Backpacking REAL Pasta Carbonara
A lightweight, delicious, pre-prepared version of this classic high calorie comfort food that’s (almost) no-cook in camp!
Real carbonara in camp, no artificial colours or flavours! And no cream!
Rich, unctuous and satisfying, pasta carbonara is our most requested backpacking recipe. Guanciale (cured pork cheek), egg yolk, parmesan and chicken stock combine for a mouth-watering classic that everyone but your cardiologist will love! Packet versions all lack that umami authenticity. Our recipe is for those who like cooking; non-cooks jump to Cheat’s Clever Hacks for recipe shortcuts and packet pimps!
Safe Dehydration, Storage and Use
Safe dehydrating requires the removal of almost all fat from recipes, not only because of rancidity, but also because fat coats other ingredients and prevents them fully dehydrating. Carbonara has bacon/guanciale, bacon/guanciale fat, parmesan fat and raw egg/egg yolk fat! The second dehydrating rule? Don’t dehydrate dairy or eggs at home (salmonella risk)!
This recipe therefore separates fats from other ingredients, and uses commercial egg powder and vac-sealed quality hard fresh parmesan that lasts 7-10 days on trail. Add even more flavour by parcooking the pasta in stock.
Packaged and stored in the freezer, this carbonara lasts for months. Although vac-sealed pure rendered guanciale fat is fine for 12+ months in the fridge or freezer and many weeks on trail, if you use the diced, rendered guanciale meat, you must eat it on your first day on trail. Using bacon bits extends shelf life on trail to weeks so we recommend packaging a few meals with guanciale for first night meals, and using real bacon bits/dried bacon in the rest. An optional oxygen absorber sachet placed into the meal bag before vac sealing slows rancidity of egg powder, bacon, stock powder and pasta cooked in stock, and extends shelf life on trail.
Although the bacon bits, egg and chicken broth powders can be folded into baking paper envelopes, this meal does require more plastic packaging than most for the fat and guanciale.
If you want to use our delicious chicken bone broth powder for this recipe instead of commercial powder, make it the day before.
Otherwise, render the guanciale or streaky bacon (for fat), bake loin bacon (for bits), cook mushrooms, parboil pasta and dehydrate everything before packaging your meals.
Test batches in the slowerhiking kitchen: guanciale vs bacon, rendered guanciale fat vs bacon fat vs chicken fat, home made stock powder vs commercial, short vs long pasta. I used up the fat with sediment for these test batches: your rendered fat will be perfectly clear.
In the recipe below we provide information for you to either:
use rendered guanciale and the fat from rendering — must be eaten on your first night of the hike, but can be stored beforehand in the freezer for months
use dried short cut bacon or bacon bits with the fat from rendering guanciale — has a much longer trail life.
use dried short cut bacon or bacon bits with the fat from rendering streaky bacon — also has long trail life and is easier to find than guanciale.
Ingredients (makes about 14 serves)
1.7kg/3.75lbs pasta, non-nesting shapes or spaghetti*
2.5-3L/0.7-0.8gal commercial chicken stock
680g/24oz guanciale**, rind trimmed and diced into 4mm/0.16in cubes
1kg/2.2lbs short cut bacon*** OR 150g/5.3oz real bacon bits
Approx. 185g/6.5oz commercial raw egg powder, ideally egg yolk powder (human grade raw not available in Australia).
800g/21oz small mushrooms, thinly sliced
140g/5oz good quality Italian hard aged parmesan, see note****
Home-made chicken stock powder OR quality chicken bone broth powder to make 2.8L stock
*Spaghetti rehydrates faster than larger short pasta shapes, but is bulkier and breaks easily. If you have space, spaghetti is preferable. Avoid very thin spaghetti.
**In this recipe, we’re rendering guanciale for its fat. Unlike baked, dried lean loin bacon, diced rendered guanciale meat keeps only for the first night in camp, but the vac-sealed rendered strained fat lasts for weeks on trail, and for months in the fridge or freezer (freeze excess guanciale dice for home use). Alternatively, omit the guanciale altogether and render bacon fat using extra streaky bacon, see below.
*** Use the short cut lean loin section as found in Australian and UK bacon, not the US style that’s pure streaky and too fatty. Bacon is saltier and less sweet than guanciale, with a less-rounded mouth feel, but still extremely yummy and you won’t care in camp! The home baked, dehydrated bacon is also a little hard when fully dry, but still tasty. If you can buy real bacon bits in your country, use them!
****Carry block parmesan separately. Ask your local providore or amenable supermarket cheese bar to vac seal your cheese into 7 x 20-40g parcels (give them leeway) rather than the usual 100g/3.5oz when they cut and package it for sale. Opening a sealed bag, cutting it and resealing it yourself at home shortens shelf-life on trail.
Our estimated approximate nutritional value assuming you're using guanciale (options 1 or 2 above) is 31g of protein and 3,700 kJ (880 calories) per serve.
Cheats’ Clever Hack: US cooks can use 150g/5.3oz commercial bacon bits plus 180g/2.8oz commercial rendered bacon fat instead of rendering guanciale; be aware that the ‘bacon’ bits sold in Oz sadly aren’t bacon at all. If you have access to real bacon bits, these are the easiest, and store for longest.
Australian “Bacon” Bits…
…without the slightest hint of pig and virtually no protein! However, a good calorie count for hiking!
Method
If using home-made chicken stock powder, which we recommend, do that a day ahead. Otherwise:
Cook mushrooms
To intensify flavour, saute in scant water until they have given up their juices and are beginning to colour.
Spead onto a dehydrator tray.
Render the guanciale/make baked dried bacon:
If using guanciale, spread in a large cold frypan (preferably non stick or well-seasoned iron). Heat on medium-low until fat has rendered out and guanciale is crisp; this may take 45 minutes or more. Tip guanciale and fat into a very fine sieve or cloth into a small warm jug. The liquefied fat should be completely clear without sediment. Pour liquid fat into an ice cube tray; you should have 180- 230g (6.3-8.5oz) divided into fourteen individual cubes if packaging for one, or 7 cubes if packaging for two. Cool in fridge, then cover surface tightly in clingwrap as soon as set. Place in freezer. Once hard, take fat from freezer and, working quickly, remove one at a time from tray, place into a small bag and vac seal. This is fiddly but essential because excluding all air greatly extends shelf life on trail.
Also immediately after rendering, divide diced guanciale meat into seven portions if packaging for two, or fourteen portions if packaging for one. Place into appropriately sized vac seal bags and vac seal tightly to exclude all air. Freeze. Use several for first-night carbonara meals on trail and save the rest for home use — it’s delicious in almost anything!
If using bacon as the meat in your carbonara for eating later in the hike (with the fat from rendering guanciale), very finely dice the meaty loin part trimmed of all fat and spread onto baking trays. Bake in a moderate oven until dark brown but not bitter. Roll tightly in paper towel for two hours to absorb any remaining fat (there should be almost none). Spread on a dehydrator tray.
If not using guanciale at all, you need extra bacon fat from streaky bacon. Render all the fatty bacon trimmings plus extra from streaky bacon in a frypan as described for the guanciale: you need about 180g/6.4oz bacon fat for the above recipe. Or, collect it over time from your morning fry-up. Strain, cool and freeze bacon fat in the same way as if using guanciale fat.
Cook the Pasta:
While rendering fat, pour commercial stock into a large pot and bring to the boil. Pour in 1.7 kg pasta and parcook for about half the recommended time. Spaghetti should just bend and curl but still taste too tough. Drain immediately.
Spread pasta onto dehydrator trays. This image also shows reduced stock, which you may have done previously from our recipe.
If using spaghetti, curl it into open flat nests so they’re easier to manage and less likely to break when packaging.
Dehydrate pasta, mushrooms and bacon at 64C/145F until completely dry, turning pasta nests once or separating any clumped short pasta. Rotate trays regularly. Cool and place into sealed containers ready for packaging.
Place your bacon bits into small reusable mylar sachets or folded baking paper in a large double ziploc or reuseable storage bag and freeze, ready for packaging.
Packaging for Two (14 serves packaged into 7 bags):
What You’ll Need:
Electronic scale
Spoon
Small bowls
14 squares of baking paper or small ziplocs (into which you’ll separately package the egg powder and stock powder)
7 vac seal bags
Vacuum Sealer
Assemble your Ingredients:
Spaghetti, rigatoni, bacon, guanciale fat (yours will be packaged), stock powder/bone broth powder, egg powder, mushrooms, oxygen absorber sachets.
vac-sealed rendered guanciale fat or bacon fat sachets
Bacon bits (or vac-sealed guanciale if eating on first night)
dehydrated par-cooked pasta
stock powder
egg powder
mushrooms
Package stock powder to make 400ml each into seven small ziploc bags, or fold into baking paper (you will be concentrating it by diluting only to 200ml for the sauce). Our home made totalled about 13g/0.46oz per sachet.
Weigh mushrooms and divide into seven equal quantities.
Fill seven ziplocs or baking paper envelopes with egg powder equivalent to 2 eggs (the brand we used totalled 26g/0.92oz).
Into each large vac-seal bag place:
225g par-cooked pasta
dehydrated mushrooms
Vac-sealed guanciale fat or bacon fat (25-30g/0.88-1.1oz for two)
Sachet of bacon bits OR vac sealed guanciale dice
Wrapped egg powder
Wrapped stock powder
If you have oxygen absorber sachets, pop one in just before vac sealing to extend shelf life and prevent rancidity in the powders and pasta.
Vac seal, stopping before the spaghetti gets crushed or short pasta pokes holes in mylar.
Label with date, dish, a note of 200ml and, if you think you need them, the instructions below.
In Camp for Two (halve quantities for single serves):
Slit open vac seal bag and remove powder sachets, oxygen absorber, and bacon/guanciale/fat packs.
Slit open vac seal bag and remove powder sachets, oxygen absorber, and bacon/guanciale/fat packs.
In your cookpot, bring enough water to the boil to generously cover your pasta and mushrooms in the bag. When it boils, pour into your bag, close bag and place into a cosy for 10-15 minutes (varies with pasta shape). Pasta should be almost done.
While pasta rehydrates, mix egg powder with 75ml/2.54oz cold water in a cup. Commercial egg powder is raw; it will cook later with the heat of the sauce and pasta.
Open and shave parmesan.
Drain pasta and mushroom mix, pouring 200ml of the water into your cook pot.
Mix guanciale or bacon through pasta. Reseal and return to cosy.
Add stock powder and guanciale/fat/bacon fat to cook pot with the 200ml of water. Stirring frequently, bring to a simmer. Whisk vigorously with your spork. Add most of the parmesan and, continuing to whisk, heat until melted and emulsified.
Add one tablespoon of the hot sauce to your reconsituted egg, stirring vigorously. Repeat, then pour egg mix into pot. Switch off heat and and stir until just starting to thicken — you may need a little more heat, but switch off again as soon as it begins to thicken or the egg will curdle. Runny sauce is better than curdled sauce!
If your pot is big enough, tip your pasta into the pot of sauce and mix well. Otherwise, open pasta bag and pour the sauce into your pasta in its bag in the cosy. Stir well, close bag and let sit for a few minutes in cosy to thicken further, massaging it now and then.
Divide pasta in two, scatter both with remaining shaved parmesan and enjoy!
Real carbonara. This batch was a trifle runny at first but thickened up as we ate.
Cheat’s Clever Hacks
Pimp your pack or make this recipe easier
Make this recipe easier:
Use quality powdered chicken bone broth powder instead of making your own.
Cook your quick-cooking pasta in camp in water and not stock
Use commercial bacon bits instead of guanciale or bacon
Buy commercial sliced mushrooms
Pimp your Pack:
You’ll find a plethora of packet carbonara powders or pasta mixes in supermarkets, and you can pimp them to improve the taste and increase calories. Many use milk or cream.
add commercial dried mushrooms
add bacon bits
add bacon or guanciale fat
add shaved parmesan
add full fat milk powder for a rounded mouth feel
add nutritional yeast for a cheesy flavour instead of parmesan.
We still recommend adding bacon fat but, depending on the brand of carbonara powder, you may not need egg powder or parmesan. Check the pack to see what they want you to add, and the fat content and ingredient list to see what’s missing.
A-Grade Comfort in Camp: benissimo!
Buon appetito!
