High Sierra Topix

I've had some swallowing issues for the last couple of years (long story / surgery / etc. omitted), but recently discovered I can get pearl / israeli couscous down pretty well. I had some experience with "regular" couscous as camp food early on (worked well for a few years until I could just no longer eat it without gagging ) For me, the challenge with all trail food is getting a sufficient number of calories & grams of protein, not just getting the stuff down.

Anyway, my hope was to try cooking the stuff at home, and then put it in the dehydrator for easy rehydration in camp. Since I had my esophagus surgery the dehydrator has been in a corner gathering dust, displaced by a commercial-grade blender (which is how I prepare much of my dinners at home). I had a nice salmon & pearl couscous dish the other night which I didn't have to blend -- thinking a similar thing might work with trout and some lemon juice. Perhaps throw in some powdered bone broth or other protein supplement too.

I will of course experiment, but has anyone had any luck with this idea ? Or is cooking pearl couscous and then dehydrating it basically a waste of time and energy ?

Why not dehydrate your leftover preparation?

Why don't you just cook it? You still have to boil water. Your additions can be dehydrated and you add those during cooking?

https://www.thespruce.com/how-to-cook-i ... us-3376841

freestone wrote:Why not dehydrate your leftover preparation?

Hadn't thought of that. Typically when I make a blended meal it's about 600-700mL. Sometimes I make a couple servings, consume one of them and then put one in the fridge for later. Stupid question: how does one dehydrate that much liquid ? I would like to give it a try.

rlown wrote:Why don't you just cook it? You still have to boil water. Your additions can be dehydrated and you add those during cooking?

https://www.thespruce.com/how-to-cook-i ... us-3376841

Thanks for the link, those recipes sound tasty. I was sort of hoping to keep from having to clean the pot afterwards I usually bring a light plastic dish for mixing my morning oatmeal / cream of wheat / protein powder, and for dinners of instant mashed potatoes + protein powder. It would be nice to toss the dehydrated couscous + additives in a bag or that dish, just add some boiling water and wait, instead of actual cooking.

What I wasn't sure about was if the act of cooking the couscous, dehydrating it, and then rehydrating actually saves me any effort. If after cooking and dehydrating it you have to re-cook it anyway, then no. I was sort of hoping someone with more knowledge of seminola wheat products would chime in

Given the cooking instructions treat it like normal pasta instead of couscous, I'd try cooking and dehydrating it. Cooking for a few minutes as directed and then shutting off the stove and letting it sit with the lid on may also work instead of using fuel for ten minutes -- the pieces are small enough that it might work that way too.

rhyang wrote:What I wasn't sure about was if the act of cooking the couscous, dehydrating it, and then rehydrating actually saves me any effort. If after cooking and dehydrating it you have to re-cook it anyway, then no. I was sort of hoping someone with more knowledge of seminola wheat products would chime in

I cook and then dehydrate pasta all the time. Boiling water, then 10 - 15 minute soak, depending on the pasta, and it's good. I do spaghetti mixed with sauce, and then other pasta (my favorite is orecchiette) that I add with other ingredients at home for different meals. I use bags for all of my cooking on the trail.

Super, just what I needed to know. Now to find space for the dehydrator ...

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rhyang wrote:Super, just what I needed to know. Now to find space for the dehydrator ...

Mine sits right next to my breadmaker!