Dehydrator: best things to do with it?
Cubslover's post got me thinking: what's the best thing you've done with a food dehydrator?
Me first:
#1: Flank steak, sliced with the grain into 1.5-inch strips, marinate in cider vinegar (with pickling spice mix if desired) for 4 hours, drain (but save the vinegar), thoroughly coat in kosher salt for 15 mins; use the vinegar to rinse the salt off, coat in freshly ground coriander and dry. Once dried, knock the coriander seeds off somewhere you can afford to make a mess. In South Africa we called that biltong (although the process was a little different and the recipes quite varied). Here you can just consider it a jerky recipe.
#2: Mash potatoes, spread them on a sheet and dry them. Toss into the food processor to pulverize the product. Store in one bag. Parboil meat and vegetables, then dry them. Store in other bags. Toss it all in the backpack. On the trail, simmer it all together with hot water for an awesome masher-based stew--about 1/5 the price of the freeze dried meals you can buy (which make me fart up a storm, anyway).
#3: Puree your favorite fruit. Mix 1:1 with applesauce. Spread it on a sheet and dry it: cheap, delicious fruit roll-ups!
Teach me your favorites.
Me first:
#1: Flank steak, sliced with the grain into 1.5-inch strips, marinate in cider vinegar (with pickling spice mix if desired) for 4 hours, drain (but save the vinegar), thoroughly coat in kosher salt for 15 mins; use the vinegar to rinse the salt off, coat in freshly ground coriander and dry. Once dried, knock the coriander seeds off somewhere you can afford to make a mess. In South Africa we called that biltong (although the process was a little different and the recipes quite varied). Here you can just consider it a jerky recipe.
#2: Mash potatoes, spread them on a sheet and dry them. Toss into the food processor to pulverize the product. Store in one bag. Parboil meat and vegetables, then dry them. Store in other bags. Toss it all in the backpack. On the trail, simmer it all together with hot water for an awesome masher-based stew--about 1/5 the price of the freeze dried meals you can buy (which make me fart up a storm, anyway).
#3: Puree your favorite fruit. Mix 1:1 with applesauce. Spread it on a sheet and dry it: cheap, delicious fruit roll-ups!
Teach me your favorites.
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Try fruit slices. I really like apples and bananas. I also do the venison. 0 -
My mom drys flowers in hers, takes fresh flowers, put them in a slica sand then puts then in the dehyrator. takes them out and wala, you have dried flowers that will last a life time. 0 -
For jerky, I grind my meat up first. flank steak or usually deer for me. I mix spices in with it. I like Dales sauce, sorta like soy sauce with some spices. Make patties about 1/8 to 1/4 inch.
Soy sauce with pepper, and garlic powder and some powdered cayenne pepper are good spices to use.0 -
All these ideas and I am going to have to break out my dehydrator.
When My grandparents were alive I made dried apple slices, Italian prunes and apple sauce roll ups.
I will have to try the deer jerky this fall.0 -
Seriously, y'all, try my recipe. Nobody jumps at it when they hear it, but there is something INSANELY tasty about dried meat that has been cured in cider vinegar.
Fruit slices haven't done it for me. I love bananas, but dried bananas are too sweet for me. Dried apples rock, but I've not been able to make anything as tasty as what comes out of the bulk bins at the grocery (maybe I'm using the wrong variety?)0 -
I haven't dried too much in mine yet. I've only had it 6 months or so.
I did jerky last year in my smoker, turned out AWESOME!
I picked up one of those jerky guns, that works really well.
Some good ideas I'm going to have to try out.0 -
Here's an idea that might even help all those other GBers with fleas on their pets; spread fresh garlic paste all over the drying rack and make your own garlic powder/flea repellent! 0 -
I do jerky a couple of times each year, venison in the winter, beef the rest of the time. Don't like "jerky" out of a "gun." Do it the old fashioned way by slighly freezing a cut of meat and slicing real thin. If watermelons and cantelope are plentiful, make lots of fruit "roll-ups" from them. Just cut them up, throw them in the blender and use the "juice". Tastes great! I do a lot of tomatoes in the summer and pack them in olive oil. Peaches and apples in the fall. We use ours about all year long. 0 -
Hot peppers work really well, much better than hanging to dry, as hanging takes too long, and some will go moldy before they are fully dried.
I wouldn't recommend spending too much time in the house when you do this, though.
Also works well for sliced tomatoes seasoned with garlic and basil, which make a tasty white pizza topping, and herbs of all kinds.0 -
Hot peppers work really well, much better than hanging to dry, as hanging takes too long, and some will go moldy before they are fully dried.
I wouldn't recommend spending too much time in the house when you do this, though.
Also works well for sliced tomatoes seasoned with garlic and basil, which make a tasty white pizza topping, and herbs of all kinds.0 -
This is a fact.....
The Japanese buy dehydrated water from Hawaii'0 -
quote:Originally posted by tobefree
This is a fact.....
The Japanese buy dehydrated water from Hawaii'
Just add water and POOF.
Looking to buy a new one. Last one went TU over the winter.0 -
quote:Originally posted by spurgemastur
Cubslover's post got me thinking: what's the best thing you've done with a food dehydrator?
Me first:
#1: Flank steak, sliced with the grain into 1.5-inch strips, marinate in cider vinegar (with pickling spice mix if desired) for 4 hours, drain (but save the vinegar), thoroughly coat in kosher salt for 15 mins; use the vinegar to rinse the salt off, coat in freshly ground coriander and dry. Once dried, knock the coriander seeds off somewhere you can afford to make a mess. In South Africa we called that biltong (although the process was a little different and the recipes quite varied). Here you can just consider it a jerky recipe.
#2: Mash potatoes, spread them on a sheet and dry them. Toss into the food processor to pulverize the product. Store in one bag. Parboil meat and vegetables, then dry them. Store in other bags. Toss it all in the backpack. On the trail, simmer it all together with hot water for an awesome masher-based stew--about 1/5 the price of the freeze dried meals you can buy (which make me fart up a storm, anyway).
#3: Puree your favorite fruit. Mix 1:1 with applesauce. Spread it on a sheet and dry it: cheap, delicious fruit roll-ups!
Teach me your favorites.
What is parboil?0 -
I like sliced apples best, but for a variety I sometimes do a large can of fruit coctail. 0 -
quote:Originally posted by phillip
quote:Originally posted by spurgemastur
Cubslover's post got me thinking: what's the best thing you've done with a food dehydrator?
Me first:
#1: Flank steak, sliced with the grain into 1.5-inch strips, marinate in cider vinegar (with pickling spice mix if desired) for 4 hours, drain (but save the vinegar), thoroughly coat in kosher salt for 15 mins; use the vinegar to rinse the salt off, coat in freshly ground coriander and dry. Once dried, knock the coriander seeds off somewhere you can afford to make a mess. In South Africa we called that biltong (although the process was a little different and the recipes quite varied). Here you can just consider it a jerky recipe.
#2: Mash potatoes, spread them on a sheet and dry them. Toss into the food processor to pulverize the product. Store in one bag. Parboil meat and vegetables, then dry them. Store in other bags. Toss it all in the backpack. On the trail, simmer it all together with hot water for an awesome masher-based stew--about 1/5 the price of the freeze dried meals you can buy (which make me fart up a storm, anyway).
#3: Puree your favorite fruit. Mix 1:1 with applesauce. Spread it on a sheet and dry it: cheap, delicious fruit roll-ups!
Teach me your favorites.
What is parboil?
Parboil = boil until partially cooked. Compare to blanch, which is to drop into boiling water and remove immediately.
You want the meat cooked enough that it won't spoil because you're adding nothing to cure it. You parboil the vegetables so that they'll finish cooking when you add them to the hot water in the stew, otherwise you spend too much time cooking on the trail.
Boiled meat doesn't sound all that appealing, I know, but prepared on trail with the mashers, you can't really tell. And if you cook it in oil, you can't get it to dry in a way that is mess-free for trail use.0 -
quote:Originally posted by AHansen
quote:Originally posted by tobefree
This is a fact.....
The Japanese buy dehydrated water from Hawaii'
Just add water and POOF.
Looking to buy a new one. Last one went TU over the winter.
Sorry dude I'm not joking...A company takes salt water from a certain location in Hawaii distilles most of the water out and sells the dehyrated water to the Japanese for 65 buck an oz The Japanese then take a drop and put it in water or tea nad drink it daily...
In fact business is so good the just built a new 35 million dollar plant and plan to take on 65 new workers!!!0 -
Jerky's great, and dried apple slices aren't bad either. 0 -
Going to try making salmon jerky sometime soon - really got a
taste for it while we traveled the Pacific coast.[8D]0 -
wild mushrooms. soak and clean them put them in the dehydrator. flat as a pancake . just return to water when ready for use 0 -
Don't do raisins - not worth it - takes too long! 0
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