Be advised that when promoting dehydrated foods, be sure to emphasize the need for re-hydrating them completely. That is what cooking corn pasta does - it rehydrates the stuff so it doesn't sap the life out of the hiker's cellular structure. Apparently this information, is headed for the next printing of Beyond Backpacking.

just foods recipes Also a good source for recipes for dried foods

Chris Ibbeson

Since I love vegetables, one of my favorites is this: At home: Lightly steam vegetables of your choice. Dry them. Cook *real* brown rice (the 45-minute cook kind). After the water has been soaked in, add Teriyaki sauce (lots). Dry this. Package these in a Ziplock with a bullion cube. At camp: boil water, add to Ziplock. Wait 10 minutes. Enjoy! The vegetables are still firm, and the real rice with the sauce and bullion make a nice tangy addition. Simple to make and easy to rehydrate. And best of all - its real food! And it tastes yummy!

We also use the dehydrated meat, but only ground turkey and cooked
chicken,(we don't use any red meat in our diet), what we do is for the
ground meat is I'll put celery, onions, green pepper, and then any spices
you like then cook till done,then drain all the water and/or any dipping you
would get from the meat then you are ready for the drying,for extra
flavoring when you are ready to use put a chicken cubes in, you can do the
same for beef. I had just dried some cabbage and we also will put that in
any meals we make for the extra filler, we are planning a get away the first
of september,so I'm looking for new kinds of meals for about 16 days and
most of our get away will be backpacking so I need to think light.So if you
have any ideas please let me know
thank?

From: [email protected]

Try "Biltong" instead of jerky

l I got these recipes/instructions from another mailing list. It sounds so tasty. I don't really care for jerky but plan to try this (with just plain old beef). The author said her boys teethed on it, that it is a traditonal snack at sporting events, and that they use a dehydrator for home curing. Sheila Biltong [BILL-tong] Developed in South Africa and a staple in many African countries, Biltong consists of strips of CURED, air-dried beef or game. Though its keeping properties are the same, it is a finer form of jerked meat than American JERKY. The best Biltong has been compared to the PROSCIUTTO of Italy. To make biltong, venison or beef is cut along the grain into strips and salt, pepper and coriander is added. The meat is salted overnight and hung in a cool, airy place for the curing process to take place. When it is sufficiently dry, it is either cut into slices or grated.First, be sure to sterilize all your hooks, knives, and working surfaces by washing well in hot water and soap. Here are some recipes for you Biltong ******** (here you can adjust the amounts used) Beef (Preferably Silverside/London Broil) Rock Salt Coarse Ground Black Pepper Coarse Ground Coriander Vinegar (preferably Apple-Cider vinegar) Get some half-inch thick strips of beef (silverside - called London Broil in the US). Make sure it's cut with the grain. The pieces should be about 6 inches long. Liberally sprinkle rock-salt on each side of the pieces of meat and let them stand for an hour. The longer you let it stand the saltier it will become. After the hour, scrape off all the excess salt with a knife (don't soak it in water!). Then get some vinegar - preferably apple-cider vinegar, but any vinegar will do. Put some vinegar in a bowl and dip the strips of meat in the vinegar for a second or so - just so that the meat is covered in the vinegar. Hold the biltong up so that the excess vinegar drips off. Then sprinkle ground pepper and ground coriander over the meat on all sides. Once you have done this, the meat is ready to dry. There are several methods of drying. One is to hang it up on a line in a cool place and have a fan blow on it. This method is a bit difficult because if the air is humid the meat can spoil. So use an extra fan if needed. Biltong ********** 600g fine salt 50ml coriander seeds, roasted, crushed, not ground 25kg beef or venison, well bled and cured 250ml vinegar (the recipe can be scaled down if 25kg of meat is a bit much) Mix the salt and coriander. Cut the meat into strips about four inches wide and three-quarter inch thick. Rub the salt mixture well into the meat, using up all the salt. Lay the salted strips flat in a dish, thickest pieces at the bottom. Sprinkle each layer with vinegar, but do not soak the meat with the vinegar. Allow to stand for 12 hours in a cool place. Turn over and allow a further 12 hours of standing. Hang the strips up in a cool draught. You may use a fan, but NEVER heat the meat up to dry it quicker. The biltong is ready for eating once the outer layer has become hard and black, and it is slightly soft in the centre, with a red tinge. Biltong. The original jerky. This dried beef is very popular with most Africian Tribes. This product can be used as a bacon or a Burger topper. It also can be used in Quiche. 10 pounds venison 8 ounces Salt 2 ounces Mixed Spices 1/4 tablespoon Chilli peppers 1 teaspoon Cracked Black Pepper, Optional 1 ounce Prague Powder No 2. 1. Using the dry-cure method mix all the salts and spices. 2. Cut the meat into 1 inch thin strips and lay a layer in a curing pan. 3. Sprinkle the salt mixture over the layer and then place another layer on top, repeat the proccess. 4. Continue to layer the meat untill all the strips are laid out and salted. 5. Cure for 24 hours then remove from the cure and scrub all the salt off. 6. Pre heat the smoker to 100 degrees and smoke for about 8 hours. 7. Cool rapidly 8. Keep in a cool dry place untill the product is needed. Source: South Africian Goverment You'll know when the biltong is ready when it is quite hard, but still a bit moist inside. Of course, some people like it 'wet' and others like it 'dry'. It's all a matter of taste. Most South Africans like it in between - basically just a bit red inside. If it has gone green, then the meat has spoiled (i.e. don't eat it). Variations include the above recipe, but add flavours like Worcestershire sauce, BBQ sauce, tabasco sauce, soy sauce, etc.(these are,t traditional but fun to play about with) Just brush these sauces on after applying the vinegar using a basting brush.

Dried Meats: Jerky and Pemmican

For Marinades and Dry Rubs see chapter near beginning.

Jerky

Hans' Jerky
-----------
My main food is jerky made from ordinary ground meat ("organic" 10 % fat,
or game) as I buy it in the shop (sometimes frozen). I mix cautiously with
a little olive oil and seasoning (herb) or grated raw carrots. NO SALT.
Then I just spread "meatballs" onto the dehydrator wire mesh with the help
of a fork. Dry at 30 degrees C (=centigrades). Can be stored (above the
fridge) for at least a month without any spoilage.
Cheap, easy, practical, tasty!
From: Hans Kylberg 


Hans' Recipe for Dried Meat
---------------------------
You can certainly dry meat in any dehydrator. In fact it is easier than
most veggies/fruits. Just cut thin slices, or do as I do: Buy lean
ground meat, mix with herbal spices (such as thyme), and smear with
a fork directly on tray mesh, making flakes 1 - 2 inches across and
1/16 - 1/8 inch thick.
From: Hans Kylberg 


Basic Beef Jerky
----------------
Use lean beef with as much of the fat trimmed off as possible.
     (Actually, just about any meat should work -- the original
     recipe calls for buffalo.)
Cut into strips about 1/8" thich and 1" wide. (I tend to cut
     mine a little thicker.  Doesn't really matter, just be
     consistent.)
Marinate strips in sauce for at least 30 minutes. This
     gives it a slightly salty taste and helps bring out the
     flavor when dried.
"Jerk" or pull strips lightly and lay out on an ungreased cookie
     sheet in a single layer.
Set oven at the lowest temperature, and keep it propped open
     while drying the meat. It should not get above 140-150F
     during the drying process. If you have a gas stove, you
     might be able to get away with the heat generated from the
     pilot light.
Dry the meat until it is tough and chewy. The original recipe
     says 12 hours or overnight, but I've found that around 4
     hours is sufficient in my oven. The drying time is really
     dependent on your oven. I suggest testing a small piece
     every hour or so until it gets to the right consistency.
DO NOT over-dry the meat. It tends to powder and loses flavor
     if it's over-dried.
	I've experimented with spices a little - I've found that a mix
of curry powder, cumin, garlic powder, turmeric, and white pepper adds
quite a punch to the flavor. After marinating, coat the meat on ONE
side ONLY with the spice mix and then place on the cookie sheet.
	(Since curry is rather over-powering, dipping both sides loses
the meat jerky flavor and all you taste is spice.)
	The jerky keeps very well in an airtight container, or it can
be frozen (make sure it's _very_ airtight).
(The basic recipe is from The Frugal Gourmet Cooks American)
From: the rec.food.recipes archives


Beef Jerky recipe
-----------------
   For each pound of meat:
   1 tsp. salt
   2 tsp. FRESH black pepper - Fresh flavor is important!
   3 tsp. marjoram
     Garlic powder - Optional

Sprinkle above ingredients onto a *THICK* steak. Pound in with mallet. Cut
beef into strips and lay on oven rack with aluminum foil underneath to
catch drips (If available, an arrangement like a roasting pan is perfect.
Heat oven to 150 degrees F and open oven door slightly to allow water to
escape. Cook 7 to 8 hours, or until the meat is dry and slightly brittle --
It should "splinter" when bent.
From: rec.food.cooking


Jerky
-----
We've made Jerky for years from beef and venison, and I believe this will
work for almost any kind of meat.
We cut the meat into thin strips, the thinner the strips the crunchier the
jerky comes out, maybe 1/4" thick will make chewy jerky. By the way, cut
all the fat off the meat as you're stripping.
Lay out the strips on a cookie sheet lined with foil, turned up at the
edges so juice won't get over everything. Lay out in rows and a single
layer. Sprinkle liberally with black coarse ground pepper, or spices that
you like the taste of.
Set the oven to WARM, and leave in the oven overnite, or 8-10 hrs. This
causes very slow drying. Store in a plastic container, jar, or can after
well cooled. Too much moisture left in the meat will cause mold, and
putting it away while warm will cause sweating inside the container.
From: [email protected] (Richard Moynes) in rec.backcountry


Jerky
-----
   To make jerky, take a raw piece of beef round or chuck, quite lean
and slice it thin, across the grain. Lay the slices across the racks
of the dryer for two days and nights -- test it by breaking a piece,
it is dry enough when it cracks in two when you break it. The smaller
and thinner you cut the pieces of meat before drying them, the quicker
they will get tender as you soak and cook them
(remember, its easier to slice thinly if the steak is partially frozen)
    One pound of sliced beef dries to 4 ounces of jerky, making
    A ratio of undried to dried meat of about 4:1.
Before drying the meat, you can season it with some combination of the
following spices: paprika, pepper, salt, or other concoctions. Garlic is
wonderful on jerky. I recommend
rubbing the meat with cut cloves of garlic before slicing it.
A marinade will change the taste slightly, and cause the meat to take
longer to dry. Marinating tenderizes the meat however.
From: THE HUNGRY HIKERS BOOK OF GOOD COOKING, by GRETCHEN McHUGH


General Jerky Method
--------------------
All recipes use 1 lb lean meat, thinly sliced. (3/16-1/4 in thick)
In a small glass bowl, combine all ingredients except meat. Stir to mix
well. Place meat 3-4 layers deep in a container, spooning sauce mixture
over each layer. Cover tightly and marinate 6-12 hours in the 'fridge,
stirring occasionally and keeping the mixture covered.
I can't really help with drying instructions, but i'd say somewhere between
7-10 hours, depending on how you like it.
From: rec.food.preserving

Pemmican

Chicken Pemmican
----------------
Dry chicken in dehydrator, process in food processor; add melted coconut
butter/oil and put in paper muffin cups. I freeze these so I won't eat them
all at once.
From: Susan Carmack


Coconut Oil Pemmican
--------------------
Susan Carmack wrote:
>I think I ate too much pemmican with coconut oil last night!
>But it tastes so good!

Yes it does. It is the most delicious dish I have ever had.
I mix in some thyme or dried lingonberries. Yum.
I can't resist it, so I eat too much.
From: Hans Kylberg on PaleoFood list


Pemmican
--------
2 cups buffalo jerky or beef jerky, shredded
1 cup dried chokeberries or tart red cherries, chopped
6 TBSP tallow (beef fat)
Combine all ingredients and form into 6 patties. Refrigerate until serving.
From: [email protected] (Diane Karnbach)


Pemmican, According to Ray
--------------------------
I make pemmican by grinding up several lbs of dehydrated eye of round
slices with a handfull of dried cherries in a food processor or blender
(or between rocks if you're a purist). The meat should dried until
brittle to facilitate grinding and eliminate any moisture which could
facilitate bacteria or mold. To this I add tallow until the dried
meat is totally saturated. It's then done. Total time (apart from
dehydrating meat) 15 minutes.
I save tallow from broiling (cheap) hamburger during the previous week. I
leave the broiling pan in the oven after the burgers are done for about
10 minutes at 350 then leave it in the warm oven until I do the dishes.
I then srain out the tallow into a bowl. As it now contains no water, it
dries hard and white (it can be substituded for wax in making candles).
If kept dry, pemmican will keep longer than you will live. Beware of
condensation in airtight containers. I keep mine in a cassarole dish
with a loose fitting glass lid on top of (not in) the refrigerator.
From: Ray Audette 
Author "NeanderThin: A Caveman's Guide to Nutrition"


MMMMM-----Meal-Master

     Title: Hudson Bay Company Pemmican
Categories: Canadian, Info, Camping, Preserving, Meats
  Servings: 1 info file

"There is little object in travelling tough just for the sake of
being tough."- The Governor and Company of Adventurers of England
Trading into Hudson's Bay, an early employee manual.

Pemmican: pound a quantity of jerky until shredded. Cut fresh fat
into walnut sized hunks and try out over a slow fire or in an oven.
Pour the hot fat over the shredded jerky and mix into a sausage meat
like consistency [a 50/50 mix]. Pack mixture into waterproof bags.
Add dry berries if desired; do not salt. It takes 5 lb of meat to
make 1 lb jerky so pemmican isn't overly fatty, just concentrated.

From Wilderness Cookery by Bradford Angier of Hudson Hope, B.C.,
published by Stackpole Books, 1961

Also:

Preserving game meat, not jerky: Cut meat into large strips, make a
rub of 3 pounds salt, 4 tb allspice and 5 tb pepper. Drape over wire
and air dry one month. Slice thin and eat raw or use in stews.

From Wilderness Cookery by Bradford Angier of Hudson Hope, B.C.,
published by Stackpole Books, 1961

Pemmican: try adding dried apricots, ground walnuts, allspice or orange
peel to the mix. Small seasoned pemmican balls make interesting
appetizers.

From The Complete Hunter Venison Cookery, Cowles Creative Publishing
Posted to rec.food.preserving by Jim Weller on 31 Jan 99

MMMMM-------------------------------------------------

From: Trailblazer75

Pemmican; as the Native American, mountain men, and Canadian Mounties made

it; was essentially jerked (dried) meat mixed with tallow (fat) rendered from
the same meat.  One of the most popular was buffalo.  Packed in a Par fleshe'
(raw hide container) or in an animal skin bag and buried, it would keep for
years.  How they kept the animals from digging it up I don't know.  Perhaps
made a cairn by covering with rocks.

They sometimes added dried fruit, nuts, or what was available.  It was high
calorie, and I have made it this way and eaten it, but don't particularly
care for the tallow taste, although it is not bad.  This is the way I do it,
it is not a fixed recipe, but a method; vary it to your own taste.  Make it
in small quantities at first, until you find what you like:

Using about 2 lb. of venison (any game animal) or beef, not uncooked fowl or
pork, slice it thinly across the grain and jerk it using your favorite jerky
recipe.  There are thousands of recipes out there, I suggest not making it
too spicy since you will be using it as a complete food, not a snack.  Dry it
till it will crumble.  Put it in a blender or food processor and grind to a
powder, or at least to fine shreds.  To the meat in a bowl add any or all of
the following: a handful of raisins and/or dried cranberries, nuts if you
want them (crushed almonds or cashews are good), dried skim milk powder,
sugar or brown sugar.  There are other similar things you can add, but start
simple.  At this stage the jerky should be at least one-third the total
weight.  You will need HARD semisweet chocolate.  I find it at baker's supply
or candy-making supply stores.  You want high temperature chocolate that
won't melt in your pack.  Melt about a pound or so in a double boiler or
carefully in a microwave, add the other ingredients.  Mix well, being sure
everything is coated.  Press into a lightly greased (Crisco or peanut oil) or
nonstick baking pan large enough to give you bars about 3/4 to 1 inch thick.
When firm (almost cool, but not hard) cut into bars the size you like.  I
suggest 1 to 1-1/2 inch wide, and 2 to 3 inches long.  Put bars on a nonstick
surface to finish cooling.  When completely cool, wrap tightly in aluminum
foil using a wrap like you would for a package so you exclude as much air as
possible.  You can store in freezer taking only the bars you will need each
trip, but its not necessary.  If you want to keep them for a long time,
especially if you will keep the bars in your pack for emergency rations, I
suggest dipping each  bar in melted paraffin.  This seals the bar, and also
cuts down on the smell that might attract critters or bugs.  It seems like a
lot of work, but once you have your recipe, you can make enough in a couple
of hours to last until your kids get hold of it.  *GRIN*

I just finished dehydrating a slew of food for our B-trip from Snoqulmie pass to Stevens pass and thought I would pass on a few tricks I recently learned.

1) Parchment paper - unbleached, silicon coated from the health food stores - works better than seran wrap for dehydrating on. I did soups, sauces, and jerky on it and was very pleased with how easy it was to work with. No more fighting the seran wrap and no more worries about the estrogen-mimicking properties scientists are finding occur with food heated in or on soft plastics. Better safe than sorry. As for the silicon coating, it's only on one side, aids in preventing the food from sticking, and is actually a required nutrient for proper bone metabolism.

2) Beef Jerky - man this stuff is good when you make it yourself. Soft and chewy, but not so tough it causes your jaw to drop off from chewing. I started with a one pound cut of organic London broil (fat soluble pesticides are the worst on the liver), sliced it about 1/4 inch thick across the grain, marinated it in soysauce, lots of garlic, a little sweet white wine, ginger, cayenne, black pepper, and apple cider vinegar for twelve hours in the fridge, and dehydrated it until it was soft, a bit curled up, but not brittle - about 8 hours on the dehydrator featured in "Dry It You'll Like It". I tried it and I liked it very much. You can also give the raw meat a steam bath for about 5-10 seconds, or until it just changes color on the outside, the help sterilize it, but the marinade contains several anti-microbial ingredients so I don't suspect a problem. I would be suspicious of any meat not marinated, though, as you keep the temperature in the dehydrator at a perfect temperature for microbial growth.

 From: jbrennan740

Dehydrating Tofu Tips

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