A friend was going on a hiking trip in BC and emailed to ask me about dehydrating chili. I realized that we tend to do vegetarian meals. We were vegetarians for years so it is not surprising. Not to mention I do worry about meat on a canoe trip. That being said, I will be the first one reaching for beef jerky. The people I camp with have made chicken stew with dumplings. We all agree that chicken is hard to do. It was delicious, but it doesn’t rehydrate easily. The following year they used canned chicken – a tip they found online. However, it was still not the same as chicken at home. So those recipes have been shelved. However, beef and sausage work well and they combine to make an amazing chili. So I am sharing it here. Just dehydrate well and you are good to go.
Ingredients
1 lb. ground beef
2 tbsp. olive oil
1 lb. Italian sausage (sweet or mild)
4 small onions diced
4 large cloves of garlic minced
28 oz. / 796 ml can tomatoes undrained
7-8 oz. passata sauce
½ cup full bodied red wine
1 tbsp. Dijon mustard
3 tbsp. chili powder
1 tbsp. each dried basil & oregano
½ tsp. hot pepper flakes
1 tbsp. packed brown sugar
Salt to taste
2 19 oz. / 540 ml cans red kidney beans, drained & rinsed
You can add sautéd mushrooms if you wish
At Home:
In a large pan or Dutch oven, brown the ground beef in oil, remove with a slotted spoon & set aside.
Remove casing from sausage & crumble it into the pan. Cook until it is no longer pink remove with a slotted spoon & set aside. Drain off all but a couple of tablespoons of fat.
Sauté onions & garlic until soften.
Return meat to the pan along with all the other ingredients except the kidney beans.
Stir together breaking up the tomatoes with a spoon & bring to a boil. Season with salt to taste. Reduce heat cover & simmer for 1 hour or more.
Add kidney beans & simmer for 5 minutes stirring occasionally.
Place in the dehydrator at 145 degrees.
Note: If you want to make it easier to dehydrate, you can use a Braun or blender to break the meat into very tiny pieces.
In Camp
Add to a pot, cover with water and simmer until it is rehydrated. Serve with Parmesan cheese.