Dehydrating Recipes

[Betty The Sheep]

Hi Everyone,

I thought I would share with everyone our favourite hiking dehydrated dinner.

Curried Sausages
Ingredients:
1 kg thick Wiltshire sausages
1 tin of condensed tomato soup
Quarter diced butternut pumpkin
2 beef stock cubes
500 grams of frozen mixed veggies
3 teaspoon of curry power
1 desertspoon of Worcestershire sauce
1 diced onion
(makes around 4+ serves, depending on how hungry you are!)

Directions:
Grill sausages and cut into small pieces (to remove the fat and it makes them taste better)

Placed all ingredients except the sausages into a slow cooker and cook on low for 6-8 hours, place the sausages in the slow cooker for the last hour of cooking.
Once cooked allow to cool and then place the mix into your dehydrator. I use a EziDri Snack Maker, which comes with casserole trays so I don’t need to separate the sausages from the sauce.

Dehydrate until dry and crumbly.

I then vac seal into single serves, in each serving pouch I also vacuum seal a serving of deb potato – I then place the vacuumed sealed bags into the freezer until needed.
To rehydrate I place the sausage mix into a billy and cover with water, I bring the mix to a boil then turn it off and let it soak for 30 min – longer if time permits. I then bring the mix to a boil again and simmer briefly before serving.

This is by far our favourite hiking dinner – much better than those purchased freeze dried meals!

[Graham51]

Sounds good. I haven't thought of drying sausages before but will try it for my upcoming walks. My repertoire consists of spag. Bol., beef Stroganoff, savoury mince, dahl, thai green curry, Bombay beef and probably a few others.

[corvus]

G'day Betty the Sheep,
What are Wilshire sausages and Wilshire sauce please
Reads like a good recipe however as a keen cook I would question as to why you slow cook vegies especially frozen ones for 6-8 hours could be a a good reason that cannot see
corvus

[Betty The Sheep]

Hi Corvus,

Sorry my mistake, I spelt it incorrectly – I meant ‘Worcestershire Sauce’ and ‘Wiltshire Sausages’ - have edited the post.

Wiltshire sausages can be purchased from the deli section at either Coles or Woolworths. They are flavoured with Worcestershire sauce and are very lean, I have never had gristle from these type of sausages and they go very well in a casserole. I’m not normally a sausage fan.

Re the veggies: I use the cubed frozen mixed veggies from the supermarket, they don’t fall apart when being cooked for long periods and they soak up the flavour of the other ingredients.

The recipe is my mum’s – I have tried many variations but I can never make it taste as good, so I now just follow the recipe and try not to think about why it works so well !

[Rob A]

Do all home dehyrateds take 30min of steeping or is it just that particular recipie?

[corvus]

Thanks for that Betty the Sheep,
Will look for the Wiltshire Snags next time I am in the Supermarkets and If I am in luck will give your recipe a try.
corvus

[corvus]

Thanks for that Betty the Sheep,
Will look for the Wiltshire Snags next time I am in the Supermarkets and If I am in luck will give your recipe a try.
corvus

[Betty The Sheep]

Do all home dehyrateds take 30min of steeping or is it just that particular recipie?

Hi Rob,

Yeah unfortunately this is the down side to homemade dehydrated meals compared to the freeze dried shop bought ones – it does take a while to rehydrate.

The first thing we normally do when we get to camp is bring our dinner to the boil, then we let them sit covered and rehydrate while we set up our tents etc.

Mince does rehydrate quite well and so does these type of sausages – I have found that chicken thigh, diced lamb & beef don’t rehydrate very well, so we just stick to different types of mince (chicken, lamb, beef) and sausages.

[Graham51]

If you want to save fuel it works well to soak the meal in cold water but preferably for a longer time, say 2 hours or more if you have that much time.

[Rob A]

Thanks for that. Am looking at dehydraters but I dont know anything about what comes out of them.
At the moment I take fresh, and stuff that will be ok stale or doesnt kill me when it goes a bit soupy.
Longer than seven days Im pretty much (with adds of rice and pasta) back onto the commercial freeze dry nasties, and I would like to get off them completely.

[MartyGwynne]

Here is my dehydrating recipe for minced beef for Spag Bog.
700 gm minced/ground beef (fat free)
500ml beef stock
4-5 cloves garlic crushed
1 large onion chopped
2 700ml bottles of pasata sauce (aldi 100% tomato)
2 large mushrooms chopped
rosemary (to taste)
Salt and pepper to taste
Pinch of sugar to take the tartness out of the tomato.

Cook beef in large pan till browned add onion and garlic and cop till onion clear add mushrooms and cook a further 5 mins, stiring all the time to ensure it does not clump and stick to the bottom of the pan (you need to ensure it is all crumbly).
Add stock and pasata sauce and increase heat till it is boiling. Add salt and pepper to taste and add a small pinch of sugar to take the tartness out of the tomato (you may not even need to) then reduce heat to a simmer and continue to stir occasionally to prevent it sticking and clumping together till it is reduced in moisture content to a thick paste, about 2-3 hours depending upon how large your pan is.
Spoon the thick mass onto baking trays lined with baking paper (the teflon coated non-stick glad bake type) and spread it out and place into an oven turned down to about 50-60 degrees C (just hot enough for you to get out of the oven by hand and put down quickly - almost too hot to touch - I have a high heat tolerance in my fingers)
Keep turning the mass and breaking up the lumps so it dries evenly every 30 mins or so. Keep an eye on it for the first 10- 20 mins to ensure you oven does not burn it!
Or place it in your food drier and dry away as per your drier's instructions.

Here is how mine looked and dried it went down to 700 gms.

I just add water (not sure how much yet) dry pasta of any choice (I make my own) and it should come back as it was when first cooked. I add cut up salami and shave a bit of fresh parmesan cheese over it.
I am guessing it should make about 4 main meals, I will try to post a photo of it being used in real life.

I think if you place about 250 ml water in with a quarter of the mix (one serve) and bring to the boil then let it sit for 30 mins covered and check if it is wet enough to cook dry pasta in it (angel hair pasta cooks in 2-3 mins and does not leave a starchy gulp in your food) then reheat to the boil taste to see if it is re-hydrated then add the pasta. Stirring the pasta and sauce together, adding a bit of water if it is too dry then eat once the pasta is cooked through.

Sorry about the back to front photos.

Marty

[MartyGwynne]

Here is my dried chicken recipe
800gm chicken ground/minced finely
4-5 cloves of garlic crushed
1-2 inch piece of fresh ginger finely sliced and chopped
500 ml chicken stock
salt and pepper to taste
about 50 ml of Sweet soy sauce Kecap Manis more if you want or less.
3-4 good squirts of fish sauce (stinky yucky stuff but very tasty) optional.
3-4 gloops of Sweet chilli sauce or to taste.

Place chicken in the large pan and brown storing constantly to break up the chicken and add the garlic and ginger.
Add Kecap Manis and fish sauce and Sweet chilli sauce and stir though.
Add chicken stock and bring to the boil for 5 mins then reduce heat and simmer slowly to reduce the liquid down till it is a thick dyrish mass.
add salt and pepper to your taste (if you used ordinary soy sauce then you won't need salt).
Place onto flat oven trays lined with Glad bake non stick baking paper or non stick baking trays.
break up the big lumps and place into an oven heated to about 50-60 degrees C (just hot enough to nearly burn you but you can quickly handle the trays).
Check the oven temp after 10-20 mins to ensure it is not too hot or cold (if your oven does not go down low enough you can prop the door open a bit with a tea towel or something to let the heat out).
every 30 mins turn over the mass of chicken and break up the big lumps so it all dries evenly.
This will take about 2-3 hours.
Once it is dry bag it and place it into the freezer till you need it - it should keep for about a year in the freezer if kept in an air tight container and kept frozen.
I use this with dried noodles and any dried veg to make a bit of a chicken noodle soup/meal probably enough for about 4 main meals I will try to post a photo of it being used.
Marty.

[Macca81]

Bit of a throw together tonight, for the reasons of wanting to do a bit of a test on the weights of food before and after cooking, then after drying, also to satisfy a minor curiosity of how much fuel i put in to my body in a day of walking, and to add another varietal to my dehy meal stockpile.

So, this is a bit of an Asian flavour inspired mince dish, using roo in place of beef (i prefer roo over lamb or beef for dehy due to the lower fat content). I will likely have this with either rice or quinoa.

All quantities are in grams.

Onions - 210
Garlic - 15
Mushrooms - 220
Stock Powder - 10
Frozen Corn 220
Frozen Peas 100
Chillies(3) - 8
Anchovies(5) - 15
Shrimp Paste - 10
Native Pepper <1
Dried Lime Leaves(3) - <1
Cumin - <1
Fenugreek - <1
Mustard Seed - <1
Ginger - <1
Roo - 1000
Oyster Sauce - 100
Fish Sauce - 10
Soy Sauce - 50
Chilli Sauce - 10
Chia Seeds - 50
Raisins - 100

Note: The stock powder was mixed with water and used at various stages during cooking in place of oil.
The pepper through to the ginger are all dry, and when all combined come to 2-3g. just a decent pinch of each will do.

Onion and Garlic are diced up reasonably small, Mushrooms are sliced then roughly chopped. Throw these into a wok with a splash of the stock and cooked until soft. Remove from the wok.
Add some more stock and the finely sliced Chillies, sliced Anchovies and the Shrimp Paste. Once dissolved, add to the onion mix.
Combine Native Pepper, Lime Leaves, Cumin, Fenugreek, Mustard Seeds and Ginger in a mortar and pestle and smash the hell outa it! Add to the wok and toast for a minute or 2. Add Roo mince and stir to combine with spice mix. Cook until there is no more liquid then leave to cool.
Once cool enough to handle, get your hands in and break the mince up until it is fairly fine (Roo has a tendency to clump up, using beef mince you should be able to miss this step) so that it re-hydrates easier.
Return to the heat and add the onion mix, Peas, Corn, Sauces, Chia and Raisins. Cook for about 5 more minutes.

Now from here there are 2 methods i use to determine the quantity of dried mixture i will use per serve.
The first way is to serve up the amount i feel i would eat, then add it to the drying tray in a section, then add another serve to the same tray leaving a gap, then another and so on.
The method i used this time was to serve up how much i thought i would eat (bearing in mind that i will be eating it with rice or quinoa) and weighing it. This came to 146g, so i rounded it up to 150 for ease. I then weighed the total amount which was 1900g (1886, to be exact). This means that i now know that when i dry all of it, if i split it into 12 serves, i will be fine (it works out to 12.6 serves, so i will increase the serve size slightly). [for the sake of being a pedant, i lost 230g during the cooking process. most of this would have come from the mince and the frozen peas/corn, i suspect.]

Once this is dried, i will edit this post with a final weight. I will include both rice and quinoa for comparisons sake so you can see the weight of a full evening meal.

[north-north-west]

Here is my dehydrating recipe for minced beef for Spag Bog.
700 gm minced/ground beef (fat free)
500ml beef stock
4-5 cloves garlic crushed
1 large onion chopped
2 700ml bottles of pasata sauce (aldi 100% tomato)
2 large mushrooms chopped
rosemary (to taste)
Salt and pepper to taste
Pinch of sugar to take the tartness out of the tomato.

Rosemary? How can you make Spag Bol without Thyme, Basil and (especially) Oregano?

[highlander chris]

Hi guys
Loving these recipes,keep them coming. I have never considered creating dehydrated meals myself, but looking at it now.

Thanks chris.

[John Sheridan]

I am going to make some potato pancakes and see how they turn out, dehydrate some grated potato add a few teaspoons of egg powder and some salt and pepper put it in a bag and add water, mix plonk in a frypan and fry, has anyone tried this, will report back when I try it sounds yummy.

On youtube they use gee to fry it, though oil is useable as well, does gee keep well in the pack ???

Cheers.

[gayet]

Ghee will keep well, it solidifies without the need for refrigeration (other than in heatwaves) so spillage in the pack is not really a problem. it can reach a much higher temperature than butter as the milk solids are not there to burn. Use a wide mouthed container to carry it as it sets very hard in cold conditions and can be difficult to dig out of narrow containers. Gives a different flavour to oil.

[MartyGwynne]

I am about to embark on my trip for 9 days on southcoasttrack so will post how my dehydrated concoctions go.
I have used gram-weeny app on my Iphone to measure out weights etc so watch this section for my post on how good bad or down right nasty it all goes.
Marty.
p.s. bettythesheep is my ebay name ha ha, named after my old grandma sheep (Betty - RIP).

[blacksheep]

Hey, another sheep!
Take a look at at competition on macpac Facebook page...you could win with these ideas..

[MartyGwynne]

Well I have managed to survive my dehydrated food for a week and only lost 2 kg's (funny thing that exercise).
I managed to make a very good spag bog for the trip and my dried chicken recipe also worked a treat, which left me very happy.
Here are a few photos of the product ready for eating or being eaten.
Marty.

PS I need to get my coconut powder portion size right as it was a bit thick but tasted good for the curry laksa, which also had sweet potato, poo... mushrooms, sweet corn, red cabbage, onion, carrot, green beans, ginger, garlic, red capsicum and laksa paste added to my chicken base as per recipe I posted above this post...

[Kinsayder]

I'm taking my wife's 12 year old cousin for his first hike next weekend. Just an easy overnighter on the Bogong High Plains. I've been hoping to make it a good trip for him because, as we all know, there is so much to be gotten out of spending time in the hills. So, in the interests of this, I've just parcelled up some ice-cream (of all things) into my dehydrator. I really have no notion as to whether it will go well or not. A few years ago I managed to fall into the Bluff Hut where a young couple offered me what they described as dehydrated ice-cream. It was really quite delicious. Now that I'm attempting to dehydrate it I am starting to wonder if it might have been freeze dried instead. I guess I'll know shortly but I thought I might share this as an (ongoing) experiment.

[corvus]

G'day Kinsayder
Sorry to say that you will end up with melted Ice Cream and a mess in your Dehydrator,
the one you tasted is "freeze dried" if it was even Ice cream prior to treatment
corvus

[Kinsayder]

Yeah it was no good, Corvus. I was really hoping too! It'l just be staid old dehydrations for this trip then.

[Vee]

I have been experimenting drying some curries lately with coconut milk or coconut cream. Just find the meals are a tad oily. Does anyone else have experience of this; I was wondering if the fat content was a bit too high for the meals to store properly? Is there such a thing as coconut milk/cream powder that I could add when rehydrating the meals in the bush?

[gayet]

You can buy coconut milk powder (check the Asian isle at a supermarket) and add it after rehydrating I guess. There is a very high oil content in coconut cream so it would be dodgy storing it dehydrated for long outside a freezer.

[MartyGwynne]

Coconut powder available from supermarket (asian isle ?) The one I bought has 3 sachets and I used half of one sachet per meal for one which I thought was a bit too much in hindsight.
As I said in a few posts back I added too much coconut powder to the curry, Please add a bit less than you first think and see how it goes (try it at home first).
I have pre-cooked and dried my curry ingredients then just re-hydrated them back up on the track putting any/all ingredients in and adding curry paste/powder and coconut powder. (see my other post above for my re-hydrating efforts).
If you dehydrate a lot of different foods to put in a curry you can vary the curry a bit instead of having the one meal all of the time.
Just don't waste fuel by trying to rehydrate and cooking at the same time like I did (oh and run out...)

[north-north-west]

I still think dehydrating recipes is overdoing it - paper doesn't weight that much and it's far too hard to rehydrate it successfully. Just write them up on your Kindle or smartphone.

[Vee]

Shame we can't just eat the recipe on paper; would be much easier!!
Thanks for the hint on where to find coconut powder, managed to find the one with the 3 sachets and I will remember not to use one sachet for just me.

[John Sheridan]

Can you dehydrate pork ???

Lets say you cut it up into small pieces and then boil the &@&@^@6 out of it, then place it in salt water, a method used to dry meat and then dehydrate it ???

Would that get all the fat out and make it deydratable ???

I just would like some sweet and sour pork as a meal, wishfull thinking I think

Cheers.

[1iron]

Hi John

I make, sorry should say the wife makes Indian pork curries, usually Madras or Vindaloo and have no problems with either small pieces or coarsely minced pork. Fat is always removed from any meat we cook whether it is being dehydrated or not.

Only problem we had was when we used pork that that previous been cooked as in roast leg of pork then make a curry and dehydrated. The cooked pork was coarsely minced but turned to mush.