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Red Claw + Yabby Soup — 15 Minute Camp Soup
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Red claw + yabby soup — a quick + tasty camp soup that turns a morning's bait pumping or a few caught yabbies into a generous bowl. Tomato base + creamy evaporated milk + sweet yabby tails + garlic. 15 minutes start to finish. Perfect entrée for a freshwater fishing trip.
The trick: don't boil the milk after adding (curdles). Otherwise foolproof.
Photo by CHUTTERSNAP on Unsplash
Red Claw + Yabby Soup
Serves: 4 · Prep: 5 minutes · Cook: 10 minutes · Equipment: camp oven OR saucepan
Photo: Hanxiao Xu / Unsplash
Ingredients
- 2 cans condensed tomato soup (Campbell's or similar)
- 1 can evaporated milk (the unsweetened kind)
- 1 cup yabby OR red claw tails (peeled — fresh or frozen)
- 1 tsp crushed garlic
- 1½ cups water
- Salt + cracked black pepper to taste
Optional add-ins: pinch of cayenne or smoked paprika; splash of dry sherry; handful chopped parsley to garnish; extra cream for richness.
To serve: crusty bread, lemon wedges, parsley sprinkle.
Method
- Place 1½ cups water in the camp oven or saucepan. Add garlic, salt, pepper + yabby tails.
- Bring to the boil. Yabby tails turn pink + cook in about 2-3 minutes.
- Add tomato soup. Pour both cans in. Stir well + bring back to a gentle boil.
- Reduce heat to LOW.
- Add evaporated milk SLOWLY. Stir continuously. DO NOT BOIL after adding milk — boiling = curdled mess. Just heat through gently.
- Adjust seasoning with salt + pepper to taste.
- Serve immediately with crusty bread + lemon wedges.
Tips and the camping cleanup trick
- Don't boil the milk — single most important rule. Curdled tomato-milk soup is unfixable
- Yabby tails: peel cooked yabbies (catch your own in dams + slow rivers) OR buy frozen marron tails / red claw tails from a fishmonger
- Substitute crustaceans: small prawns, crayfish meat, even tinned crab work fine
- Old scout trick — to stop billies + pots sticking on the bottom: SOAP THE OUTSIDE + BOTTOM (liquid soap is easier than bar). Makes them easier to clean later. Try it once + you'll never go back
- Make it heartier: add diced potato or pasta to make it a meal
- Spice variation: add 1 tsp cayenne + smoked paprika for proper heat
- Camp version: works on a butane stove or over coals — same technique
Our take
The 15-minute camp soup that uses your catch beautifully. Tomato + cream + sweet yabby tails — generous, satisfying, easy. Perfect entrée for a freshwater fishing trip dinner.
Two tinned soups + a tin of evaporated milk forms the base — store these as part of your camp pantry for an instant catch-cooking option.
Common questions
Why should you not boil the soup after adding the milk?
Because it curdles, and curdled tomato-milk soup is unfixable. Drop the heat to low, add the evaporated milk slowly while stirring continuously, and just warm it through. That is the single most important rule in the recipe. Everything before that step is forgiving.
What can I use instead of yabbies?
Red claw tails work in place of yabby tails, and small prawns, crayfish meat or even tinned crab all do the job. Catch your own yabbies in dams and slow rivers, or buy frozen marron or red claw tails from a fishmonger. A cup of peeled tails serves four.
How do you stop billies and pots sticking on the bottom?
Old scout trick: soap the outside and bottom of the billy or pot before it goes over the fire. Liquid soap is easier to apply than a bar. It stops the pot sticking on the bottom and makes the cleaning-up far less of a job later. Try it once.
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