Reporting back from dehydrated heaven!!!

[Everything Mac]

I think I'll treat myself to a dehydrator when I get back to land.

Cheers outdoordude!
Andy

 

[Outdoordude]

Nice one andy. Tell me all about your first batch of dehydrated goodness when you do it. Have fun and Im glad i persuaded you do get one. Have fun dehydrating loads of stuff.

 

[Everything Mac]

Lol I shall mate. I'm rather partial to jerky and making it in the oven is a total faff. All the best
Andy

 

[Dave]

So which is the best cut to ask for from the butchers to make beef jerky?

 

[decorum]

>>> If you want another testimonial. decorums got one. !

I have indeed. I've only just started experimenting but, this far, it's proving to be a good bit of kit .
I can, however, foresee a problem looming ~ additional kit purchase (for proper storage).

The two most surprising things I've found (so far) are just how much things shrink and the intensity of flavour.

Finding out about bark's something which came as a pleasant surprise ~ loads of scope with that idea .

Link to making barks ~ http://www.backpackingchef.com/potato-bark.html (not the best pics)

>>> if you have not tried dehy pineapple you have not lived! <<<

I've a pineapple doing its thing at the moment and the dip test is looking very promising .

A couple of punnets of strawberries are waiting to go in when the pineapple's done ~ but as the smell of strawberries dehydrating is almost enough to make the anosmic drool I might leave that job for over night

I looked at (drooled over) the Excalibur range (http://www.excaliburdehydrator.com/) but, as a complete newbie to dehydrating, I thought this one theatre where cutting my teeth in the gods was definitely the sensible option. Having had a short play an Excalibur is now on my 'One day!' list .

 

[decorum]

I'd have edited this into my previous post but I thought due to the time lapsed it'd be better as an addition than an edit ....


Although the thickness of the slice and dice will affect drying time the biggest influence on how long dehydration will take is ambient humidity ~ you're moving moisture away from the food stuff and humidity will slow the process.

 

[Man of Tanith]

I dont need a dehydrator i dont i dont i dont i don't

could this be written off as a kitchen tool i wonder......

 

[decorum]

I dont need a dehydrator i dont i dont i dont i don't <<<<

And you won't find yourself in need of a vacuum sealer either :bluThinki .....

<<< could this be written off as a kitchen tool i wonder......

Erm ... it *is* a kitchen tool

As is a vacuum sealer :evilangel:


(can you tell what's next on my list? )

 

[Col_M]

My Spicy jerky varies every time

Mine too that's what I like, it's pretty forgiving and you don't need to follow a recipe, I just throw the sauces and spices together without measuring, the only thing that I find really matters is letting it marinate to allow the flavours to get into the meat, I usually go for 24-48 hours.

Another thing to watch out for is making sure that it's not over-dried, the times I've left it too long and the jerky is on the brittle side it's not as tasty, it's far better to be a little chewy so I check it every 30 mins or so once it has been in there for a few hours.

As for dehydrating meat, the smaller the chunks are the better, I've tried dehydrating a pasta sauce with minced beef and it didn't rehydrate that well, it was edible but a little chewy. I think a better way is to dehydrate the sauce and meat separately. I have also heard that mixing some fine dry breadcrumbs into the mince helps and using the leanest and lowest percentage fat meat you can find, I can only assume the reason is that the breadcrumbs draw the fat from the meat which makes it easier for the water to be absorbed into the meat come rehydration time.

 

[Shewie]

Avoiding salt helps speed up the drying process, add afterwards if needed

 

[rik_uk3]

So which is the best cut to ask for from the butchers to make beef jerky?

I use Sirloin.

 

[Outdoordude]

I read here that it doesn't matter what cut you get as long as you trim the fat before dehydrating. I just picked up some beef strips.
http://joemacho.hubpages.com/hub/Homemade-Beef-Jerky-Recipes

 

[Dave]

I use Sirloin.

Mmmmm. Ever tried it with shoulder Rik? Found this recipe, from the survival forums.

CUT of BEEF: shoulder-- either London broil steaks or a full roast, sliced.
I find shoulder to be far better tasting than top round, the other London broil cut, and it is usually cheaper. I actually prefer the taste of shoulder to basically any other cut of beef (for jerky). It has just the right amount of fat in it (remember, you don't want too much fat in your meat and you want NONE in the marinade.) And it is frequently about the cheapest meat there is. It's perfect!

The shoulder [chuck] is probably the cheapest cut I think. So I wondered if there was a big difference in taste/quality.

http://www.survivalistboards.com/showthread.php?t=153598

I'll probably give both a go. [As meat really has shot up in price over the last few years]

 

[Chiseller]

Rabbit jerky?

 

[decorum]

Just finished my second experiment in making apple leather.

Both batches of leathers were made from the same pan of ingredients ~ four cooking apples, one rather aged medium sized orange and two middle aged lemons.

After cooking and blending a portion was applied to the dehydrator sheet and the excess transferred to scaled jars for safe storage.

First batch tasted good, but made gold leaf seem overly thick . Had an unfortunate tendency to fuse to teeth and gums.

So, too much water in the mix. The excess went back in the pan for reducing.

Second batch tastes just as good as the first and has a notable physical thickness to it . Possibly applied to the dehydrator sheet a smidgeon too thick :bluThinki , but practice and all that jazz .

 

[Outdoordude]

nice one phil. I need to try barks soon. That does taste good and would rehydrate really well on the trail.

 

[decorum]

This evening I remembered we had a food slicer tucked away in a corner. Similar to ...

(pic from here ~ no connections, just giving credit for the shot)

Bit of a blast from the past, but regular thickness in slices will aid dehydrating .
Made mincemeat* of a pineapple .




* Well ... a yellow pineapple sliced type mincemeat anyway .


Thinly sliced pineapple core's quite nice, if a little fibrous. Time will tell as to whether it's a binding agent .

 

[Outdoordude]

nice. I cant wait to try pineapple in mine.

 

[Outdoordude]

i would love to seen some pic of the food. (just so i can drool over it)

 

[decorum]

nice. I cant wait to try pineapple in mine.

I've been lucky enough to find a couple on special. First one was chunked, this one's sliced ~ this one seems to be drying in a more controlled fashion .

i would love to seen some pic of the food. (just so i can drool over it)

That's the thing with dehydrated foods, they tend to look like the mummified scrap that rolled under the kitchen cupboard six months ago. Totally uninspiring and, if it were served up without you knowing what it was, you'd complain _quite vocally_ . Once you know the taste explosion ...




I've also done an experiment with tortilla wraps. I now have a nice box of bread crumbs ~ they'd past their best by date, but looked and smelled good and so got whacked in (125 for about four hours) for a trial . As they're made from a herb wrap they'll need making up for savoury stuff .