Groovy-Biotic Cooking: Quick, Healthy Meals with an Ultralight Cook Kit

[Benjamin Smith]

Companion forum thread to:

Groovy-Biotic Cooking: Quick, Healthy Meals with an Ultralight Cook Kit

[Bill Fornshell]

This topic of Steam Baking is nothing new but the art work for the article is really good.

I have a thread someplace here where I show how I bake in my dry cook pot. The dry cook pot bakes like your home oven and will "brown" the crest.

http://www.rei.com/online/store/ProductDisplay?storeId=8000&catalogId=40000008000&productId=437&parent_category_rn=5760734&vcat=REI_SEARCH

The hot link does not seem to work.

[Sam Haraldson]

> This whole thread is about re-inventing the wheel.

Bill, by saying that about this thread you completely disregard the excellent nutrition and recipe advice given in the article. Yes they made good reference to an ultralight steaming system that may have already been presented but let's not forget there are other aspects of the article for commenting upon as well.

[Bill Fornshell]

Sam,
Sorry, my comment was directed toward the "Steam Baking" part of this thread. I am going to change my comment to reflect this.

I would say that there are a lot of really good recipes out there. Their is a whole cook book for the Bake-Packer (The BakePacker's Companion) – (Includes nutritional data for each recipe and extensive nutritional and technical appendices that has all kinds of nutritional data.)

[Sam Haraldson]

It didn't seem like you to be critical, Bill. Your diplomacy shows through in your new response. Although I suppose one could argue that talking about cooking and recipes at all is old-hat since it's been around since sometime soon after the dawn of civilization. ; )

As an individual planning and preparing for a long distance hike some straightforward approaches to lightweight cooking such as those presented in this article are extremely useful to me in that I can use them verbatim as well as use the notions learned in crafting changes to the other meals that I have in the works.

[Mike Clelland]

Thank's everyone – this was a fun article to write (and eat)!

Mike C!

[Dondo .]

Great stuff, Mike. My wife and I are long term vegetarians, but I usually let her cook because she knows more than me. I can't wait to try out these recipies on her.

[Mike Clelland]

Right On to everyone with feedback and insights – Huge thanks!

Here's a few (more) replies in no particular order:

1) Q: Where do you get falafel powder?

I have a local health food store with bulk bins. It's pretty easy to find. Actually, I mix Falafel Powder with some Hummus Powder.

2) Q: why didn't you take any dried or freeze dried vegetables?

The cooking time on "some" veggies is sorta long, I use some dehydrated peppers, and they seem to take HOURS to soften up. I've found a few things I like (sun-dried tomatoes) And, some of these are sorta styrofoam-like. I will try and find some and incorporate them next summer. Any suggestions?

3) Q: Are you cooking (steam baking) your batter in very small amounts?

Pictured in the photo is a 1,6 ounce Snow Peak Titanium Bowl (diameter, 5.5 inches) I am not sure of the volume, maybe 750 ml? I fill it wit 4 ounces of powdered baking "mix" add water slowly, add a splash of oil. And steam for one esbit tab (about 6 minutes).
Please – test at home.
And I love the cut off coke can idea! Somebody test that! I bet a 1.5 liter pot could hold 4 cans! A muffin party will follow…
Also – Don Ladigin has the system dialed. And I totally stole his technique (sorta) for this article. Read his book!
More on steam baking – I tried a lemon poppy seed muffin mix from a box. Results were poor.
Even MORE on steam-baking. I work for NOLS, and we really take pride i our cooking. This entire ultra-light (our base weight was just around 10 or 11 pounds) course was a departure from the "standard" NOLS system for cooking. And there was a lot of resistance to doing a two-week course without any baking. So – I worked on this technique. It was a welcome addition to the one-pot-meals.

4) The SAUSE portions? Oh Jeeeez – I wish I knew. Just get a bowl and start mixing. Don't be timid about tasting as you go, it should be obvious what tastes good. Make it a little saltier and spicier than you think. Remember – you are gunna add this to bland couscous!

5) Steve – I'll say HELLO to Drew Leemon!

[s k]

This is a fantastic thread!
We use MSR wind screen material, cut and finished to about 7/8 inch as a substitute for rocks, when we boil/bake in our two quart AGG. We also sub plastic bags as the batter/dough container, so the muffin or bread shape stays broader and shorter. This makes room for an angular sided bowl (used as a lid) to set partially inside the pot.
When we prepare eggs for breakfast, they are usually cooked in the foil- covered bowl/lid atop the baking muffins. This same, probably ancient scheme, works as well for slow cooking burrito ingredients up top while the cornbread boils below. Pasta and sauce can be prepared separately or water can be heated above for drink or clean up.

[Sarah Kirkconnell]

Mike, I find that smaller veggies work best if using dehydrated. Even at altitude mine come back to life in about 10 minutes. (Boiling water added, left in cozy)

I prefer though Just Tomatoes freeze dried vegetables, which come to life within minutes. They make an organic line now also. For freeze dried they are top of the line in quality and flavor. They also sell paper thin sun dried tomatoes that are very addicting!

One reason behind my veggies coming back to life is when I dry my own stuff, it is precooked. That seems to help quite a bit versus using traditional raw vegetables that are dried. A good cheater is using frozen vegetables and drying them, they are blanched and quite often, fully precooked. Hence, they don't need to be cooked once rehydrated.

[Carol Crooker]

I use a 600ml Snowpeak ti cup as the pot and a paper lined foil cupcake cup to hold the batter. I support the cupcake cup on a strip of soda can formed into a spiral or hardware cloth folded into a box top shape. I just got back from a trip where I steamed a couple of cupcake cups full of fry bread mix (one over a fire and one over an esbit tab). They came out great and lots easier than frying! As Mike mentions an esbit tab works perfectly for a cupcake cup sized portion. I leave the foil lid on the pot after the esbit tab goes out for a little more baking to happen just in case. I usually use a commercial or home mixed muffin mix with the same method and that works great too. Alcohol stoves can also be used to steam muffins – just use one that simmers or doesn't burn too hot.

[Carol Brown]

Great article – really inspired me to think about my food bag contents. I've not done steam cooking before – didn't even occur to me to try it with an esbit stove. I thought that was only for the big stove users. So, below are three photos showing the progression of my steamed Bisquick biscuit. I used my 450 ml Ti cup (purple) which actually fit perfectly into my 1.3 liter Ti pot.

You can see steam coming out the top, so it is working. To compensate for the cold and snow, I used very hot water from the tap and put that in the pot to start.

I took the lid off about 1/2 through steaming – sorta hard to see, but the dough is firming up.

And here is the finished result. Not nearly as nice as the one Mike shows in his article! It was cooked through. It took the entire life of one esbit (about 14 – 16 minutes) to reach the finished state. Very edible.

Given my results, I probably would not do this just for one biscuit. If I were going to add this to my food bag, I would want a perfectly sized ti cup like the one used in the first photo of the article to cook these in (sort of like a ti paper baking cup used for cupcakes).

My cup was sitting right in the pot within about one inch of water (not sitting on rocks or anything else to lift it above the water.) So technically, it wasn't just steam cooking (indirect heat), but also boiling water on my Ti cup (direct heat). I figured this wasn't a fussy hollandaise sauce where the eggs might curdle, so direct heat would be OK with a biscuit mix. And it was. I do miss the "browning" of the biscuit though. This made for a fun Sunday afternoon project. Carol

[James Pitts]

You know, this makes me think of the days when I was playing with a solar cooker. I was amazed that I could cook pretty much anything. Up until that point I didn't realize that technically food only had to get up to around 180 degrees to be "cooked". Setting the oven to 350, 400, 450 was only done to brown the food and make it cook faster. Water boils at 212 degrees Fahrenheit so using this steam baking method you technically should be able to "bake" anything.

My biscuit (made from the recipe) didn't turn out so good. I'll try again. How much water are people adding to the recipe in the article?

[Douglas McCoy]

I decided to try this,considering I do not use a pot and only single wall SP 600 it was suggested that maybe a soda can would work. So off to the lab I went. I cut a soda can two inches from the bottom (which is half the height of my 600) and and made up some Krustez pancake mix just to see if it would work, plus I don't have any Bisquit mix. Any way I buttered the can real well and then filled it up about half way with mix. Next I filled my mug with some rocks that were about 1/2 in tall or so, and added 2 ounces of water. Filled my alcy stove with an ounce of fuel and began the test. I let the water steam all the way out which took about 7:45 min, from the time it started steaming. As a result I had a nice fluffy bisquit/pancake that was cooked all the way through (even though it may not look like it) YOOHOOO now I can make a bisquit in the mountains and have it with my chili, soup, or what ever. Or make one of the pancake ones and take along some pb and jelly. Didn't try this with my esbit (I am not allowed to burn that in the house anymore ) But I imagine that once a steam is achieved the time would be the same to get the same results.

[Ben Warren]

As a vegan, may I say, awesome recipes. I'll definitely have to try that spackle, even just as a day-to-day dense, portable snack.

[Joshua Mitchell]

Curtis… wow, I had never thought of that, but there's no reason it wouldn't work. Those are the 'just mix in some water and microwave' ones, right? I assume you're steaming it? How long does one typically take?

[Curtis Ware]

Messed up my original post (Pictures too big) so I am reposting.

Our troop uses the Betty Crocker Warm Delights for deserts while backpacking. We use the Walmart Grease Pots and cut down the bowl to fit (and then use it for oatmeal in the morning) We put three rocks add about 1/2 water and cook using about 1 1/2 ounce of alcohol to get us a longer burn. It usually takes 15 minutes for the cake to cook all the way through.

[Jim Colten]

Curtis,

You've got my attention … what kind of alcohol stove you using for this?

[Curtis Ware]

Some homemade, mine is a minibull design elite. All open side burners, but probably any stove would work.

[STEVE ANDERSON]

Great article! I used your yam idea combined with some ideas from Carol Crooker last year. Last weekend I made a big skillet full of grated yams, buffalo burger, fresh onion, stewed tomato, brown minute rice, canned sliced mushrooms, and spices. I tested it on my wife, which is the true test of whether it is really good or is it my wishful thinking. It passed the test. She had thirds. I dehydraded it over night and took a serving to work on Monday for lunch. It re-hydrated nicely and was almost as good as the day before. (90%). I’m adding this to my trail recipes collection.

Also a note on steam muffins. Another idea from Carol…use the little aluminum foil cup-cake thingies. I snuggle 4 of them into the bottom of my 4” diameter pan, add about one-quarter inch of water and light about 2 minutes worth of alcohol. Lid on. After the lid cools to the touch, I light another 2 minutes worth of alcohol. Usually from beginning to end is about 15 minutes of steaming, but only 4 minutes of flame. I’m going to make one of the cozies per your instructions in this article and see if this might cut down the flame time a little.

Thanks again for the great ideas and illustrations! steve

ps: Carol, I didn't notice the second and third pages of posts. I was wondering why you weren't jumping in on this…
Sorry about that!

[Vick Hines]

Muffins,
Baking isn't my bag, but someone might try using silicone pleated muffin cups. They are found at gormet cooking shops, and don't stick.

[Mike Clelland]

Hi again, cornbread is a very good muffin alternative. A store bought CORN BREAD mix works well…

[Greg Vaillancourt]

Sounds so much better than the cold tortillas and pita bread I usually have.

Cooking is a trick I use to get the wife to go out in the winter….heh heh heh.

[Sarah Kirkconnell]

Greg, in the past 6 months I have done a lot with steam baking. Tasty stuff! And not hard at all to do. Over in the cooking/food section I have posted parts about "Faux Baker" I came up (a very, very UL DIY version of the Bakepacker).

[Carol Crooker]

The Betty Crocker Warm Delights mini bowl fits into a FireLite SUL-1100 pot perfectly. It holds about 3 muffin cups worth of batter. I steamed some Cache Lake latkes and it worked out great. I also tried a bean dip can and it worked well for steaming but did not clean up easily. The BC bowls cleaned up like a dream. I was cooking over a Bush Buddy and it took about 15 minutes to cook the batter through.

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