Dinner

Wilderness Carbonara

Courtesy of Dr. John Corbin-
“The Jetboil system has made meal preparation vastly simpler and much faster. Home prepared ingredients are far less expensive than packaged meals, and with Jetboil, much easier. I use two PCS's and one FluxRing pot for virtually all meal preparations. A favorite pasta entree is my wilderness adaptation of carbonara, a traditional Italian pasta dish made at home with bacon, garlic, and raw eggs blended into hot pasta. The wilderness version uses reconstituted powdered eggs, bacon fried at home a week or two before the trip, and chopped garlic.”

¼ cup fried bacon
(brought from home pre-cooked and drained, but cooked on site adds pleasant aroma to the camp; not a good idea in bear country)
2 Tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
2 Tablespoons of chopped garlic or several cloves (to taste)
2 Tablespoons powdered egg mix stirred in 4 Tablespoons cold water
100g spaghetti (broken in half with salt in Ziploc bag)

While the water boils and spaghetti cooks (8 minutes) in the Jetboil PCS, heat the bacon in 2 tablespoons of olive oil in the FluxRing 1.5 liter Pot. Stir in garlic and onions and lightly brown.
Drain pasta and stir hot pasta into the bacon/garlic mixture.
Finally stir in egg mixture and continue heating at very low heat for a few seconds while egg mixture thickens.
Salt and pepper to taste. Grated Parmesan is a nice addition.

On site cooking time, 12 minutes

Mussels

Jetboil Mussels from Erik Larson

One garlic clove
Mussels
One cup white wine

Fill Jetboil 1.5L pot 2/3's up to the rim and add cup of white wine. Steam mussels for 5 minutes.

Pot Roast

Pot roast in a Jetboil GCS? An intriguing idea, courtesy of Randall Robinson

1 can mushroom soup
1 small pot roast
1 envelope onion soup
1 can soft drink

Sear the meat on high heat, turn Jetboil down as far as it will go, add one can of a soft drink and the soup mix.
Cook for 40 minutes.

Messy Fingers Shrimp

Andrzej K. Moyseowicz assures us that yes, you can get gourmet on the trail! And who are we to argue – he invented this one himself. Everyone he's prepared it for licks their fingers when they're done. Yum!

1/2 lb frozen de-shelled shrimp (they will last at least a day or so out of the sun)
instant rice
Sesame oil
Soy sauce
Rosemary
Thyme
Garlic
Nutmeg

Pre-mix all (except rice) in a Ziplock bag, and stow it in the base of your pack away from the sun. When it's time to eat, make the rice first; place in fresh Ziplock bag (I use an old water bladder as a collapsible bowl…its perfect). Then throw in the shrimp and seasoning. Cook until shrimp are pink on low heat. Add a tiny bit of water to keep it a little wet; add to rice.

Trout Veracruz and Thai Trout

Here are a couple of recipes that are tried and true at 10,000 ft.; just be sure to use instant rice, not whole grain, which will never cook at altitude. When cooking trout too small to fillet, boil them first for about 5 minutes in the Group Cooking System and de-bone. Reserve the liquid and combine the recipe mixture of choice in the GCS and cook through. Add the de-boned trout to mixture, heat through, and serve over rice. (Courtesy of Joseph Wise)

Trout Veracruz
4 15” trout filets or 14 small trout, poached and de-boned
1/2 Cup powdered tomato
1/2 Cup powdered milk
2 Tbs dried onion
2 tsp ground ginger
2 tsp garlic salt
2 tsp Herbes de Provence
2 tsp crushed red pepper
1/2 tsp salt

Thai Trout
4 15” trout filets or 14 small trout, poached and de-boned
1/2 Cup dried coconut
1/2 Cup powdered milk
2 tsp ground coriander
2 tsp dried onion
2 tsp tumeric
2 tsp ground ginger
2 tsp cumin
2 tsp garlic salt
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
1/2 tsp salt

Low Country Jetboil (with Shrimp)

Ingredients:

1 cup small russett potato (unpeeled) 3/4 cup frozen corn 5 frozen shrimp (peeled/deveined) 2/3 cup cut kielbasa sausage 1 teaspoon Old Bay seasoning

Directions:

Cut small potato into about eight sections. Cut enough kielbasa for 2/3 cup. Combine in freezer bag with shrimp, corn and Old Bay seasoning. Seal bag and shake. Pour 2 cups water into Jetboil PCS and add contents. Ignite Jetboil and let cook for 13 minutes on low setting. It will take about eight minutes before it boils. (Water did not boil over during cooking but be aware of Jetboil's precautions about cooking over the two cup limit.) Place cap on PCS and drain excess water. Pour contents into PCS bottom cap.

Jetboil gear used: Jetboil Personal Cooking Stove (PCS)
(Courtesy of Matt Midgette)

Salmon and Rice

Courtesy of Mike Mosack-
“I like to make a Salmon and Rice dish when I am on the trail. It is very quick, looks great, different, colorful and easy to clean up afterwards. You can “pre-season”, while at home to taste. I will either pan fry the dry minute rice with 1tbsp butter, salt and pepper, or soy sauce to taste. Let it cool and “dry”, then package into a ziplock freezer type sandwich baggie.”

– 1 cup water, bring to boil – Mix in 1 cup minute rice and let it sit, covered or sealed in your freezer bag for 5 minutes. If it's cold outside, it also makes a good hot water bottle while you're waiting. – Then heat up the pre-packaged pink salmon chunks. You can use fresh salmon too, if you're lucky enough to have caught one or appropriated one from the neighborhood grizzly. I prefer to heat the salmon separately as I like to give it a bit of a grilled flavor and look. – Then serve. I prefer to mix the rice and salmon together, but you can place them separately on plate. I like to add an edible flower like thyme which adds color and a mild lemon scent.

I also like to substitute the rice with Couscous, especially the tricolor version that adds a touch of Durham Wheat, Sun dried Tomato and Spinach. The colors work well and the mix is the same as that for the rice.

Jetboil Chili Mac & Cheese

Michael Mays offers this variation on an old standby – which he describes as a high-energy, cold-weather crowd pleaser!

1 box Kraft macaroni & cheese
1/4 cup butter or margarine
1/4 cup milk (though a small can of evaporated milk works well
1 can of your favorite chili & beans (with or without meat)

Prepare macaroni; boil in water and add ingredients per instructions on box. When 97% cooked, mix in the cheese packet and the rest of the ingredients per instructions on box. Place macaroni in separate container.

Next, heat the chili in your Jetboil until it's good and hot. At this point, you can mix the chili and the macaroni in a larger bowl, or, portion-control the ingredients so that each person can receive an equal portion of mac & cheese and chili. In other words, if you don't have extra bowls or containers, improvise. Stir macaroni and chili together and enjoy!

Vegetarian Spaghetti

Courtesy of Sam Jackson-
“I loved being outdoors, yet hated lugging the bag of rocks around. I am now entering the 7th year of lightweight backpacking. Purchased the Jetboil PCS 2 years ago to help lighten the load of cooking “gear”. I have been thoroughly impressed with the simplicity of cooking with the system. I am always looking for new recipes to take on the trail that are lightweight and filling.”

2 cups of water

1 package of crushed ramen noodles

¼ cup textured vegetable protein (TVP)

½ package spaghetti sauce powder (I used McCormick thick and zesty spaghetti sauce mix)

3 oz. tomato paste (half of a can)

optional: add a few pinches of oregano for extra zip

Bring 2 cups of water to boil in Jetboil cup. Drop to lowest setting after water starts to boil (otherwise the ramen will boil over when you add it!) Then add crushed package of ramen noodles and TVP. Stir continuously. After 2 minutes add ½ package of spaghetti sauce mix and oregano. Stir for 20 seconds to mix powder. Add tomato paste. Continue to stir for 2 minutes. Turn off heat. Let cool for 3-5 minutes. Eat and enjoy!

Tahoe Chicken Curry

Tired of energy bars and trail mix? With a little advance preparation, you can whip up this gourmet dinner courtesy of Mark Bogan, who insists it's as good as he's had in many restaurants.

3 5-oz cans light chunk chicken
8 oz frozen peas
1 cup couscous
1 1/2 teaspoons curry powder
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/2 cup unsalted halved cashews
1/2 cup raisins
2 chicken bouillon cubes
2 cups water

At home:
Dry chicken and peas in food dehydrator. In a bowl, combine chicken, peas, and everything but the bouillon cubes and water. For ease in cooking, you may want to divide this recipe in 2 equal portions in plastic bags, as the full recipe (which makes 2 servings) really fills the Jetboil.

On the trail:
Bring water to a boil. Add bouillon cube(s). Add dried dinner mix. Cook 1 min. Remove from heat and let sit for 5 min. The wonderful insulating properties of the Jetboil neoprene sleeve keeps the food warm for a long time!