I am on the carnivore diet. Have been all year and I love it. With backpacking season fast approachingi wanna know who has dehydrated what meats?
I am not a strict carnivore, I eat cheese, eggs and fruit as well
I am currently just doing ground beef as it is cheap and easy, bit would like to expand my repertoire. Anyone do sausages or anything fancy?
I do know that the best way to dehydrate chicken is to use cooked, canned chicken, fyi
I've read that pressure cooking the chicken in an instant pot makes it better to dehydrate and then rehydrate.
I’ve dehydrated pressure cooked chicken and it rehydrated just fine.
Thank you for confirming. I was planning to try it, and I'm happy to hear that it'll work out. I like quinoa rehydrated on the trail, with beans. My mushrooms end up rubbery... Any tips?
I just get commercially dehydrated mushrooms. They will always have a different texture than fresh.
I still eat them, they end up a little rubbery but still good
I dehydrated some chicken jerky once. Accidentally ran the dehydrator too long and it turned crispy like chips. It was actually kinda delicious 🤣
Canned chicken de and rehydrates the best
So easy too. Just shred it out of the can and dehydrate it
I’ve done both beef and venison. You want lean cuts, because over time the fat will go rancid.
I did spam last year for a stir fry pouch and an Asian rice pouch and it was phenomenal!
Did you dehydrate the spam or just bring it along
I cubed it, cooked it in a frying pan to get out some of the fat, and the dehydrated those jerky like pieces. Yum!
I’ve dehydrated ham and shrimp before! I used deli ham so that was easy and I wasn’t worried at all. The shrimp I just made sure was fully cooked and dehydrated. I would love to try with a real ham — if I ever buy one haha. backpacking chef is a great resource!
I use large or even jumbo shrimp since they never quite get back to original size. Slicing the individual shrimp lengthwise in thirds helps the time for dehydrating and re- while keeping the familiar shape.
I've also done minced or diced clams.
Crab was a disaster for me, inedible, some kind of chemical change.
For more meal variety you can make beef rocks, dehydrated ground beef. The methods are widely available online, but be warned that some call for adding 1 cup of breadcrumbs per lb, that gets to be a bit much and I find 1/2 cup is better. Don't skip the breadcrumbs unless you are willing to wait an hour to eat soggy rocks.
However even better than beef is ground lamb, it's not as hard when dried and seems to rehydrate better. It has very little fat so it's perfect for dehydrating, the challenge is to not let it brown too much during cooking.
Personally I make shepherds or cottage pie, backpacking "sloppy joe" using tortillas and other things out of the meats, but I am sure there is something you can do with it,
I like making my own beef jerky, it’s super easy and good. I also dehydrate canned chicken and add it to some meals.
I don’t like fish really, but my family also smokes salmon for shorter hikes. We’ve never had issues with keeping it for one night, though I’m not sure if I’d risk keeping it longer than that
You might check out these guys https://freezedrywholesalers.com
Should've said, I'm in Canada
Got my machine in 2003, took about a year to pay for itself making my own jerky. Hot air circulated by a fan in the middle, no temperature controls.
Inside round roasts are the best. I get a 2 pack from Costco and fill a large ziplock bag. Prague salt (weighed out for trimmed weight), and equal amounts of ground black pepper and a 50/50 mix of garlic powder and garlic salt. 1/8" thick slices dry in 6-8hrs.
Beyond that I've dehydrated canned chicken and cooked ground beef. The chicken is just drained and shredded, onto the racks for 10-12hrs... Rehydrates in sauces great.
Ground beef is cooked with 1 cup of bread crumbs per pound of extra lean ground, drained and onto the racks but takes a LONG time to fully dry out. The bread crumbs helps it rehydrate better, so you don't end up with beef flavored gravel in the pot.
The leaner you go, the longer it stays fresh. Jerky doesn't usually last long enough to go bad, but I have had it happen.
I’ve done Salmon, elk, deer, beef and goose.
I’m new to dehydrating, but I discovered I can make “Ham Chips”. Just dehydrate slices of deli ham. A tasty snack on their own, or break up and rehydrate in meals.
Tried beef jerky mostly, it's good. Ground beef sounds cool. Heard about bacon and fish too. Maybe add dried fruits. Keep experimenting
My experience with ground beef is that you need to add breadcrumbs when cooking so it rehydrates into something other than gravel.
I realize it isn’t a direct answer but might provide some options:
Some sausages can be kept at room temperature (think Salami and Summer Sausage but there are others). They tend to provide a strong flavor, so you get a lot of umami per ounce/gram.
There are some meats which come in plastic sacks instead of cans (tuna is most common but others exist).
Some vacuum sealed smoked salmon that is stable at room temperature exists.
You can get some high quality powdered bone broth that does not have extra salt or flavoring added. This blends in easily with many things and is a pure protein hit. Naturally you would think of soups, rice, etc. but it also works in things like coffee (sounds crazy, try it at home first).
You may find that room temperature stable sausage for the meat taste, rehydrated vegetables and bone broth combined can give you similar satisfaction. If it works, it gives you some variety.
Goose duck squirrel. Duck and goose was better
I’ll dehydrate anything. Some meats require a cure prior to, jerky gets a type of cure as it marinates in sugars and salts, some meats need to be cooked first. For example if I’m dehydrating chicken, I’ll braise it. When I pull the chicken apart for dehydration, I’ll fold in potato purée. For some reason, which I forget now, the starches help the chicken not get weird when rehydrating
Pemican (not sure about the spelling). By weight 50/50 rendered tallow (i.e. trimming from brisket heated room liquid) and salted to taste ground beef that has been dried in the smoker or oven. After drying the ground beef, pulverize in a blender. Mix the liquid rendered tallow in with the pulverized dried meat, spread on wax paper on a cookie shee, and place in the fridge until hard.
Does not require refrigeration, 3/4 lbs is approx 2000 cal. if memory serves. Presumably lasts indefinitely. However, never makes it beyond my packing trip. 10 lbs is enough for a couple weeks.
Your mileage may vary but I hope this gives you some food for thought... pun intended.
I love a good pun haha. I am currently in the middle of making a whole bunch of pemmican. I think it's gonna be my staple tbh
I talked to the butcher at my neighborhood grocery store years ago about advice for making jerky, and he recommended lean cuts like top or bottom round. These happen to also be pretty inexpensive cuts, so that's nice. I've had pretty good luck with that.
I've never dehydrated any meats other than beef, and I'd be scared to try it with chicken or pork. I know there are indigenous cultures that made salmon jerky or smoked salmon, and most of Europe subsisted on dried, salted cod in the 1500s plus. But I've never played around with it and the idea of being stricken with food poisoning on the trail is a pretty intense disincentive.