Dehydrating ground beef

“The fruit roll trays arrived, so I dehydrated some ground beef last night. Didn't take long, and man, is it every dry. Reconstitutes well, too. My backpacking food woes are gone forever.

Instructions for anybody who wants to try it: cook ground beef, breaking it up into small bits. Drain off the grease. Place on wad of paper towels and pat as dry as you can. Spread out on fruit roll tray. Dehydrates in about two hours. When it is desert dry (Artex's words), take out and let cool. When cool, place in ZipLoc bags. Use straw to suck out the air, seal, and pop into freezer until ready for use or trip.

Can be combined with rice or noodle entrees, or dehydrate your own sauce. The possibilities are endless. No more mundane trail food or gelatinous messes that profess to be meals.”

“The fat is the big problem. The fat will make the beef go rancid. I have spent the extra $ to use ground chuck/round. Much less fat. Whatever ground beef you use, Geo is right. Drain and pat dry the fried and dehydrating beef with paper towels. It holds well in the freezer for 2-3 months.”

“More than one person on this board has told me to rinse the cooked ground beef for extra fat removal.

I also store mine in the freezer.”

“I remember someone saying to run the cooked hamburger under very hot water to help get rid of the grease. That seems like it would work then pat it dry”

“That's just what I was going to Ewker.

I read in some health mag that if you put the burger in something like a strainer and run under hot water, it eliminates about 95% of the fat. Real health and still tastes good.

We do this for things like tacos, slopy joes, spaghetti sause, etc.”

“I start out with 93-95 percent lean. That eliminates a lot of the fat, but draining and patting dry seems to have gotten most of the rest.”

“If you are gonna get rid of all the fat, you might as well use TVP.”

“Good call on the fat. The leaner the better.”

“Using game - much leaner - sounds like it would be a good idea. I MUST get a dehydrator, Artex's jeki is yummy.”

“Artex has a jeki?”

“Very true, Gremlin. Jmitch made some great venison jerky a few months back. Good stuff!”

“cool - i was wondering what to eat on this weekend's trip - meat!! - I think I'll make spagetti - dehydrators rock1”

“After draining all the fat I pour in water and boil, then drain that to further eliminate the fat. Then by simply heating the meat again it'll dehydrate all the water. Fat floats ontop the water, and you definitly do remove more fat this way.”

“Let's keep everything in perspective here.

If you are only going out for two or three days, not much is going to get rancid. I hope you folks are not so foolish to go backpacking when it is hot?

The creeks are dry. The bugs and snakes are out. Poison ivy and leaves obscure the best views.

And hamburger meat goes rancid!!!”

“After reviewing several of these food drying threads, it occurred to me that as I've dried several types of food over the years - and have yet to try others posted here - Sierra Mel's "High Country Cooking" has a lot of great tips, and recipes. But having followed many of the practices noted in this thread about drying ground beef (and turkey, for that matter), I wondered if anyone had tried the following twist -

One of the "problems" I've encountered in trying to minimize weight, buld, and enjoy flavorful foods is that many of these recipes are best enjoyed with the inclusion of various spices. Indeed, drying most foods either deprices the food of some of its flavor - like ground meats - or overly enhances others - like the salty flavors whic become more concentrated as you dry them.

Ergo - has anyone tried cooking ground meats with spices, etc., BEFORE they're dried? And if so, to what extent do these flavors find themselves successful candidates for rehydration?”

“Read: "Minimize BULK"”

“I've never added spices to hamberger before dehydrating because that would limit how I could use it for recipes. But I don't see why you could not do this. I marinate beef with spices for beef jerky and the flavoring keeps.”

“Should work ok. We used to make hamburger jerky when I was growing up and it turned out great.”

“Good question.  Folks always say to use the freshest spices you can get. I'm thinking the drying process may degrade the spices as well.

Or could it degrade some and intensify others ---- ?




I was just reading in Science News about research into whether an antioxidant and anti-inflammatory compound in yellow curry known as curcumin can mitigate the symptoms of Alzheimer's.... < G >”

“we hit ours with italian blend mixed spices, or fresh oregano, to use in spagetti sauces...it's not too strong, but you can tell it's there.”

“when I was on my journey,99-04. I dried lots of beef and would do some with garlic added,some with onions, some with lawerys seasoned salt and some with worchester sauce. All came out good and I could add whatever I wanted to make a entree! Simple and cost effective. yo bear!”

“Used ground beef in sketti sauce & "upside down sloppy joes" spices mixed in before drying. Reconstitutes well.”

“I think I'd rather dry the meat first and add the spices to the zip[lock w/ the meal after. Why dry up the flavor?”

“it does not dry up the flavor, it only enhances! o bear!”

“I always toss in minced garlic when I'm cooking ground beef for dehydrating. It adds great flavor. I also frequently add minced onion, bell pepper, and sometimes fine dice tomatoes as well, since many of our menu items contain those vegetables anyways.”