The following quite flexible recipe for a Bean-Potato Breakfast Patties is from SurvivalBlog reader Richard T. His introductory notes:
“This is a breakfast that was inspired by, but has no recognizable features to, the traditional English breakfast. The objective was not to make an attractive plate, and it isn’t, but to make a breakfast that was high in energy and quick to get to the plate after the initial preparation. It is made in a batch and portioned out in 6-ounce serving patties and frozen. When served it comes out of the freezer and cooked up in a skillet and browned in about 10 minutes. Meat is optional, but meat broth and fat are essential. The drippings from a roasted chicken, ham or turkey are what I use.”
Ingredients
- Barley, pinto, and small red beans
- Turkey, ham, or chicken drippings or thick broth
- Turkey, ham or chicken fat
- Salt pork, bacon scraps, turkey or chicken skin
- Red or white potatoes
- Onions, garlic (to taste)
- Salt (to taste)
- Pepper (to taste)
- Liquid Smoke (Optional, use sparingly)
- Dried red and hot pepper – to taste (or substitute pepper sauce)
- Vegetable broth
Directions
I make this in one cast-iron Dutch oven kettle starting with crisping the salt pork, bacon scraps, turkey or chicken skin which leaves a little fat to get the quartered potatoes going. I start the potatoes skin side down on low heat, with the lid on, and take my time. After the potatoes had enough, drop some fat in and brown the cut sides of the potatoes. They should be pretty much done when you put in the diced onions and garlic. The fat is hot enough on the low heat to saute the onions and garlic alongside the browned potatoes. Set them aside in a bowl and add the soaked beans into the hot fat in the kettle. Very, very gradually the vegetable broth is added and is lidded until the beans are edibly soft.
If you add Liquid Smoke, then use it sparingly. Before the beans get done add the barley, drippings/broth, dried peppers and keep adding vegetable broth as it get soaked up until it all ends up into a nice mush but not too much that it turns into a soup. As it cools the barley mostly will soak up any liquid. During this time if I get antsy I will cut the potato quarters up into smaller slices. I could’ve done that before I put them into brown, but they will brown up when I prepare the patties in the skillet. Stir in the roasted potatoes and onions and garlic in the bowl into the warm bean barley mix. This is where I add the salt and pepper if I forgot to do it earlier. But if you’re using drippings or seasoned skin, you might have salt and seasoning enough already. I let it cool overnight and form 6-ounce patties out of the mix the next day and freeze them.
SERVING
“Since they are precooked, all they need is to be warmed up, but due to the fat content they fry up nice and crisp. They can be served as a hash brown alongside some eggs and bacon or by itself. If you mix in some wheat flour you could make a burger out of it. Cook it over a campfire in some tinfoil for an outdoor breakfast. Use your imagination.”
STORAGE
Can be stored, frozen.
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