Re: [at-l] Dehydrating/Rehydrating

["Leslie W. Booher" <lwbooher@evansville.net>]

I used to dehydrate hamburger meat by the method you described, except for
the soy sauce.  I think I used plain old, cheap meat.  Anyway, perhaps you
didn't let it soak long enough.  Ours rehydrated just fine.  I use a
convection oven to dehydrate.  I don't have a screen though, just a cookie
sheet.  Leslie

On Sun, 30 Jan 2000, Delita wrote...
>Okay, I just dehydrated (last night) and rehydrated (tonight) my first
>ground beef.  I mean - this is an experiment.
>
>I haven't read any books or anything (what a concept) but I did see
>instructions somewhere and followed them.
>
>My question is - is this texture right??  It is somewhere between crunchy
>and chewy - edible but questionable.  It does have a good taste (I used
>Worcestershire at the appropriate moment).
>
>What I did was (lacking rehydrating instructions) boiled a little bit of
>water in a pot, sprinkled in my deydrated beef, waited a few minutes, added
>some rich potato soup I also made last night (ummm, yum) and stirred.
>
>It tastes - like rich potato soup with not bad flavored beef added.  But
>the meat didn't ever seem to rehydrate, like I am thinking it should have.
>(I have only eaten *store-boughten* dehydrated foods after rehydrating, so
>that is what I am comparing it to.)  It is a leeetle chewy (tough).
>
>Any clues?   Suggestions?  Tips?  Is my oven too hot??  I left it in
>overnight on *warm* which is the only setting lower than 200.  Hmmmmm.  Was
>it because I bought the *good* ground beef (no hormones or antibiotics)?  I
>don't mind having a learning curve, but prefer to have my investments in
>food turn out edible and somewhat tasty, if possible. ;-)
>
>I know I should buy a dehydrator - it's on the list.  Oh - and here were
>the directions I followed (with apologies to the original poster whose name
>escaped me):
>
>------------
>Fast recipe for dehydrated burger: Get ground chuck. Fry at medium heat,
>drain all meat juices. When meat is fully cooked, add 1 tbsp. soy or
>worcestershire sauce per pound, then drain on paper towels for 1-2 hours.
>Place in oven at 150 degrees on cookie sheet, overnight (8 hours). Bag in
>ziploc bag.
>------------
>
>BTW, I am sure it would seem *wonderful* sitting in a shelter after hiking
>all day. ;-)  Thanks for the help...
>
>Delita
>
>
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>

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