What's your secret ingredients?

Have a favorite trail recipe or technique you'd like to share? Please do! We also like reviews of various trail food products out there. The Backcountry Food Topix forum is the place to discuss all things related to food and nourishment while in the Sierra wilderness (as well as favorite trail head eateries).
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Ikan Mas
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Re: What's your secret ingredients?

Post by Ikan Mas »

I saw intant miso soup in Trader Joes this morning as well. You could marinate fresh trout over night in miso and grill them next day. Misoyaki, I believe its called. Good stuff, but could be a problem with bears unless you could get the marinating containers/ziploc in the bear canister. Perhaps on a weekend trip.

I have a variety of onion in my garden that came over with my Russo German ancestors. Instead of blossoms and seeds, it puts up little onions. If I am dilligent about planting them in the fall, I have a great crop of green onions in the spring, and I put those in the dehydrator, as they dry nicely. Great addition to anything lacking flavor is dried green onion.

Question: For those of you on low sodium diets, how do you make do while backpacking? I don't have this problem (yet) but I note that most freeze dried or packaged meals are pretty high salt wise. (I don't know whether this is to help preserve them or because the companies think we need extra salt.) Sorry to hijack the conversation.
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hikerchick395
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Re: What's your secret ingredients?

Post by hikerchick395 »

Non gourmet...Taco Bell "Fire" hot sauce packets :)
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Weasel
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Re: What's your secret ingredients?

Post by Weasel »

In response to Ikan Mas about the salt in the freeze dried foods, I wrote to Backpacker's Pantry about the high sodium content of most of the available products. This is the response that I got:

" Hi Mark,
Thank you for taking the time to provide us with your feedback.

I totally understand your concerns about the sodium. I think you’ll be glad to hear that we are currently revising a number of our existing recipes to lower their sodium content. Please keep in mind, however, because our food is designed for use in an active lifestyle setting - hiking, biking, rock climbing, etc. - the sodium levels, calories, fat content, protein levels, etc. have to be higher than that of food you might eat for dinner on a normal day. When people are really exerting themselves, they need extra sodium and fat and calories to replenish their body. The sodium in particular helps to rebuild electrolytes that are lost during rigorous activity.

With that said, I definitely agree with you that a number of our meals have high levels of sodium, which is why we’re currently working on various recipe revisions. Spicy Thai Peanut is one of my favorite meals that is low in sodium, vegan and delicious. "

So I take a variety of freeze dried meals and ingredients with a spice bag. I use the freeze dried stuff at the end of long days, and then for shorter days, I have the time to prepare something myself. Adding some extras from PackIt Gourmet and some spices can make the prepared stuff taste different and sometimes better, and adding it to some basics allows flexibility on longer trips until the last day or two.

This is my first post on this forum. I love your forum. I will be on an eight day hike from Rancheria TH to Tehipite Valley and back in early September, so any tips you can offer my brother-in-law and me would be appreciated.
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rlown
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Re: What's your secret ingredients?

Post by rlown »

Welcome to the HST, weasel!

I do use freeze-dried meals. last resort. Lots of sodium. Doesn't help me sleep well.
Mostly following others recipes posted here to make my own.. I hate salt.

Russ
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maverick
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Re: What's your secret ingredients?

Post by maverick »

Hi Weasel,

Welcome to HST! Mountain House has a few low sodium options available.
http://www.mtnhse.com/mm5/merchant.mvc? ... Code=MHLSD" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Professional Sierra Landscape Photographer

I don't give out specific route information, my belief is that it takes away from the whole adventure spirit of a trip, if you need every inch planned out, you'll have to get that from someone else.

Have a safer backcountry experience by using the HST ReConn Form 2.0, named after Larry Conn, a HST member: http://reconn.org
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