In Switzerland, the word for stew is “Eintopf.” If you break the word into its two German parts, “ein” means “one,” and “topf” means “pot.”

For this issue of Trail Bytes, Dominique shared her recipe for a winter Eintopf and I dehydrated a portion of the leftovers for a backpacking style meal.

Enjoy!

Winter Eintopf

Ingredients:

1 Red Onion, diced

2 cloves Garlic, minced

1 Red Bell Pepper, diced

2 cups Chickpeas, uncooked

4 – 5 medium Carrots, chunked

½ head of Savoy Cabbage, cut

5 – 6 medium Potatoes, chunked

1 pound Ground Beef

1 Tbsp. Sunflower Oil

2½ Vegetable Bouillon Cubes

Soak chickpeas, also called garbanzo beans, in water six hours or overnight and drain. If you don’t have time for soaking, use two cans of chickpeas, drained.

Step Two:

Fry onion, bell pepper, and garlic for two minutes in one tablespoon or less of oil. Add ground beef and one bouillon cube. Cook until done. Dominique cooked the meat in a separate frying pan and set it aside. If planning to dehydrate the meal, blot off any grease with a paper towel after the meat is cooked.

Step Three:

In a stock pot, add carrots, chickpeas, and 1½ bouillon cubes to two cups water. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer for 30 minutes. If using canned chickpeas, use less water add them and the carrots plus bouillon at the same time as the potatoes and cabbage.

Add potatoes and savoy cabbage to pot and cook another 20 – 30 minutes on low heat until tender. Add a little more water if needed.

Once chickpeas and vegetables are tender, add meat to pot and cook for ten minutes.

Dehydrating Stew

To ensure even drying so that no moisture remains in thicker pieces of food, cut potatoes and carrots into smaller pieces. You can also make this recipe with stew meat. If so, cut cooked meat into smaller pieces. If you use homemade chickpeas and they are still very firm, cut a little slice into each one so that they rehydrate better in a meal. If you used canned chickpeas there is no need to cut them.

I dehydrated two cups of stew on one Excalibur Dehydrator tray covered with a non-stick sheet.

Dehydrated at 135° F for ten hours. The yield was one cup dry.

I rehydrated the dried stew in a Thermos Food Jar (shown rehydrated above) to simulate taking it to enjoy as a hot lunch on a winter hike. In the morning I added one cup of dried stew to the Thermos Food Jar with one and a half cups of boiled water. It was hot and delicious for lunch. To prepare the stew in a pot to eat right away, use a quarter cup less water.

Normandy Trip Follow-up

New Recipes Shared

Rice & Sausage Dinner shared by GreyWolf.

Thanks for sharing! View the recipes here.

Seasons Greetings

Warmest regards,

Click to purchase my backpacking cookbook, Recipes for Adventure. Thank you!

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