Who else dehydrates there own food and does anyone have a good recipes?

BushcraftBrainTrust

BushcraftBrainTrust

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I just bought an Excalibur dehydrator and wanted to know if anyone has any good recipes (especially jerky). I just used my Horton slicer to cut up a batch of sweet potato treats for my dog Buddy.

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This is next on my list to get BBT. We had a real successful go at canning last year and we want to start dehydrating foods as part of 2010's food storage. Plus, I'd like to try my hand at making my own Mountain-House style camp foods. Both a dehydrator and vacuum sealer are in the plans for this. Besides, I love dehydrated fruits, even if they produce the baddest smelling farts on earth. Not to mention jerky!
 
kgd said:
This is next on my list to get BBT. We had a real successful go at canning last year and we want to start dehydrating foods as part of 2010's food storage. Plus, I'd like to try my hand at making my own Mountain-House style camp foods. Both a dehydrator and vacuum sealer are in the plans for this. Besides, I love dehydrated fruits, even if they produce the baddest smelling farts on earth. Not to mention jerky!
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kgd, what pressure cooker do you use? I'm going to pick up one over the summer.
 
The pressure cookers we have are a brand called Mirro. She found them at a local Department Store for 1/2 off, about $40 each so she bought two of them. They hold 8 x 500 mL jars each or 5 x 1 quart jars. The pressure valves are the rock'n weight types which are found on the cheaper models but are actually preferred because they just work and are always accurate unlike some of the pressure guage ones on the fancier set-ups. Buying the jars cost more than the cooker, but those are reusable too.

How many trays do you recommend for the dehydrator? If I recall correctly, the Excalibur set up is expandable right? For example, if you wanted to do 5 lbs of sweet potatoes, how many trays would that require and about how long do you think it would take?

I think I remember reading here somebody recommending that the temperature on the dehydrators go up to 165oF. There seem to be hardly any commercial brands that do that.
 
I dehydrate quite a bit, the lower temp is good, you want to actually dehydrate not cook.

As far as recipes just start experimenting, I do a ground beef/mixed vegetable mixture that is perfect as a soup base or to add to rice or pasta dishes. I have successfully dehydrated beef stew and chili as well, the fruit leather trays that come with, or that you can buy for your dehydrator work great. Beef jerky is easy too and way cheaper and better for you than the commercial stuff. If you have any specific questions, fire away. Chris
 
kgd, thanks for the info.

Excalibur dehydrators come in 2 residential sizes (5 tray and 9 tray) and they have economy and deluxe models of both. They are not expandable, but I think the 9 tray would work for you. I bought the 9 tray economy model and it would hold the 5 lbs of sweet potatoes in your example. The Excalibur goes up to 155 degrees, but you are really trying to dry the food, not cook it. This model is not cheap, but I plan on using it a lot and it gets the best reviews of all the models I looked at. Hope this helps.


http://www.amazon.com/Excalibur-2900-Economy-Tray-Dehydrator/dp/B000I6MXZG
 
we dehydrate a lot of stuff in the Household here. For most things- asparagus, tomato, strawberries, cherries, bananas, apples, walnuts- ah, the list is endless- for most things there aren't any recipes, but if it's a "browning" fruit, we do use a lemon juice wash first.

For fruit leathers we make a paste of whatever, often apples are the base, and add some cinnamon, occasionally nutmeg or cardamom.

meats vary a lot. My favorite for beef is super thin slices and a tabasco/tamari (wheat free soy sauce) mix with some rosemary and nepitella in it. marinate for a few hours or overnight and go to town.

For biltong we don't do anything beyond a quick roll in salt and pepper.
 
Good thread! I've also recently acquired a dehydrator. Looking for jerky recipes and anything else!!
 
We don't have a vaccuum sealer right now, though we plan to get another one, they are fantastic things.

with 8 people here, it's hard to get anything to last long enough :D

biltongs and tomatoes tend to last for a while, but don't require sealing up.
 
I usually only make jerky (beef) in my dehydrator. Been doing it for the last 25 years. I've tried all sorts of recipes. For me , the simple ones work best. I don't measure much anymore. I just cut the meat into 1/4" thick slices, sprinkle a little Morton's Tender-quick on them, some liquid smoke ( just a little) , and a touch of pepper and garlic powder. Let it sit in the fridge overnight , then dehydrate till flexible but not too dry. In the start , Cut the meat across the grain if you want a softer chew , otherwise, with the grain is the usual way. Partially frozen meat slices easier I've found. Don't use a lousy Kitchen knife. Use your best Bush knife like the Lord intended. :D

A real good resource is A.D. Livingston's book titled simply, " Jerky" . Lots of good info there.

Have fun ;)
 
I use one quite a bit.I canoe extended trips and will do the whole trip food planning around the food dehydrator.Very easy and economical comapred to buying freeze dried.
Meat and vegetables are dried separatlely then mixed and packaged with a vaccum sealer.
Dan'l
 
BushcraftBrainTrust said:
August West or koyote, do you vacuum seal your food for longer term storage?
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Yes, I have a food saver and use it frequently, I have even used it for packing clothing tightly for a trip.

As most have said I don't have any hard and fast recipes, for jerky I slice lean meat, most of the time a london broil or venison, across the grain, marinate in teriyaki and brown sugar with garlic, sprinkle on salt, pepper and cayenne and dehydrate. But that is not a hard and fast recipe, I change it up almost everytime and it always turns out good.

There are tons of recipes and ideas online, just start experimenting with small batches and see what you like. Dehydrated lean ground beef and frozen vegetables is one of my staples I am hardly without, it is so versatile, you can add it to damn near anything and make a meal. Chris
 
I have a dehydrator and like the others don't have a recipe for my things. I started out by using the instructions/recipes that came with the machine but now I just make it up as I go along. A few tips from my mistakes:

-Be sure the food is thoroughly dehydrated otherwise is spoils quickly and may even be bad to eat.
-Marinate meats overnight and soak browning fruits in citrus to prevent discoloration.
-The leaner the meat the better.
-Cut uniformly otherwise drying times can vary widely.
 
I make yogurt in my Excalibur. It's cheaper especially if you want organic, and no plastic containers storing your food or creating garbage. I have the 9 tray model with that came with fruit roll up inserts. No complaints with the machine.
 
The excaliber is a nice machine. I like it. Don't have any fruit leather inserts, but we'll make some eventually. We also have an american harvest stackable tray model. It's not nearly as useful for sheathwork :D but works very well for food. No complaints.

You really don't need recipes to get going- look at what you find in various trail mixes, then get the fruits and veggies and dry them :)

There's one book we do use on occasion, it's old and probably out of print:

Dry it -- You'l Like it!
By Gen MacManiman
 
this thread is making me hungry and happy

me and my fiance have one on our gift registry and i really hope that we get it now
 
koyote said:
There's one book we do use on occasion, it's old and probably out of print:

Dry it -- You'l Like it!
By Gen MacManiman
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I just found this book at Mountain Equipment Co-op here in Canada. It has been reprinted and has some added notes. Good book!
 
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