Dehydrated Food 101 - mmmm, TASTY!

Post-WLS, I picked up as a hobby the art of dehydrating jerky, fruits and veggies. A dehydrated food represents a good solid, nutritional, tasty food source for us and is also an excellent replacement for the snack foods we still crave. Still got to remember, though, all things in moderation since a calorie is still a calorie whether it’s a healthy calorie or not.

 

Dehydrating foods is easy (set it and forget it) and actually quite cost effective when you compare the total cost to pre-packaged, less healthy “snacks.” In addition, you control the ingredients which are especially important when dealing with the salt content of jerky which is amazingly high in the pre-packaged stuff.

 

So, how do you go about getting started in the fascinating  world of food dehydration?

 

The Equipment

 

 

First of all, you got to fork out for a dehydrator. Lots of them on the market but I settled on the Nesco FD-61 Snackmaster® Encore™ Food Dehydrator. Around $50 and I’ve had the thing hummin’ pretty much 24X7 for the last couple of months. I made Christmas gift bags of jerky and dried fruit for my family and friends so I really ramped up the production. By the way, all of them loved the gift.

 

The only feature I wish I had was an automated timer shutoff which would be convenient at times. Not important now but I’ve dried out a couple batches of jerky cause I wasn’t around to unplug the thing. Four trays are fine and the drying power of the Nesco is adequate. Dishwasher safe (except the headunit) so cleanup is a snap.

 

I also recommend getting flexible screens which make sticky foods (e.g. bananas, pineapple) easier to remove. Also, the screens are perfect for drying small items like sliced hot peppers, mushrooms, spices and herbs that would normally fall through the spokes of the tray.

 

Other items you’ll need for max productivity and perfect results are a good, sharp knife, cutting board, apple corer, rolling pin, pizza cutter and veggie peeler, all of which are already probably in your kitchen. That’s it for the equipment.

 

Jerky makin’  – mmmm, PROTEIN!

 

 

Here’s the process and an excellent recipe for beef sticks. Note that I haven’t graduated to muscle meat jerky (e.g. flank steak) which is the chewier, traditional jerky. In order to do the muscle meat jerky, I need to get a meat slicer first so I can cut the partially frozen meat into strips. The beef sticks are tasty indeed and easier to chew as my brother, who has dentures and is soon getting WLS, loves it.

 

Recipe for beef stick jerky:

 

1. 10 lbs of 90% lean ground beef. Don’t *****h on higher fat content. I did and it tasted like greasy crap. I never pay more than $2 a lb by buying it either on sale or in a chub at Sams.
2. ¼ TSP garlic powder or better yet, fresh garlic
3. 1 TBLSP Accent
4. 1/3 cup tenderquick cure. Can be found at Super Target
5. 1 ½ TSP nutmeg powder or better yet, fresh nutmeg grounded up
6. ½ TBLSP red pepper. I throw in more since I like it spicy
7. ¼ cup of black pepper
8. 2 ½ TBLSP salt. I don’t add this to keep the salt content lower.
9. 1 ½ TSP Worchester sauce
10. 1 cup of BBQ sauce. Any brand will do.

 

With a fork, mix all the dry ingredients together in a bowl then add the wet ingredients and mix. Knead the thoroughly mixed ingredients with the ground beef. Let the seasoned beef sit in the fridge overnight to marinate.

 

Next day, rip off a piece of tin foil about 3 feet long and fold in half. Form a ball of beef about the size of a baseball and put it on the tin foil. Shape it into a square about a ½ inch thick. Fold the tin foil over the top and use your rolling pin to reduce the thickness to a ¼ inch or thinner. Use the pizza cutter to cut it into strips about 4 inches long by 1 inch wide. Put the strips on the dehydrator trays and let er rip for 3-4 hours at 145 degrees. The drying time will vary depending on how chewy you like it but once you get over 4 hours, you’re heading into sawdust country.

 

In general, drying time depends on several factors:

 

Thick or Thin Slices - the thiner the slice of item being dried, the quicker the drying time.

Temperature - The lower  the temperature- the longer the drying time. 

Humidity - the higher the humidity, the longer the drying time

Water content - the higher the water (liquid) content of the item being dehydrated, the longer the drying time.

Crispiness - some people like their dehydrated items still a bit soft, while others like it "crunchy or crispy".. If you want it more crunchy-crispy, it will increase the time it takes to dry all the water out.

 

Fruits & Veggies

 

 

I also make a mean trail mix which is a combination of dried apples, pineapple, bananas, almonds, walnuts, raisins, and chocolate chip chunks. It’s a great fuel source for my longer bike rides as well as an excellent snack. As my teenage daughter tells me, eh! It’s better than junk food.  Dried roma tomatoes are great in my salads as well as dried peppers. The cool thing about dehydrating this stuff is veggies, like tomatoes, don't have to be in season since the drying process takes out the moisture anyway. I just try to find whatever fruit or veggie is on sale at the time.  Bon Appetit, Boner 

Thanks Boner. I have been waiting for this post. I am going to run out this weekend and buy a new dehydrator. When we bought one before, we bought the little gun thing to load the mixture into to make the strips. (Looks like a caulking gun) We also have a food slicer, so I am going to try some traditional muscle jerky too. It is one of the cheaper, plastic frame ones made by Kitchen Selectives. I think we got it at Wal-Mart or Bi-Mart or something. We have been pretty happy with it. Usually the plastic ones don't keep a good even slice, but this one seems to do a good job. My wife used it Christmas day to slice cheeses and beef logs, and everything came out with nice even slices.

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Even the toughest criminals become remarkably docile 
 once separated from society by six feet of soil.