by Laredo » Thu Apr 20, 2006 9:08 pm
Well, okay -- this is NOT backpacker food; it lives in my desk drawer in case I can't get away for lunch.
1 package Moderno pumpkin seed pasta -- 25 cents in any Kmart
1 thrift-store soup mug
3 tablespoons 'gumbo' mix in a snack-size Ziploc
1 small pouch chicken
Gumbo mix:
1/3 cup dried bell pepper (you can make this at home easy)
1/4 cup onion flakes
1/4 cup dried parsley
1 tablespoon dried cilantro
1 tablespoon onion powder
1 teaspoon powdered ginger
1 teaspoon powdered garlic
1/2 teaspoon crushed rosemary
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon dried sage
1/8 teaspoon chipotle powder
1/8 teaspoon dry mustard powder
1/8 teaspoon paprika
1/8 teaspoon white pepper
1/8 teaspoon New Mexico chile powder
1/8 teaspoon cayenne
1/4 teaspoon dill weed
(you can leave this out; I just like it better than file' powder; if you
use file', you'll need about 3/8 teaspoon)
1 teaspoon low-sodium chicken bouillon
3/4 teaspoon celery salt (this is *the* key)
Mix all the above well and store in a cool dark place in a double Ziploc or a clean mayo jar. Keeps about 3 months. Pitch a big tablespoonful in the water for cooking rice, pasta or couscous; if you cook beans, pitch half that much in the soaking water.
Easy way to completely cook a whole chicken: take out the innards packed in the cavity; rinse everything really well including the (unpackaged) innards. Put it in a heavy pot with enough cold water to cover and a teaspoonful of salt. Set on medium heat; bring to a boil.
Pour this water off, rinse everything again. Cover with cold water, set back on the fire, bring to a boil again; cover tightly, turn off fire. When the pot is cool enough to touch the chicken will fall off the bones and be done.
I use this method with chicken leg quarters or thighs. You can discard the skin and bones, strain the broth, and have the basis for the *best* chicken noodle soup, chicken tortilla soup, or green chile chicken enchiladas you ever ate. Not to mention any sort of Asian-style chicken dish.
Emeril makes a French preserved meat, a confit. He uses duck, but you can do it with duck, turkey, goose, pork ... it's tasty, but you have to not be on a lowfat diet.
Homemade beef jerky:
Buy a London broil. Soak it at least 2 hours in the following marinade:
1 bottle Italian dressing
1 tablespoon liquid smoke
1/2 teaspoon Bufalo Chipotle hot sauce
1/2 cup fresh lime juice
1/4 cup brown sugar
(overnight's better; the more of this the meat absorbs the better your jerky will taste)
Pour off marinade; slice raw steak as for fajitas and lay on cookie sheets.
Place in slow oven with door open 1/2 inch (about 275 degrees F) for at least six hours (eight to 12 is better, or hang strips in indirect smoke). Rotate pan 90 degrees about every 4 hours.
You can do this with venison too -- I like it better if it's soaked in buttermilk a couple of hours before marinating.
You can probably do this with chicken, etc., but I'm a little leery of poultry jerky.
Mopar's what my busted knuckles bleed, working on my 318s...
I let my llamas carry the load.............and we had live lobster along with us for the first night out, filet mignon the second and wine throughout the 6 days of "roughing" it in the backcountry! 
...I think we scared a few folks along the way....
