Steve's International Ration Thread

[steve1989]

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[steve1989]

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[steve1989]

Getting late, doing the last of the Italian photo set. Will add more details on how that wonderful dinner component went tomorrow.

[housil]

Wow, what a great review. The Italians know, how to "can" dolce vita

[cavguy]

Great pics! I enjoyed the Italian rations I had somewhat but I did find the meals lacking in spice...

[elandil]

wow...awesome review...


You don't know how badly you have made me want one of these....

[rattattoo]

WoW! Man, I just drooled all over my keyboard!
Thanks for some great photos. I can't wait for the words now. I want to know all about the beef medallions in gelatin... that sounds like an awesome cold dinner.

[Norton]

Outstanding post, the Italian ration set looks very good. Would love to take that on a camping trip.

[cutsman]

This was awesome! Can't wait to see what you got up your sleeve next!

[steve1989]

That Italian Dinner Component was overall pretty enjoyable, except for the Insalata Di Riso - just like in Name_Not_Found's superior review on this same ration, viewtopic.php?f=13&t=4640
I would say the Insalata Di Riso was actually somewhat bland and had a horrifyingly overpowering taste of olive.

I mean, not just a little bit of olive, but like BAM right in your entire palate sorta olive.
- It was like eating Olive Flavored Olive Soup, with a side if Olives.

As for the Beef Medallions in Gelatin, oh my what a treat! They were quality cuts of beef, and they tasted like a cross between corned beef, beef jerky, and summer sausage. The fat marbling throughout it gave it a nice enhancement to the already bold and savory beef flavor.
Ok, as for that gelatin - it's very flavorful as well, it was almost like a solidified beef stock. It was rather firm too, kinda hard to actually spread on a cracker - could be messy in the field unless you were kinda savvy eating a bit of cracker and then a quick follow-up with a spoonful of beef medallion and gelatin.

And as for the coffee, it was pretty delicious - a bold and full coffee flavor and really didn't taste like instant. Better than modern Taster's Choice - not as good as Coffee, Instant, Type 1.

Really, I have to say this whole Italian Ration was quite the set of "Sit Down" meals and not much in the way of quick "Grab & Go" foods.

Well, I could live with waking up, mixing a shot of that Cordial Alcohol into my canteen with a small amount of water and the cappuccino W/ a sugar packet or 2 with that Banana Flavored Cereal Bar.

Not the kinda components you'll just find on The Epicenter. Hah!


I just wish these were more readily available - truly a Holy Grail item for the ration enthusiast of any kind.