Real food for the trail

[rjridgely]

hey y'all....

I am a professional chef at a 4-diamond resort in Charlottesville, VA. In 2009 I am planning to hike half the trail, NOBO, Springer to Gettysburg, taking 4 months or so to do it. I want to see all I can for the first and possibly the last time. Daily milage is of no concern to me.

What I am going to eat...concerns me alot.

Have been backpacking since i was 13, have 10 years of winter only backwoods experience in the NH White mountains, I know my gear and what I like, I neither count ounces or pack on the pounds.

Over the next 18 months or so, i am going to be developing 15 home-dehydrated meals to suppliment my use of MRE's (yes, i love them, with the right spices) and my meals in the townships along the way.

3=breakfast, 3=pasta, 3=cajun, 3=rice, 3=veggie

I know my tastes and what i like but would love to hear suggestions from others tastebuds.

No secrets from this Chef, I plan on publishing all the results and recipes for everyone to use.

I just do believe you have to eat the steady diet of what i normally see on these postings.

All these meals will be 'NO-cook', full of calories and most importantly, full of flavor that will knock you dirty ass socks off.

Here is one hint from each catagory that i have been working on:

Breakfast: My twist on the classic eggs benedict (lime/old bay hollandaise)
Pasta : Bowtie Andouille Alfredo (full of fat and flavor)
Cajun : Chicken & shrimp Etoufee
Rice : Tasso Risotto
Veggie : Smoked paprika & chickpea mediterranean stew

Can't wait to hear from everyone

Chef Rich

[fiddlehead]

A gourmet chef that likes MRE's?
YOu don't have to carry heavy food to eat good out on the trail.
I dehyrate meals that i like and rehyrate them while cooking or waiting for my fire to build up. Things like: Black beans with lots of spice, Thai food (larb mu, panang curry, even tom yung goong), I also like to eat many different flavored burritos for lunch or dinner complete with fresh veggies the 1st day or two out of town. (i rarely carry more than 3 days food on the AT) but will mail myself food in the south as the choices suck south of the mason dixon line.
but MRE's : they are wicked heavy and lots of extra waste to be carried out. I limit them to my whitewater kayking days when i can just throw them in the boat and don't worry about getting my lunch wet. (but like them? not over my burritos)

[Ramble~On]

I second Fiddlehead...ditch the MRE's...if you like them more power to you but for hiking their weight, bulk and cost are not worth the calories or taste.
Over a four month period of hiking your diet will change and your tastes along with it. It sounds like you have some pretty good ideas so far but why limit yourself to just 15 ? why not come up with a bunch of things that you can add fresh store bought ingredients to.
I like to go the "no cook" route as well but why not include some things that are heated...I don't call myself a chef, I had no formal training but did earn a living cooking for a number of years...if you enjoy cooking why not do it on the trail during your hike ?

[rjridgely]

Thanks for the comments.....

Firstly....Love was probably an overstatement for my use of MRE's. I don't mind the taste and i like that they can be eaten hot or cold and the downright convienence. Only a dozen orso will make it into my pack for the trip.

Secondly....by 'no-cook' i am refering to the process of only needing to heat the meal to temp rather than having to cook the ingredients. Everything will be pre-cooked before dehydration.

I just dried one puond of cooked gren peas and reduced the weight 30 approx. 3 ounces. Now they are ready to be heated for approx. 10 minutes rather than be cooked for 20.

I am not attempting to overcomplicate this....I know from experience that at the end of a hard day, almost anything tastes good...just trying to extract some ideas from the real users.

ps....peanutbutter & tunafish sanwiches, on and off the trail, have been in my diet since i can remember

Chef Rich

[Gaiter]

i'm another one for ditching the mre's, they aren't any good for long distance hiking, if you need spices, find the really little ziplock bags and carry your spices there, switch them out occasionally so you don't get bored.
and cooking for 10 min is a long time and uses a good bit of fuel (its all relative)
also you might want to read some more of the threads in this section like: http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/showthread.php?t=51 http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/showthread.php?t=10970 http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/showthread.php?t=7394 (just sort this cooking and food section by views or replies and you get some more great threads)

[Fiddleback]

Most of my trail dinners are dehydrated portions of (one-pot) dinners I eat at home. These include spagetti and other pasta dishes, chile and other thick soups, and rice-based meals. The hardest thing about preparing the home dinners for the trail is saving part of the meal rather than eating all of it the night it's cooked up.:D The resulting trail meals aren't gourmet but they do come pretty close to the same foods and diet I eat off trail. I kinda like that concept and there's a lot of convenience and cost savings built into the practice, both on and off the trail.

Lunches are cold, formerly cheese and sausage (e.g., pepperoni) but I'm thinking of moving more towards nuts and dried fruit. It's undoubtedly healthier and surely lighter.

Breakfasts center around boosted hot beverages (e.g., Carnation Instant Breakfast, NIDO, and coffee crystals) and something like Logan Bread. More and more the oatmeal is being left at home. It doesn't sound like much but it's a heavier breakfast than I eat at home yet still very simple and fast. I do have to clean up the mug...

None the less, I try out new foods and buy stuff that looks like it might work on the trail. In fact, Monday is quite often our 'experiment night.' But, with a few exceptions, I find I keep drifting back to those favorite one-pot meals. They're just too good and too easy to leave at home.

FB

[sarbar]

Small warning: chicken doesn't always come back great after drying, even in dishes. Pressure cooked chicken though works great.
With the alfredo, will you put the fat in at camp? Otherwise it can go rancid quite easily in hot weather. (High fat foods don't dry well)

Otherwise, by all means, go for it. If you seal your dried meals in FoodVac or similar bags, you will get a relatively airtight seal. Store your meals in the freezer for maxium shelf life. And for many meals you don't have to simmer foods. Boiling water added to dry food+a cozy+10-15 minute sitting=good eats.

[budforester]

Chef Ridge must be a transplant! How does someone in VA obtain the guarded secrets of tasso and andouille?

[rjridgely]

Chef Ridge must be a transplant! How does someone in VA obtain the guarded secrets of tasso and andouille?

I think they came to me listening to zydeco music listening to zydeco music.

[Old Grouse]

Wow, there's an echo!

[The Old Fhart]

SpiritWind-"I second Fiddlehead...ditch the MRE's...if you like them more power to you but for hiking their weight, bulk and cost are not worth the calories or taste."I have to take exception with your characterizing MREs as tasteless and heavy. There are some of the MRE meal components that are quite good and it makes sense to take, if you're not a gram weenie. I take the 'cooked ham slice-smoke flavor added' (4oz) and the 'mesquite chicken breast' (3.5oz) both of which go well with my instant mashed potatoes, rice, or cous-cous, slathered in Squeeze Parkay. These MRE meats make a nice change from the tuna pouch everyone carries. The 'honey BBQ chicken pocket sandwich' (3.5oz Hot Pocket) also makes a tasty snack.

I don't like wasting my time turning a perfectly good piece of meat into shoe leather by drying it. To each their own.;)

[leeki pole]

Now, just a little crawfish and boudain....:)