using jerky in 'stew'

[Blizzard of '93]

anyone ever cooked 'stew' using jerked/smoked meat with wild veggies such as the NDN's did? list of ingredients and method?

 

[nw_hunter]

I Have! I've used beef jerky,elk, and deer jerky for stew.

I like the smoke flavor it adds to the stew.I also use the seasoning mix from Raman noodles.Then I throw all the veggies we have on hand into the pot.Not complete though without a big chunk of SOUTHERN style cornbread.'NOT' that sweet kind. :barf: Might even add some cracklings to that cornbread, if you butcher your own pig. :thumbsup:

 

[Black Hand]

Jerky (fresh meat works great too), barley, parched corn, wild rice, dried garden vegetables and portable soup. A couple of nice fat squirrels really add to the soup....I eat this on every trip (with/without the squirrel).

 

[Stumpkiller]

I boil rice and then add pieces of jerky as a fast and warming trail lunch. Good stuff.

 

[Many Klatch]

Using jerky in a stew just means that you need to boil it a little longer. One good thing is that if the jerky has been soaked in marinade, it adds that flavor to the stew. Just cut the jerky into pieces before you drop it into the stew.

Many Klatch

 

[chipper]

If your trecking, add the jerky and veggies to a little water around lunch time. By dinner time the meat will be soft and so will the veggies. I simply put the food in a water jug and carry it along with me. Be carefull about dried veggies though. I was on a hike and grabbed a handfull of this and that and added it to a stew. A hand full of onion is about 6 or 8 full size onions. I ate the stew and found myself running instead of hiking.
Good luck.
Loyd Shindelbower
Loveland Colorado

 

[LFC]

It's my understanding that dried meat was traditionally kind of pounded or pulverized into shreds or other small pieces before cooking. That way the water reconstitutes it better. I gather that the "shredded beef" or "machaca" that one often gets in Mexican-food restaurants in the border states is the direct descendant of this. I think this is a good way to do it--I've had some old jerky that took a long, LONG time to soften in water.

 

[tx-hunter]

I was on a hike and grabbed a handfull of this and that and added it to a stew. A hand full of onion is about 6 or 8 full size onions. I ate the stew and found myself running instead of hiking.

:rotf: done that before myself. funny how a big bag of fresh veggies can dehydrate and fit into a sandwich baggy

 

[Black Hand]

I dry my vegetables separately and then mix them together before use. Included are yellow onions (2-4 medium), green onions (1-2 bunches, tops included) and carrots (2-4 depending on size, blanch over boiling water first). I also oil up a sheet of tin foil and spread a small can of tomato paste on it and dry it like fruit leather. Once the paste is mostly dry and still a bit flexible, I remove it from the foil, roll it up and cut it into thin strips which are further chopped into smaller pieces. When everything is dry, I keep it in a mason jar on the counter. A couple of tablespoons is a great addition to a trail stew (jerky or fresh meat) or a bowl of soup made at home.

 

[jasontn]

thanks for the tip on the tomato paste black hand. i have a tray for my machine you use to make fruit roll ups and i bet it will work like a dream on making portable soup.

 

[Blizzard of '93]

yeah that is a good idea. would be tasty added to rice with dried veggies.

 

In the SW and Mexico its referred to as machaca. After matanza (killing or butchering), they sun dry large sheets of meat cut with the grain without salt. Sometimes coating it in ground red chile pepper to keep the flies off, sometimes not. Once its dry, they pound in into a hair-like consistency and it keeps darned near forever. Getting it down into small fibers like that means you can use it in about anything very quickly, as it rehydrates in a hurry. Its commonly added to scrambled eggs with tomatoes, jalapenos, onions and potatoes. Makes a heck of a breakfast burrito, but you don't find many places that do real machaca north of the border much anymore. Its labor intensive and there just isn't as much reason to do it with modern refrigeration available.

Sean

 

[Black Hand]

i have a tray for my machine.....

Save yourself the aggravation. Use your oven (set as low as it will go), prop the door open with a wood spoon, and use cookie sheets (with a piece of foil or parchment paper). The stuff will dry in hours instead of days. Any more, the only time I use my dehydrator is for making dried apples.