried meat to go rancid. I
often grind my own to really get it lean.
2.Cook it, breaking it into small pieces.
3.Drain the grease, paper towels help sponge it up.
4.Spread on a cookie sheet, don't crowd it.
5.Put in the oven overnight, (6-8 hours) Oven should be on as low as it will
go. I believe the exact recommended temp is 125 - 140degrees, which is lower
than the first marked number on most oven dials.
6.The meat will come out in small, hard, dry, dust like pieces.
7.Seal in bags. Ziploc are OK, Seal-a-Meal is better.
8.To use, boil in some water for about 5 min to rehydrate. Makes great
Spaghetti sauce.
To REALLY get all the fat out, put browned hamburger in a large wire colander
(like a large tea strainer), and then put the whole thing into a large pot of
water and let it sit for a while. The fat will go to the top a harden. Take of
the fat, remove you colander with meat, and let it drain a bit. Then go
through the drying process. Obviously, because the meat has been soaked, it
will take longer to dry, but the lowered fat content makes a BIG difference in
storage and rehydration time.
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Making Beef Jerky
1.While you have the oven fired up, make some Jerky also. Oven conditions are
the same. Don't precook the meat.
2.Take a very lean (Trim off all the fat) flank steak. Cut it in very thin
strips. Partially frozen steak makes this easy.
3.Soak it in your favorite marinade. Soy sauce with ginger root works good.
Don't overdo it as it will get a strong flavor.
4.hang it from the oven racks, and dry with the hamburger.
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Drying Hamburger Algorithm
1) get some ground beef. The leaner the better
2) cook it up and drain off as much grease as possible
3) spread the hamburger out in a cookie sheet on something to blot the
grease. Put this in the oven at ~100 F for ~8 hours. There is a significant
color change (darkening) to let you know when its done. You'll need to change
the grease blotter a couple times and stir the hamburger around to make sure
it all gets dried.
4) spread the hamburger out on a grease blotter and let it sit out and dry
at room temperature for a few days. You'll need to keep it covered and you'll
also need to periodically change the blotter and mix up the hamburger. I found
that after a day or so it was sufficient to just change the paper towels as
not much grease was getting through to the newspaper any more.
Now, what you have closely resembles gravel, but don't worry it becomes edible
if you just boil it for ~5 minutes. We mainly used it for Hamburger helper:
1) boil the water (hopefully purifying it)
2) add the gravel and wait 5 minutes
3) add the Hamburger Helper noodles & let them cook
4) add the Hamburger Helper seasoning and cook to your own taste I also used
the stuff to make some pretty good taco's once. We found we could get 2 meals
for two people out of a single box (but then we always had a substantial
dessert with it - pudding or cheesecake)
We packaged the gravel up, using a Seal-A-Meal, into 1/2 pound (original
weight) packets. A pound of hamburger turns into about a cup of gravel after
drying. I don't know the weight off hand, it isn't much, maybe 8 ounces. All
this will vary greatly depending on how finely you break up the hamburger and
how lean it is to start with.
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Beef Hash with Gravy
Trail Information:
Time: 15 minutes
Water: 3 cups
Equipment: 1 pot, 1 frying pan, and a spatula
Servings 4
Ingredients:
two 2 1/2 ounce pkgs. cooked pressed beef, dried and crushed
1Tbl.dry milk
2 tsp. Butter Buds
2 TBL. dried minced onion
1/2 c. French's instant mashed potato powder, or 2 c. potato buds
3 to 4 TBL. butter or margarine
1 pkg. instant brown gravy mix
Trail Directions:
1.Boil 2 c. water in a pot. Add the contents of the beef bag, cover, and
simmer for 2 to 3 min. 2.Off the heat, add the potatoes and stir; cover and
let sit fora few minutes.
3.Heat 3 to 4 tablespoons butter or margarine in a frying pan. Fry the "hash"
over medium heat until browned on one side.
4.Rinse out the pot that the hash was in and boil 1 cup water in it. Add the
instant gravy and cook 1 min.
5.Turn the hash. Pour the gravy over the top. Brown the side that is down.
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Quick Chili
Trail Information:
time 15 min.
water 1 1/2-2 cups
equipment 1 pot
servings 4
Making and Drying the Chili:
1 pound ground chuck
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/3 c. finely chopped green pepper
Big pinch of oregano
small pinch of powdered cumin
1 TBL. chili powder
1/2 tsp. salt
6-ounce can tomato paste
Brown the meat and spoon the fat off. Add the onion, garlic, green-pepper,
spices, salt, and tomato paste. Stir and cook for 15 min. Let it sit for an
hour if you can- this enhances the flavor. Spread chili on a greased shallow
pan and dry in the oven at 140F with door propped open.
Trail Directions:
1. Add 2 cups water to the 2 cups dried mix, stir, cover, and bring to a boil.
2. Cook slowly for 10 minutes.
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East Meets West Stew
Trail Information:
Time 1 hour soaking, 45 min. to 1 hr. cooking
Water 2 to 3 cups
Equipment 1 pot (2 if cooking rice)
Serving 3 (easily expanded by doubling or tripling the recipe)
Prepare Ahead Ingredients:
ù2 ounces beef jerky
ù8 medium or 6 large dried Oriental mushrooms
ù2 TBL. dried sliced onion, or 1 TBL. dried minced onion
ù1 beef bouillon cube
ù1 TBL. flour pepper to taste
ù1 cup biscuit mix,
-1/2 c. rice
Trail Directions:
1. Soak the jerky in water to cover for 1 hr. in a pot. The last 30 min. add
the mushrooms and onions, and more water if necessary.
2. Take out the mushrooms, remove their stems, cut them up, and return them to
the pot. Bring the water and contents, plus bouillon, to a boil, cover and
simmer for 30-40 minutes.
3. In a cup, mix a tablespoon or so of flour with water to make a thin paste.
Stir this into the stew.
4. Set dumplings (made from 1 c. biscuit mix and 1/4 c. cold water) on top of
the stew.
5. Cover, and cook 20 minutes longer. Or cook 1/2 c. rice in 1 cup water in
another pot.
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Mexican Mix (DRIED GROUND BEEF RECIPES from Australia)
ù125g Settler s Dried Beef Mince
ù1 pkt Taco mix seasoning
ù500 ml tomato pasta sauce
ù1 can red kidney beans
ù1 can corn nibblets
Add all ingredients together. If a little dry, add water to make it the
consistency you like. Should not be sloppy. Can also take more than one bottle
of tomato pasta sauce.
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Thai Green Curry (DRIED GROUND BEEF RECIPES from Australia)
ù125 g Settler s Dried Beef Mince
ù1 teaspoon dried garlic
ù3 tablespoons curry powder
ù1 cup of frozen beans
ù1 tablespoon beef stock powder
ù2 onions chopped
ù2 can coconut milk
Add water if necessary after cooking. Brown onions in a pan for 3 minutes, add
garlic, curry powder beef stock and all other ingredients. Bring to the boil
and simmer for 10 minutes. Vary curry powder if too hot!
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Rices of the World- Sate (DRIED GROUND BEEF RECIPES from Australia)
ù125 Settler s Dried Beef Mince
ù1 pkt of Sate Rice (Precooked rice with Sate flavoring)
ù1 cup frozen peas
In a bowl place 1 cup water, dried beef, peas, contents of rice packet and
water according to their directions. Cook for the time suggested on the
packet, stir and let stand for 5 - 10 mins.
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ARMY FOOD (creamed beef on toast)
1 lb ground beef
3 heaping tbs flour
salt and pepper to taste
2 1/2 cups milk
Brown hamburger-drain all fat. stir in flour and mix with meat browning, but
not burning mixture. It will become very dry. Turn heat down and add 2 1/2
cups of milk, stirring constantly until mixture thickens to your preference.
Season with salt and pepper; serve hot over toast.
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Grits and Gravy
2 packages instant cheese flavor grits 1 package cream of chicken cup of soup
boiling water combine the grits and cup of soup in pot and add boiling water
to desired consistency. The beauty of this reciepe is that you can use
different flavors of grits and soup for unlimited combinations. A quick and
easy recipe.
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More on Beef Gravel - Just a comment on removing the grease from "beef
gravel"... Dieters have long known that one way to get ALL the fat out of
ground beef is to BOIL it...this also has the effect of separating the beef
into more uniform "gravel". Boiling onions, peppers, etc. with the beef works
fine. After boiling (and draining and rinsing beef and seasonings in a
collander), dry per the other "beef gravel" instructions.
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Beef Stroganoff
1 pkg. Lipton's Sour Cream and Chives Noodle mix 1 can of Hereford Roast Beef
and Gravy Just cook the package of noodles as directed sans butter (we don't
even notice it's missing) add the can of beef and gravy. Continue cooking and
stirring until warmed through. Summer Sausage on Cheese Rolls makes a great
Trail lunch.
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Dried Hamburger
This is just a quick tip for drying hamburger and having it last much longer.
Use the leanest hamburger that you can get. Brown it well, until all of the
pink is gone. Drain off all of the grease that you can. Then place the cooked
hamburger into a colander or seive and pour boiling water over it until the
water runs clear. It is the fat that makes the hamburger spoil. By pouring
boiling water over it, you will wash away almost all of the remaining fat.
Then blot the hamburger between paper towels until reasonably dry. Spread out
on the dehydrator screens (or place on a cookie sheet in the oven) and dry
until dark and crumbly. Dried hamburger can be used in many recipes. My
favorites are the hamburger helper types. I add the dried hamburger to the
pasta, so it rehydrates as the pasta is cooking. You may have to experiment a
little to get the right amount of extra water to add. As a quickie meal, this
even works great added to Kraft Dinner. I add dehyd rated onions and some
extra spices.
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