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Two-Year-Old Ham Sandwich, Anyone?

By Boquisucio on December 9, 2011 | | Comments (10)
Ah, the magic of Food Science.  Please watch the video on the linked page: HERE

Oh - And here's another video featuring Food Scientist, Dr. Richardson:



Well Done Dr. Richardson!

BOQ

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10 Comments

By Joe in N Calif on December 9, 2011 10:28 AM
Beats the heck out of hard crackers, bacon, and salt pork.

I'm a pretty fair cook, but the task of developing meals that will last 3 years at 80 degrees, be light, and at least marginally tasty - no concept of even how to begin.
 
By BillT on December 9, 2011 11:33 AM
The old C-rats lasted for thirty years under various climatic conditions, Joe, and you could make useful items from the packaging, such as mini-stoves and coffee cups.

Only thing you can do with MRE pouches is throw them away.

Before or after you sample what's inside -- your choice...
 
By Joe in N Calif on December 9, 2011 11:56 AM
Yeah, but the C-rats were HEAVY.   Maybe about 2 pounds per meal?   Bulky too.  I think the best thing out of the C-rats was the P-38.

Actually....the crackers and jam weren't bad....a bit weird...but not bad.
 
By John of Argghhh! on December 9, 2011 12:09 PM
Heh.  I *liked* green eggs and ham, as long as you could heat it.  Yay for C-4!
 
By John of Argghhh! on December 9, 2011 12:09 PM
...or exhaust manifolds.  As long as you remembered to vent it.
 
By Grumpy on December 9, 2011 1:02 PM
 BillT,

You make this sound like it's Russian Roulette. Option “A”  sucks, option “B”  sucks,  choose,   *Only “A” or “B”!*
 
By Quartermaster on December 9, 2011 5:43 PM
 Grumpy, that goes by the rubrirk "Hobson's Choice,"

John, I'm sure you've heard some of the stories of the Platoon packs of Creamed Beef (the SoS stuff) heated on a Jeep engine, and then forgotten by the perps. I met one of them who did it in Vietnam, and the aftermath still made him shudder. I can't remember how long he had to work to clean up the mess but it took quite awhile. He said the First Shirt put him through hell over it.

I liked the C-rat Ham and Eggs. So did my father. We had to have at least 3 days of food on hand so we could bug out if Ivan decided to come to Oktoberfest, and my father, who was in food service, would bring 5 cases home twice a year. They had to put a certain amount on teh chow line, adn they would never be eaten, so there was plenty to bring to the house. Ham and Lima beans, pork slices, crakers and peanut butter, and so forth. Just teh thing to feed a 13 or 14 year old boy.
 
By NevadaSteve on December 10, 2011 5:37 AM
Our scoutmaster used to have lots of surplus C rations for us when we went on campouts. We used to heat them up by sticking them in the ashes of fires. Works great but has the same problem as using exhaust manifolds - leave them too long and you have mini-bombs going off.

Actually some of us (I was too chicken to do it) left them in on purpose.
 
By BillT on December 10, 2011 9:29 AM
A helicopter's turbine engine requires a two-minute cooldown so's the oil lubricating the bearings doesn't coke on shutdown. Put a C-rat can of *anything* on the exhaust stack, wait two minutes and you have *hot* whatever was in the can.

Someone Who Shall Remain Nameless got his cans mixed up at Tra Vinh and had cold ham slices and hot fruit cocktail for lunch...
 
By J.M. Heinrichs on December 10, 2011 5:39 PM
Boiling Vessel, since the mid-50s:
www.armedforces-int.com/article/fv706656-cookingboiling-vessel.html

Cheers