

↠ Despite being dehydrated, this soup tastes super fresh and fragrant ↠ Easy to prepare at camp because the water ratio doesn’t need to be too precise. We love this Backpacking Minestrone because: Unlike other dehydrated meals that require a specific water ratio, here the end product is soup, so you can make it as thick or as soupy as you want. All the veggies offer a feeling of freshness, the white beans serve up the protein, and the rich vegetable broth brings it all together.Īt camp, the rehydration process is also really forgiving. The catch-all ingredient list of this minestrone soup makes it perfect for backpacking. freeze-dried lasagna), why not lean into the rehydrating process and make a big hearty bowl of soup? Just follow these basic tips above and the master recipe below and you’ll be on your way to French Toast heaven.The world needs more backpacking soups! Instead of trying to reconstitute something that has a distinct shape and structure (e.x. It might seem like a lot at first, but after toasting about eight slices of bread you may want to replenish.įrench toast can be a quick and easy camping breakfast. We start with 4 tablespoons of butter and warm it up until just starting to froth. The solution: more butter.īy cooking with more butter in the pan, the heat is more evenly distributed across the surface of the pan. This resulted in unevenly cooked bread, particularly if we were trying to cook two slices at once. Most camp stoves have relatively small burners and we found we were getting a hot spot right in the middle. Using a well-seasoned cast-iron or nonstick pan, you’ll want to cook your French toast over medium heat. In fact, if you sprinkle a little extra sugar on the outside of your bread after you dip it into the mixture, you can get a spectacular golden brown finish on your toast. Not only does the egg-milk-sugar mixture soak into the bread and sweeten it from within, but it produces a crispy caramelized layer on the outside. SugarĪdding vanilla extract, cinnamon, and even a little nutmeg are all good ideas for French Toast, but one critical step we had been leaving out was to add sugar to the mixture.

You want it to be moist throughout, but not totally saturated.įor stale bread, soak the bread slices for up to 20-30 seconds. The Dipįor fresh bread, we found that a 10-second dip on both sides soaked up just the right amount of egg mixture. Anything more and you’re making a Croque Monsieur. Anything less and the mixture is too thin. This gave us wildly inconsistent results.īut after a few kitchen tests, we’ve concluded that 3 eggs to 1 cup of milk is the ideal ratio.

It really depended on how many eggs we had on hand. Previously, we’ve played fast and loose with this ratio. Rustic French loaf, a baguette, or even a pumpernickel will all work as well (although the visual presentation will look different). It is easy to find a whole loaf at most grocery stores and it adds a distinct tangy flavor that pairs nicely with the overall sweetness of the dish. Most styles of bread will work, but we often go with sourdough. If you prefer firmer centers, then a day or two old loaves of bread will be best. If you like your French toast to have a rich, custard-like center, then use a fresh loaf of bread. You will be able to soak up more of the egg-milk mixture, giving you more time to crisp the outsides without overcooking the insides. We recommend picking up a loaf of your favorite bread and cutting it into generous 3/4″-1” thick slices. Pre-sliced sandwich bread is just too thin, cook through too quickly, and often results in rubbery French toast.

The single best way to achieve exceptional French toast at a campsite (or anywhere for that matter) is to use whole loaf bread and slice it yourself.
