116: Dehydrating and Vacuum Sealing Meat

By Ken Jensen

Adding chicken/beef stock adds more flavor Small pieces rehydrate more evenly

Tips when Rehydrating Meats

Choose Choice/Tender Cuts to reduce toughness Less Fat – Fat goes rancid Cut into small pieces Cook it – thoroughly

General Preparation for Dehydrating

Drying makes it easy to set up meals Dehydrate all ingredients Add all of your ingredients Make meals and vacuum seal it.  Freeze until you want to go hiking. This is great for hiking meals for overnight or multi-week hikes. Designed for use for month long hikes.

Dehydrate ingredients Freeze the ingredients you are not ready to use

until you can make meals Take it out and let it sit to return to room temp

before opening (condensation) At room temp – you can open it Make meals and re-vacuum seal it.  Freeze if

desired. Meals preserved this way have been good up to 8

months after packaging them

If you aren’t ready to make meals

When vacuuming, use O2 absorbers 3-mil bag

Place vacuum bags in Mylar bags

Ground Beef Sliced Ham Shrimp Tuna Crab Chicken

Types of Meat to Dehydrate

Called gravel by backpackers – doesn’t rehydrate well Add breadcrumbs to the raw meat – allows liquid to penetrate it

better◦ Turns out tender every time

Only use lean ground beef with fat below 15%◦ Lower is better◦ Usually labeled as ground round◦ Grass-fed beef is usually 7-10%

Prepare it◦ Each pound, ½ cup bread crumbs (can make ◦ them yourself)◦ brown over medium heat, fully cooked◦ blot with papertowels while cooking◦ press between papertowels after– remove oil◦ Dehydrate at 145F on sheets until hard◦ If drying for long term storage, no bread crumbs (soaks fat)

Dehydrating Beef

Sliced 1/16 in thick Slice into Strips of ¾-1” Dry at 145F for about 6 hrs Blot oil every couple hours while drying Usually chewy when hydrated

◦ Boil 2 mins to help soften it up

Dehydrating Sliced Ham, Lean Deli Roast Beef, Turkey, Chicken

Frozen/Precooked/Peeled Thaw in refrigerator or cold water Slice into small pieces Dehydrate at 145F for about 6hrs No moisture remaining when cut

Dehydrating Shrimp

Solid white tuna in water Drain water spread evenly on tray Dry at 145F about 6 hrs It will be crispy (yes it stinks!)

Dehydrating Tuna

Imitation crab Pull apart into small

pieces Dry at 145F about 6 hrs

Dehydrating Crab

Great for Chicken Salad Low Fat Canned Chicken (looks

like tuna can) rehydrates best or pressure cook your own

Drain can Rinse fat away with HOT water Pull chunks apart to smaller

pieces Dry at 145F about 8 hrs

Dehydrating Chicken

Press Cook a Potato◦ Peel and cube 4 oz potato◦ 1 ¼ cups fat-free chicken broth◦ ½ tsp salt◦ Heat until salt dissolves◦ Press cook high for 3 min, then set aside but don’t release pressure

Cut and Tenderize the crap out of 1 lb the chicken Mash potato Add chicken and any other veggies you want for flavor Add lemon juice from one lemon slice Press cook for 10 minutes Don’t release, let it release on its own Dehydrate at 145F till dry, about 4-6 hrs

Pressure Cooking Chicken to Prepare it For Dehydration

Temperature Light Oxygen Moisture

Factors Affecting Your Storage of Dried Meats

Use a good quality vacuum sealer with 3-mil plastic sealing bags

I haven’t tried this, but heard you could use a brake bleeder from harbor freight to seal your jars when there is no electricity.

Any long term storage should be below 5% moisture. It will easily snap and won’t stick together.

Vacuum Sealing

Iron pellets in a plastic jacket Absorbs most of oxygen, leaving nitrogen (inert gas) 300cc absorber per gallon of product Not same as desiccant.  That is for moisture.

Moisture Careful to remove ALL moisture – Botulism Moisture content = Initial weight of food - dry weight of food / dry weight of

food X 100% Heat kills botulism Botulism isn’t a concern on truly acidic foods, so 30% moisture on oranges

and tomatoes isn’t a problem. 30% on Meat would be a major problem Most fruits should be dehydrated to 20%, whereas veggies to 5% moisture Use desiccants if you would like to continue to remove moisture

◦ Again not the same as an oxygen absorber

O2 Absorbers

Mason Jars

◦ Airtight and you can see the food

◦ You can use vacuum sealer attachments to remove most air

Other Containers

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