Pre-Cook Pasta At Home vs. Cook In Camp?

[drsukie]

Hi all - many of the recipes I'm seeing in my backpacking cookbooks and online talk about pre-cooking pasta at home before the trip, dehydrating and storing it - in my case, I also have a FoodSaver "shrink sealer".

It this to save time? weight? fuel? Other? Is it necessary?

Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks! Sue

[Chef2000]

I use a food sealer, but never pre cook my pasta. It does not make sense to add water during the cooking process, then take it away during dehydration, only to add water again. You would save fuel and time in the feild with the preecooked. I use small penne pasta and it cooks up pretty quick.

[littlelaurel59]

"Raw pasta" + boiling water in a pot cozy for 10-15 minutes = cooked pasta

[Lone Wolf]

Angel hair pasta cooks in 5 minutes.

[Doctari]

Use CousCous it cooks almost instantly.

Almost any dried store bought pasta cooks fast enough.

Pasta cooking tip: 1 unit pasta + 2 units water = no drain pasta. That is you heat less water, so less time to cook & less water to lug into camp AND less wasted heat-fuel-time.

BTW, to me a unit is usually a cup, but whatever. Kraft mac & cheese is 1.5 cups of pasta, so add 3 cups water to have the 2 for 1 ratio (plus a little hot water set aside just incase for the cheese mix).


Doctari.

[drsukie]

Thanks for the great tips - pre-cooking it and then re-hydrating it made no sense to me, quite frankly.

I mean, what else am I going to be doing while my food is cooking - not laundry, not the tube, not checking e-mail or voice mail (YAY!!!!) ...just enjoying conversation with some like-minded hiker trash! :) Sue

[saimyoji]

Remember, never pour off the water you've cooked the pasta/rice in. There's lots of calories and nutrients in there. If you use pasta/rice that is coated with powder or talc, rinse in cold water before boiling.

[sarbar]

Here is the deal..when you are dealing with thick pasta, if you precook at home and dry it, then you can freezer bag it on the trail. It is already cooked at that point, and only needs hot water to come back to life.
Some pastas such as tiny tortelini, ravoli, ramen, couscous, instant chinese noodles, tiny Hispanic pastas, angel hair can be cooked in a pot or freezer bag without precooking/drying at home.
Using thick pastas such as rigatoni straight out of a box doesn't work well-simply because they are NOT precooked before you buy them, and they need to be well cooked, to get the centers done.
While it might seem weird to precook and dry, it does save a lot of fuel, and having to use a big pan to boil the pasta.

[neo]

Here is the deal..when you are dealing with thick pasta, if you precook at home and dry it, then you can freezer bag it on the trail. It is already cooked at that point, and only needs hot water to come back to life.
Some pastas such as tiny tortelini, ravoli, ramen, couscous, instant chinese noodles, tiny Hispanic pastas, angel hair can be cooked in a pot or freezer bag without precooking/drying at home.
Using thick pastas such as rigatoni straight out of a box doesn't work well-simply because they are NOT precooked before you buy them, and they need to be well cooked, to get the centers done.
While it might seem weird to precook and dry, it does save a lot of fuel, and having to use a big pan to boil the pasta.


thanks for the helpful tips on pasta cooking:cool: neo

[hopefulhiker]

I had my meals pre cooked using "Backpack Gourmet" cookbook. Then dehydrated and vaccuum packed. The meals cooked in 13 minutes to boil two cups of water with Sgt Rocks alcohol stove, plus another 7 to eight min in the cozy. This only took a half an ounce of alcohol and it tasted great.. Always used angel hair pasta, Some of the recipies were tomato pasta pesto with basil, pasta with mushroom sauce, pasta with peppers and onions, carrots, salsa..These things were mixed in advance. Little bits of parmesan cheese were great...TVP, nuts, lots of things to boost caloric intake...My wife did all this,It was great... The benefit was weight savings in fuel and food, the ease of just opening a pouch and dumping in the food, and the variety of the spices you could treat yourself to..

[drsukie]

I had my meals pre cooked using "Backpack Gourmet" cookbook. ...My wife did all this,It was great... ..

Sounds like I need a wife! Hey, can I borrow yours to cook this up - it sounds yummy! :p Sue