Dehydrating food

imported
#1

Hello, I tried to make some beef jerky in my new food dehydrator but it wasn’t very good. Does anyone want to share their great jerky recipe with me? Actually I would like beef and or tofu jerky recipes if anyone has them. Also, I heard that one must get a food sealer, one of those devices that create a vacuum in the bag with your food in order to preserve it, otherwise their dehydrated food will rehydrate and spoil. I really don’t want to shell out another 100+ dollars for this. So, If anyone has opinions on this I would like to read them. It can be done with simple ziplock bags can’t it? If so, how long can food sit in them without being refrigerated.
Heather

Heather

#2

I have often used food that I have dehydrated, placed in ziplocks and refrigerated for a year. By mistake some was unrefrigerated in ziplocks for 3 months and was still fine. I think you would only need the vacuum if you were going to store it for multiple years.

Blue Jay

#3

How was your jerky not good? Was it too dry, hard or just tasted bad?
I usually keep my dehydrated food in the freezer.
Spoilage is really a factor of humidity. If you live in an area with a high humidity say 60%+ then you need to take meassures. The vaccum sealer is easier for packing and storing but you don’t have to have it.

Darth Pacman

#4

Flame dehydrated almost all of our food for our hike last year. It was good from GA to ME. We vaccum sealed all of our food with a sealer from WalMart. It was not that expensive and worked perfect. Our jerky was ground vension and we purchased a gun (looked like a caulking gun) to extrude it in a flat ribbon. We purchase our jerky mix from Bass Pro Shop. We searched the internet for different jerky recipes. We ended up with about 30 lbs of dried jerky. Enough to have jerky every day from March to Sept. Our daughter kept the food in the freezer until it was mailed. It made most of it during the winter and it was good a year later in September. Just keep experimenting.

Papa Smurf

#5

Thank you for all your replies. Darth, my jerky just tasted bad.

Heather

#6

Having dried the hell out of several cows the easiest way to make tasty hoof is to use a lean cut like a round roast, have the butcher dude/et slice it an 1/8" and marinade it in something like 1 part dark soy sauce, half that brown sugar, some black pepper, a little ground ginger and maybe a hint of liquid smoke. Soak for a day and then dry at 150* or the meat setting until leather like. Inhale. For crunchy jerky first cook it to well done on the grill and then slice across the grain, marinade, dry. Crumbles for trail soups.

Bushwhack

#7

Gotta love those cows. Make vegetarian jerky. Combine 1 teaspoon of garlic powder, 1 tablespoon of salt, and 2 teaspoons of ground black pepper in a small bowl. Slice 1 pound of tofu into thin strips; rub spices into the strips. Cover and refrigerate for 2 days. (no joke). Preheat oven to 115 degrees. Place tofu strips directly on foil in oven on lowest position. Bake for 6 - 8 hours.

Peep

#8

i love animals too…they’re SO delicious!

love

#9

I’m a member of PETA. That is People Eating Tasty Animals. Cow: a renewable resource.

Papa Smurf

#10

Hahahaha! Hey PS, I was a member of that group! Cheers! So how about a vegan beer? Yep, that’s true - these beers leave out the ground up hooves, eye lashes, tongue warts, that are used in some beers. Vegan beers: Genesee, Millers, Greene King, Anheuser-Busch, Sam Adams Cream Stout, Triple Rock, Somomo (Dempsey’s) Odell, Fullers to list a few. After a few of these, or more, and the tofu jerky tastes real good! :cheers

Peep

#11

What is the weight savings for jerky vs non dehydrated beef? I know some foods lose 80 to 85% of their weight when dehydrated, like mushrooms for example. I would imagine beef jerky would be about 50% or so due to the density of the lean meat. Anybody know the answer to this question?

Gotta love you, Papa Smurf----“PETA. That is People Eating Tasty Animals”. I will remember that one.:cheers

Maintain

#12

The weight savings of dehydrated beef/cow will vary according to the type of beef used. According to estimates, “ground” beef is 57% water, whereas lean beef cuts will vary between 45-50%.
I’ve never tried this myself but I heard you can use those plastic oven bags that are used for roasting turkeys when re-hydrating foods - supposedly you can add boiling water directly into the bag!

Peep