Stowaway Gourmet Wild Boar Bacon Bean Stew

Restaurant quality, at lower than restaurant prices...on the trail, no less. This is one of the best things I have put in my mouth, ever.

Continuing to work my way through the Stowaway Gourmet catalog (as it becomes available), we come to their Wild Boar Bacon and Bean Stew.

What is Wild Boar Bacon?  Apparently, it is "feral pig" meat, cured as a bacon. Easy. Thick cuts of belly meat, just like standard upscale supermarket bacon, as evidenced by strong marbling and a great whack of salt. (I suspect that most of the sodium in this meal comes from the bacon.) But savor that thick, chewy cut of meat for just a little while and the salt dissipates, leaving the boar-bacon flavor to shine.

And shine it does: gamey and pleasantly fatty.  Also big slices of mushroom and onion and celery. The beans have already been cooked to perfection prior to freeze-drying and so rehydrate into a smooth mash without any lumps or chunks. And once again, the portion size was just right for a day hike—and therefore maybe just a little light for a day's-end backpacking meal.

My only gripes really are the saltiness of the bacon, and that there might be just a wee bit too much spiciness to the overall meal. A little less spice would let the flavors of the other ingredients come through stronger, but that's a pretty minor nitpick, really.
(Update 2023.11.29:  Today's offering seemed to be a little less spicy, and a little less salty.  It was so good!)

Oh, and perhaps the biggest win? No gas. Dunno how they did it, but this is the first freeze-dried meal involving beans that I've ever had that did not have...consequences. Wow.

Update 2023.11.29
I headed out for a hike today (with a high of 36 degrees!) and brought this as I needed a treat.  And that gives me the chance to update this review with pictures and so on.

A word on the nutritive value of this meal: excellent.
548 calories in the whole bag is a good, solid energy source, coming from a good balance of protein (42g), carbs (68g), and fat (14g).  Sodium is pretty moderate for a meal of this kind at 1106mg or 50% rda for the whole bag.

Background

Joshua has been hiking, backpacking, and car-camping for more than four decades. He is based primarily in the Pacific Northwest, but has hiked throughout the US, with forays into Hawaii and New Zealand.