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David Knopp
Trad climber
CA
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Topic Author's Original Post - Apr 8, 2014 - 06:31pm PT
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Going for a few long b/c trips this year, i want to make my own grub. I have the skills( i'm a working chef), have a dehydrator, just looking for some tips, slander, notes of caution, words of wisdom.
Thought i'd start with you all rather than a bunch of toothbrush shavin, barefoot runnin, ultra "lite"
tech weenies. TFPU!
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happiegrrrl
Trad climber
www.climbaddictdesigns.com
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I have no clue, but one of my friends makes pasta meals like Chicken Florentine and they are really good. So much better than the commercial salt-laden ones.
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bajaandy
climber
Escondido, CA
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Spaghetti or lasagna. Dehydrates great, re-hydrates well and tastes frikin amazing in the b/c. And of course fruit leathers, jerky, etc.
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Ghost
climber
A long way from where I started
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For both my trips to Baffin Island (4 weeks each time) I dehydrated all the evening meals using a home dehydrator.
Just made huge batches of thick stews and curries, simmered them down till they were thicker still, then dried them. Beef, chicken, veg, seafood... Once they were dry, I just divided them up into ziplocks.
No problem at all except for the bay scallops in the seafood curry. As far as I can tell, you can soak those little buggers from now till the end of days, and they're still gonna be about as chewable as hockey pucks. They simply would not rehydrate.
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Lorenzo
Trad climber
Oregon
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Don't forget lots of leftovers will dehydrate/rehydrate really well. Just be light with the salt shaker when you cook. You don't have to be spending your time making special backpacking meals and the diet will be more like what you normally eat.
Shitaki mushrooms are my favorites to take along, although if you have Whole food/ New Seasons / trader Joes / Asian Food markets near you you might save the work. Sometimes they are in the bins.
Hamburger is a great source of protein dried. The secret is to get the leanest you can, then drain and blot the rest of the fat out, then dry it.
The stuff is like gravel dried, but reconstitutes well. Add back some oil when you rehydrate.
And I have the savory foods affinity gene, so the shitaki mushrooms, parmiagano regiano cheese, scallions, etc supplements the dried stuff, adds some freshness, and will keep a few days.
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johntp
Trad climber
socal
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Check out the cooking threads on backpackinglight.com and backpacker.com forums.
One important thing to ensure things rehydrate well is to dice the meat and veggies pretty small.
edit: Oopsie; re-reading your post it seems like you are already aware of those sites.
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johntp
Trad climber
socal
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Put that in your sleeping bag and cover that whole thing up with your pack or what have you.
With all due respect eKat, that has the potential to turn your sleeping bag into a bear magnet.
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julton
climber
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I ran the numbers for the weight of a lightweight cozy versus the fuel I'd use with the stove on simmer and found that the cozy didn't save me any weight. But I don't soak my food for hours. If it's going to take that long to prepare I don't want it. I'm hungry now.
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Urizen
Ice climber
Berkeley, CA
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David,
I have no experience with home food dehydrating, but I have been making my own backpacking meals for several years, out of purchased freeze-dried or dehydrated ingredients. As you probably know, dehydrated ingredients weigh more, but freeze-dried ones are bulkier, which can be a problem when you're trying to cram 10 days of food into a bear canister. The cost of freeze-dried commodities is a deterrent to some, but I think it's a minor issue compared to the other trip expenses, like gas, cars, gear, and time. There are some surprising finds out there in the "prepper" culture: freeze-fried sauteed onions, freeze-dried olives, freeze-dried asparagus, dehydrated cooked legumes, powdered wine.
Freeze-dried tomato and potato cubes are key. The supermarkets have nothing like these. Also essential: fried garlic, which you can find, for cheap, at any Asian market.
Here are some of the recipes I've developed or adapted for backcountry use.
Paella with Chicken, chorizo, bell peppers, and garbanzos.
Risotto with asparagus and chanterelles.
Polenta (de la Estancia brand) with sausage and tomatoes.
Pasta with smoked salmon and tomato cream sauce with chives.
Pizza with sausage, olives, mozzarella, and tomato sauce with herbs.
Hatch green chili with pork, black beans, and cornmeal dumplings.
I usually serve a couple of curry dishes as well. You can source these from any good Indian cookbook. As you know, many Indian recipes start with a set of roasted spices, nuts, or dals that are then ground, or with a blended paste of onion, garlic, and ginger that is then fried with ground spices. Either of these can be prepared in advance and will keep for days, due to the low moisture content after frying; they are mixed with the dried rice, legumes, meat, and vegetables that form the remainder of the meal.
I especially recommend the mulligatawny soup from My Bombay Kitchen. Freeze-dried chicken never had it so good. You'll need a few packets of True Lime, and a spoonful of bottled grated ginger. There is, for better or worse, simply no dried substitute for ginger. But you already knew that, too.
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Lorenzo
Trad climber
Oregon
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Apr 8, 2014 - 06:14pm PT
I ran the numbers for the weight of a lightweight cozy versus the fuel I'd use with the stove on simmer and found that the cozy didn't save me any weight. But I don't soak my food for hours. If it's going to take that long to prepare I don't want it. I'm hungry now.
You might want to run those numbers again. I can prepare an entire meal with one snow peak cup, an ounce of alcohol fuel and a cozy, and they weight almost nothing. If you are smart, you save pots.
The advantage of a cozy is that you can heat your food in an oven bag in boiling water, and put it in a cozy while you do a second course or bake a small bread and still have all the stuff ready and hot at once. ( the bread will take another 3/4 ounce if you finish it in a cozy)
Baking takes about 20 minutes.
My standard cooking system is a snow peak 600 cup with an aluminum lid available online and a plastic tub and two cozy's. It is also big enough to heat water for a freeze dried meal and a small coffee if you cool the coffee to drinking temp with cold water.
My kit I take if I will be baking more than a muffin is a slightly larger aluminum pot with a cup sized inner pot as the oven and baking tin.
Surprisingly. It weighs the same as the titanium cup.
As to the time, you are talking 15 minutes. Start your meal, then set up camp. The meal will be ready when you have a comfy place to eat it.
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Ghost
climber
A long way from where I started
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I'm with Ekat. Everything she said about winter food prep. Including the "sleeping bag as slow cooker" thing. Works like a damn!
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Fish Finder
Social climber
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Purchase anything low price at the market and make a snack out of it
what I have found is less is more
Last week
5 trays of plain strawberries, one of the only fruits you dont need to dip in lemon water or some kind of store bought citrus sprinkle (browning)
they dry up nicely and sweet as hell.
mix with m&m or whatever is your fancy, nuts etc
also you can just toss the berries in water for a short period and ...... .. look what just happened to my oatmeal
also drop them in my water to infuse with fruit flavor, brilliant huh
Im a really gettin sick of water by itself, meow, i mean MIO
5 trays bananas dip in lemon water juice and place on tray
ex: less is more, there are many on line suggestions to add shlt like flavored jello to them or honey, but skip it
plain banana dry up leathery instead of like those baked coated banana chips
they were great and I just added some shredded coconut in the bag
Sweet great snack and the beauty is 15 bananas made 2 full sandwich bags
much easier to cary
cut out any bruises ar bad bad things as one rotten thing can ruin the whole batch(metaphor)
5 trays cucumber with cayenne and garlic salt or sea salt, cut them thick
these came out as some nice snack chips
They say online that you can duplicate the Mountain House meals for $2 a meal opposed to the $8 you pay retail
they also say that all the fake crap good for you shlt has preservatives and dye and all that crap
Hey you are wasting your time reading this just google it is whatever you want
Fast Track. leathers or fruit rolls are great
applesauce is the easiest as it is already pureed , just pour and flick the switch
Thats how I fruit roll
we are looking for organic type at the prime for best results
but fukc that I go cheap and big and still maintain quality
Edit: dont get me started on Cowboy Steak Jerky or Smoked Trout Jerky
Edit: trying to bait FISH with the Cowboy Steak Jerky who thinks he'll bite?
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Lorenzo
Trad climber
Oregon
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Freeze-dried tomato and potato cubes are key. The supermarkets have nothing like these. Also essential: fried garlic, which you can find, for cheap, at any Asian market.
Find a Hispanic supermarket that specializes in south American stuff ( Peruvian or Bolivian)
There are several places even in Portland.
Ask for Chuño, (also called papas secas or tunto) which is naturally freeze-dried potato. reconstituted, it tastes like.... Potato.
Lots do S American dishes call for it, but just tastes like potato. There are several varieties including white.
Sun dried tomato is everywhere, and I usually don't need all that much.
I only dry stuff I can't get.
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TGT
Social climber
So Cal
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I've tended to go a bit less gourmet than Urz, but there are plenty of light weight options available in the supermarket,from potato mixes, minute rice,dried soups, etc.
Some freeze dried veggies to supplement and you can come up with some pretty tasty one pot meals.
I'll draw the line at freeze dried meats though, other than jerky,I'd rather carry a can or foil bag.
The supermarket packaging often outweighs the product, or are just the wrong proportions though, so just rebag with vacuum bags or ziplocs and write the instructions, water measurements etc on the bag with a sharpie.
One snack I will go out of my way to run thru the dehydrator are pears. Almost all other fruits are commonly available dried.
Buy the small ones when they are cheap, about 5-10 lb at a time (whatever will fill your dehydrator) and when they are almost too ripe to make it thru a banjo without turning them into juice, slice thin and dehydrate.
Make sure you spray the racks with cooking spray or you'll never get them off.
Sweeter than raisins or dates!
edit;
I'll have to try the strawberries!
As far as garlic, just toss a clove in a ziploc and bring it along.. Weight, next to nothing.
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Lynne Leichtfuss
Sport climber
moving thru
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Oh Yummmmmmm, Great suggestions and ideas by everyone.
I put this thread on my save list it's so great. Only thing I can add is I always take to much food backpacking. I usually bring half back. Since every ounce counts, know exactly what you really need.
Also, if you have free access to fuyu persimmons they dehydrate beautifully especially with a squeeze of lemon or lime, so sweet and weigh pretty much nothing. Cheers to adventure! lynnie
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julton
climber
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You might want to run those numbers again. I can prepare an entire meal with one snow peak cup, an ounce of alcohol fuel and a cozy, and they weight almost nothing. If you are smart, you save pots.
Run those numbers again? Okay....
There are different strategies for cooking. I often travel with a companion so a 600ml "pot" isn't big enough. And I don't use an alcohol stove. They are small and slightly lighter but the fuel weighs about twice as much as butane.
I made a cozy and it weighed about an ounce (28g). My stove burns 20-25g per hour when simmering. Combining simmering with just letting it sit and stew (as it cools) nearly doubles the time. I usually need to let the most recalcitrant foods simmer/sit for 15-20 minutes. So that's about 6-8 nights of fuel just to break even with the starting weight of that cozy. And the thing about fuel is you burn it and it's gone whereas a cozy you carry it both in and out. In terms of average weight over the whole trip using fuel (for me and how I cook) works out to a break even time period that is in excess of how much food I can carry. So basically there is no benefit --- for me.
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littlehammer
Mountain climber
Land of frozen crags
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Sounds like a plan! A lot of us have been through this phase.
Its fun until its a chore.
Realized its the Location that counts.
Dinner is something that happens before sleep and sunrise.
Minimum prep time is important.
Choosing low water content items off the supermarket shelf for
b/c calories (30 minutes of pushing a cart).
Repackage to reduce weight, ( 20 minutes)
And hit the trail.
Strange foods have ruined many trips so try to stay away from things
your stomach is not used to.
Best to eat the same type of things as you have been during training.
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Lorenzo
Trad climber
Oregon
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And I don't use an alcohol stove. They are small and slightly lighter but the fuel weighs about twice as much as butane.
You might want to run those numbers again also. 8 ounces of alcohol in a poly bottle weighs just under 8 ounces ( alky is lighter than water) the bottle weighs about an ounce of that, so an ounce is what you carry out v ~7 oz weight in fuel.
Though butane is almost twice as many calories of heat, it comes in a container that weighs more than the fuel and you have to pack that both ways. A 100g ( net) jetboil cannister weighs 201 g.
For 100 g of fuel you carry 201g in and 101 out. Just like the cozy. As soon as a second canister is needed, the cozy wins.
http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/forums/thread_display.html?forum_thread_id=70774
And if is half full you carry two or you always start with a full cannister and waste fuel. The half full canister is a quarter as efficient.
The simmering thing is a red herring. Get an alky stove that simmers.
For less than a week on the trail there is no comparison. Fuel stoves boil water faster. That's it, and the difference is about two minutes.
And here is the shocker...alcohol in a wick stove is more reliable in cold weather.
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Spider Savage
Mountain climber
The shaggy fringe of Los Angeles
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regular gas oven with convection bake mode, set to 175.
barely cook the ground beef because it will cook more when you dry it then again when rehydrated. Add onion and brown gravy mix or there will be no flavor.
Storebought is fine though. Hell, you're only going out for a few days.
Mary Janes Farm stuff from REI has the best flavor but it's like ten dollars for beans and rice but it's the best gdamn beans and rice you'll ever eat.
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neebee
Social climber
calif/texas
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hey there say, all... wow, this is really nice!
too many names to thank here, on this share...
nice links, too...
note:
say, kunlun_shan... still really enjoy and love that cookbook!
when i do the monthly grocery, the first week of may,
i am seeing which things to try, :)
thanks again, so very kindly!!!
oh, and say, all:
we used to use drying racks in south texas, to dry fruit...
no sun around these here parts :(
so i think i will just try drying stuff in the oven, just
for the 'fun of trying it' :)
edit:
wow, say, lynnne, happy to see you... YES! a save link, for this thread, for future use, :)
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julton
climber
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Lorenzo your link is wrong about the empty canister weight. But this isn't a thread about stoves, a subject that generates very strong feelings. Suffice it to say that a butane stove is best suited for my style of cooking, with a partner and an eye toward well prepared meals of some complexity. And with butane rather than save weight a cozy is just another item in my pack. With heavier alcohol fuel it is likely different. That's all I meant to say, just that a cozy isn't necessarily worth having.
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Lorenzo
Trad climber
Oregon
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Lorenzo your link is wrong about the empty canister weight.
Well I have weighed canisters. Every one I have used, actually. The old ones that looked like brake fluid cans actually held more and weighed less.Each manufacturer is a little different and they even change a bit as safety standards change. They are pressure vessels that have to withstand over 200 lbs, which is about what you get if you boil one. ( not saying you should try that)
But 90- 110 g for a 100g (3.53 oz) canister is pretty typical.They are getting heavier.
I use a couple butane stoves, ( I own 7 stoves of all types going back to the original SVEA 123 days). Call jetboil and ask. (888) 611-9905
One of the fellows on that forum did:
Just called Jetboil, they say a 100g can is 94g empty and a 230g is 126g empty.
Pretty close to 1:1 fuel:canister. The larger size is a little more efficient at 1.2:1 , but only if it isn't cold and you used exactly one canister.
And you probably can't use all the fuel in a canister, so the extra 7 grams I quoted is quite reasonable. An empty canister isn't the same one that has been spent. They need a minimum pressure to function.
But this isn't a thread about stoves, a subject that generates very strong feelings. Suffice it to say that a butane stove is best suited for my style of cooking, with a partner and an eye toward well prepared meals of some complexity. And with butane rather than save weight a cozy is just another item in my pack. With heavier alcohol fuel it is likely different. That's all I meant to say, just that a cozy isn't necessarily worth having.
If you are having success with your system, great. The whole idea is to have fun. If you can get through your trip with one canister and don't Carry a second, ( I'm too chicken ) yours is the most efficient without the extra couple ounces of cozy. I tended to carry a half full canister as a backup, which of course means you end up with a boxfull.
But saving weight or complicated meals aren't necessarily a function of the stove. You have to think of it as a system. Pot, windscreen, and meal planning all matter. Often the hottest stoves are the worst in that regard.. Colin Fletcher and MSR touted boil time as the big test of efficiency years ago, and that proves not to be so much the case.
Titanium, the new wonder camping material, turns out to be a relatively poor heat conductor, much of a hot flame will be lost to the air rather than heat food. That's why Jetboil uses the flux ring and neoprene cozy.
And, if you heed Jetboil's advice, you shouldn't be doing anything but boil water in their lightweight titanium models, because the flux rings that transfer that heat are brazed on and could melt off. And while a flux ring does help transfer heat, that works the other way when the stove is off, so eat fast. It is why it comes with that little plastic cup/cozy. The lightest model is also 8.5 ounces not including a canister. A simpler system can shave 4 ounces. It sounds like gram weeny stuff, but when you have a bad back weight can mean not going.
I have a couple boxes of stoves and cooking gear. What you have been sold on as efficient isn't always the case, and some adaptation will often greatly enhance efficiency.
And it is all part of going light, which I assume is why the tread was started.
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julton
climber
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Well I have weighed canisters.
Apparently not a Jetboil canister.
Just called Jetboil...
You could've just looked at their web site. The funny thing is they're wrong.
They are pressure vessels that have to withstand over 200 lbs, which is about what you get if you boil one.
At 212F? You're nuts. A typical canister would be way more than 200psi.
What you have been sold on as efficient isn't always the case
You don't have a clue. I couldn't care less about efficiency. All I said was that a cozy provides no weight savings for me.
And it is all part of going light, which I assume is why the tread was started.
Not even close. The OP is a chef who wants to know about dehydrating food, not how many millimeters to shave his toothbrush.
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TGT
Social climber
So Cal
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Titanium, the new wonder camping material, turns out to be a relatively poor heat conductor, much of a hot flame will be lost to the air rather than heat food. That's why Jetboil uses the flux ring and neoprene cozy.
The whole switch to titanium was a result of the completely false hysteria over aluminum and Alzheimer's and the industry's fixation on selling $100 dollar pots.
Still using the same 40 Year old Svea 123 and aluminum pots.
It ain't broke so I ain't fixin' it.
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dave729
Trad climber
Western America
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Dehydrate a jar of spaghetti sauce into a leathery disk!
Then at camp cook 1.lb of angel hair pasta and add the sauce leather in
tiny pieces late in the boil until its just right for eating.
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kunlun_shan
Mountain climber
SF, CA
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Apr 10, 2014 - 01:56am PT
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the pot cozy is the dehydrator's "slow cooker". saves me fuel, and gives the food the time it needs.
highly recommended, along with eKat's sleeping bag xtra insulation method.....
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NutAgain!
Trad climber
South Pasadena, CA
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Apr 10, 2014 - 12:21pm PT
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One nice cold-weather food that might be worthy of refinement with a dehydrator is "carbonara leather".
Stick these in a blender: bacon, cooked pasta, eggs lightly cooked (stirred into the hot pasta), Parmigiano, Romano, or Grana Padano cheese, as much butter as you dare, and some pepper.
In cold weather, it hardens up into a plasticky gel in a ziplock bag. Dehydrating might make it lighter, but the goal here is high fat/protein for cold weather, with no field prep, delicious, and as compact and pliable as you can get it for packing or in pockets while climbing.
Somewhat tangential but complementary to the dehydrator topic.
I'm going to bookmark this thread too- nice food suggestions.
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julton
climber
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Apr 10, 2014 - 07:59pm PT
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Lorenzo, I must apologize to you with regard to the canister weights. I have weighed Jetboil-100 canisters several times in the past and SnowPeak-110 canisters numerous times and both were always about 87 or 88 grams. But I haven't weighed one recently. Although they look the same I thought, maybe Lorenzo is right after all? I should check. So late last night I dug through the box with the partial empties and found one of each, close enough to being done that I didn't mind burning the fuel. And you're right, they are now each about 10g heavier. The SnowPeak-110 empty was 97.5g and the Jetboil-100 was 98.9g.
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Lorenzo
Trad climber
Oregon
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Apr 11, 2014 - 10:10am PT
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you're right, they are now each about 10g heavier. Yeah, old Propane/butane mixes were 10% propane. The newer blends are up to 30% for colder weather. Needs thicker cans. There aren't significantly more BTU's in a can, though, so you pay the price when it's warmer. It's not the extra grams that bug me, but that you carry out half of what you carried in and I always felt I had to carry an extra can.
Jetboil doesn't publish their blend, but it occurred to me that a bit of math and published pressures should get you pretty close to figuring it out. Gas laws are linear. When I get home in a couple weeks I'll have to experiment.
I like nutagain's idea of keeping the fat. Calories are always good and fat is the most efficient way to have them. I guess pemmican was the same concept.
Have you tried this in August without things going rancid?
I use olive oil on everything I can,( even the breads and the dried meats) which works well and tastes great to me. Never had an issue with it going bad.
I figure it replaces the fat I cut off from stuff I dried.
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julton
climber
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Apr 11, 2014 - 03:31pm PT
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Yeah, old Propane/butane mixes were 10% propane. The newer blends are up to 30% for colder weather. Needs thicker cans.
SnowPeak and MSR were both claiming 20% a decade ago. SnowPeak now says their fuel is only 15%. The old ones were 87g and the new ones 98g. Why would they need thicker cans if the fuel is either the same or reduced in propane?
it occurred to me that a bit of math and published pressures should get you pretty close to figuring it out. Gas laws are linear.
Are these the same gas laws that led you to the conclusion that the pressure would be 200psi at 212F?
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Lorenzo
Trad climber
Oregon
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Apr 11, 2014 - 10:20pm PT
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Are these the same gas laws that led you to the conclusion that the pressure would be 200psi at 212F?
Wow. You just reminded me of a George Carlin quote I should heed.
But OK.
Yes they are, as a matter of fact. It is called the combined gas law.
The particular portion of the law we are concerned with is the relationship between pressure and temperature as expressed in Gay-Lussac's ( also called Amonton's) law
Which shows a direct proportion between pressure and temperature on an absolute scale.
But you will find I qualified it, because the constant "k" would vary some with each gas mix. That's how you would determine the mix. And you need to know the vapor pressure of each gas.
Most kids learned it in middle school when I was young. Apparently education standards have slipped since then or your teacher will cover it towards the end of the semester..
Should be fun to hear your refutation of the work of Boyle, Charles, and Gay-Lussac.
But you don't need to do the math. The internet is your friend. It turns out there are plenty of curves on the vapor pressures of gasses. Here is the chart for nButane. (nC4H10)
http://encyclopedia.airliquide.com/images_encyclopedie/VaporPressureGraph/Butane_Vapor_Pressure.GIF
You will see from the chart that the vapor pressure curve intersects with the 15 bar line at right around 373°K, which you might have learned from your middle school teacher is 100°C or 212°F if you hadn't been so busy looking at Suzie's boobs. The can has to withstand that pressure or the butane turns to gas and the can explodes, or at least the butane escapes and does what butane does in a free environment.
( you can also see the vapor pressure falls below 1bar at around zero°C , which means no vapor and the stove won't function at sea level.)
If you use the google query to convert 15 bar to PSI it will return
15 bar =
217.556607 pounds per square inch
Which I submit squares nicely with:
"They are pressure vessels that have to withstand over 200 lbs, which is about what you get if you boil one." Close enough, considering I was working from memory. If you subtract the one atmosphere outside the can at sea level, the pressure diferential is about 203 PSI.
Adding propane will increase the pressure, which is why propane tanks are thicker.
Class dismissed.
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David Knopp
Trad climber
CA
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Topic Author's Reply - Apr 12, 2014 - 01:26pm PT
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hey stove nerds-please start your own thread-your info is cool, vital, useful BUT i am hoping to lear more about home dehydrated foods...
FYi, lenti and indian chile stew, done, lima and ham and collards, next up!
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julton
climber
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Apr 14, 2014 - 01:01pm PT
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Sorry David, I got sucked in, trolled probably. Lorenzo can't really be that dumb.
I'm not sure exactly what you're looking for. Recipes? I make a pretty good thai curry starting from curry paste and canned coconut milk, thai eggplant and other sauteed vegetables. Pretty basic. It dries into a greasy leather, rehydrates effortlessly and loses virtually nothing in the translation. I've had the same trouble as a previous poster with dried shrimp (squid too) even when dried/rehydrated separately. No matter how long I soaked it in hot water these dried seafoods would never get past the rubber stage. So now I just enjoy a vegetarian version.
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David Knopp
Trad climber
CA
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Topic Author's Reply - Apr 14, 2014 - 07:51pm PT
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Julton, you didn't get trolled, you had a discussion
but recipes, ideas, that's what i want...
i just made my lima and broccoli rape soup with pancetta, 3 bean dal, and some fruit and jerky. i am trying to dry real miso too, less salty than that store dried stuff.
Keep those ideas coming people!
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julton
climber
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Apr 14, 2014 - 08:08pm PT
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I know, Malemute, but it doesn't apply to what we were discussing and doesn't even match the chart he posted. That seemed dumb and is why I figured he's trolling. But perhaps I'm wrong and he just doesn't understand.
Recipes? You can dehydrate almost anything including really oily food (it'll still be oily of course). The real trick is knowing what will rehydrate easily and with reasonable texture and taste. Spaghetti sauce is kind of an obvious one.
Miso never seemed worth the bother to dehydrate to me, unless you're eating a lot of miso.
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David Knopp
Trad climber
CA
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Topic Author's Reply - Apr 15, 2014 - 12:03pm PT
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agreed about the miso, just wanted to see if it works; and it does! and i do eat a lot of it...
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Urizen
Ice climber
Berkeley, CA
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Apr 15, 2014 - 01:01pm PT
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David,
Your menus are so intriguing that I'm now curious about your methods. What sort of apparatus are you using to dehydrate?
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julton
climber
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Apr 15, 2014 - 01:35pm PT
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I am curious too. And have you tried reconstituting the meals yet? Don't forget you can't use 212F water, that's cheating.
Were you dehydrating liquid miso soup made from scratch with kombu and bonito? If so that's serious devotion.
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David Knopp
Trad climber
CA
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Topic Author's Reply - Apr 15, 2014 - 02:00pm PT
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about the miso-i just tried drying fresh yellow miso-it became a fruit leather like thing, lost about 60% of its' weight.
the method- i borrowed a cascade dehydrator from a friend-keep it pretty low temperature, around 120, then cool and vacuum pack...
I'll fess up too: i'm a professional chef, although i now work just a little, for a few families, consulting, catering-but i have a lot of experience doing everything-so i make my own cured meats, smoke my own fish, can fruits and vegetables, so this is just another part of my learning curve
.
Oh, yeah, i also bought a vacuum packer from costco-that has made this project even easier and more useful...
Some other ideas-buttery parmesan polenta, dried then pulverised, to rehydrate for breakfast.
Buttermilk mashed potatoes as a dinner base.
umm?
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hellroaring
Trad climber
San Francisco
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Apr 15, 2014 - 02:03pm PT
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Urizen, I loaned David my dehydrator so I know what he is using to dry stuff, but nothing about his prep method. David is using a dehydrator from a company called Excaliber, and it is a 9 tray unit, and if I remember right they are out of Sacramento.
The nice thing about Excaliber is that they are square shaped, with forced air from the back of the unit, other units are round and blow air from the bottom. By having the fan in the back you have to do a heck of lot less rotating of trays, sometimes none at all.
Also, you used to be able to call the company directly and request a "cosmetically blemished" model, which save quite a bit of money. Maybe they still do that.
Does anybody have a good recipe for some sort of breakfast porridge?? Pretty sick of oatmeal, and I am sure I'm not the only one...
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Urizen
Ice climber
Berkeley, CA
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Apr 15, 2014 - 02:05pm PT
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...buttery Anson Mills polenta...
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hellroaring
Trad climber
San Francisco
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Apr 15, 2014 - 02:13pm PT
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Can you dehydrate headcheese??
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NutAgain!
Trad climber
South Pasadena, CA
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Apr 15, 2014 - 04:24pm PT
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I know you can dehydrate toe cheese. In fact you must if you want to avoid trench foot.
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julton
climber
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Apr 15, 2014 - 04:28pm PT
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If it's got water in it, and head cheese does, then you can probably dehydrate it.
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David Knopp
Trad climber
CA
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Topic Author's Reply - Apr 16, 2014 - 01:48am PT
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hellroarin we'll be eating some of this food soon... in montana i hope!
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