Dehydrating mince beef

Globetrotter.uk

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Jan 24, 2008
2,063
5
Norwich UK
Just a quickie, I cooked 500g of mince and I'm having ago at drying it in my machine. It's been in for 6 hrs and is very brittle does that sound like its done? I remember someone saying meow.
 

Shewie

Mod
Dec 15, 2005
24,259
26
49
Yorkshire
Plain mince on it's own should be done by now, did you rinse the fat off first? I find it's when you start adding a lot of veg or have a lot of sauce that it takes 12 hours or so.
 

rik_uk3

Banned
Jun 10, 2006
13,320
28
70
south wales
Yep, hamburger rocks, dry fry, drain, rinse with boiling water to remove residual fat, and dry. Good for spag bol or a ruby and stores very well; I've used some well over a year old.
 

jacko1066

Native
May 22, 2011
1,689
0
march, cambs
Just a little tip I found out the hard way, I made up a little sheppards pie mix, but instead of mash I cut potatoes up into 1cm cubes and blanched them.

Dehydrated fine, and everything except the potatoes rehydrated fine!! Leave out the potatoes and use an instant mash if your thinking of doing something similar!!

Cheers
Steve
 

tartanferret

Full Member
Aug 25, 2011
1,865
0
barnsley
A mandolin makes nice thin uniform potato slices for boiling in stock then rehydrating, like thick crisps.

Use a mandolin with caution, they take no prisoners !

Also, the better the mince the less fat content !

:)
 

Globetrotter.uk

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Jan 24, 2008
2,063
5
Norwich UK
Ok I'm about to try some of my dehydrated foods. My question is how much water do I need? Lets say I want some mince and onion for two hungry campers. I've got my tub of mince. I'm a novice to thing type of cooking. Where's the nearest wimpy?
 

British Red

M.A.B (Mad About Bushcraft)
Dec 30, 2005
26,890
2,143
Mercia
Ok I'm about to try some of my dehydrated foods. My question is how much water do I need? Lets say I want some mince and onion for two hungry campers. I've got my tub of mince. I'm a novice to thing type of cooking. Where's the nearest wimpy?

Weigh the food before dehydration. Weight the food after dehydration. For each gram lost you have removed 1ml of water. So if you have lost 200g dehydrating mince, 200ml of water will rehydrate it.

Simple.
 

AJB

Native
Oct 2, 2004
1,821
9
57
Lancashire
How do you find the taste when rehydrated? I find most things I do a bit unpalatable. I'm possibly storing meals too long. Any advice would be welcome.
 

Globetrotter.uk

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Jan 24, 2008
2,063
5
Norwich UK
Yea not that great but adding some gravy in a tube and seasoning it's edible. Must admit it looked undesirable.

Sent from my KFTT using Tapatalk HD
 

RE8ELD0G

Settler
Oct 3, 2012
882
12
Kettering
I had the same trouble when i did mine, would love to know how long to dehydrate for.
When i added water to mine it made the mince into chewy rocks........

Im going to try dehydrating for less time and experiment. I think when its dry is enough, when its brittle its over done.
 

Podcast Bob

Full Member
Don't worry you can't over-dry anything. It will only remove the moisture and not 'cook' any further.

I usually leave it over night on high and then for the rest of the day on low. Then take it off and put it in the freezer, BUT make sure you mark on the plastic bag what it is and how many portions.

After a while all the bags start to look the same :)
 

ateallthepies

Native
Aug 11, 2011
1,558
0
hertfordshire
I dehydrated some mince, vacuum sealed it and kept it in the fridge. Ate some a year later and it was OK, well I never got sick!!

I bag up mince and veggies together and Smash potato separate. A Bovril cube and seasoning gets chucked in as well. Rehydrate the mince and veg first then stir in the potato at the end. Season to taste.

Steve
 

rik_uk3

Banned
Jun 10, 2006
13,320
28
70
south wales
How do you find the taste when rehydrated? I find most things I do a bit unpalatable. I'm possibly storing meals too long. Any advice would be welcome.

You do loose flavour because you remove the fat in the drying prep/process hence you really need a stock cube.
 

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