Dehydrating Meat

[Mickey328]

I've had great success dehydrating chicken but...it doesn't re-hydrate well. My last effort was chicken soup. I put everything in the crockpot and let it go for about 8 hours...and the chicken was still tough.

Any suggestions from you experienced folk?

 

[moolie]

I dehydrate meat once in a while for backpacking meals, but only use canned meats on the advice of my backpacking cookbooks because they say that regular meat pretty much turns into jerky and doesn't rehydrate well.

In the dishes I make for backpacking (mostly pasta and rice based meals that just need to be rehydrated in boiling water) the meats I have dehydrated (canned flaked chicken, canned flaked ham, canned flaked tuna, home canned ground bison) the resulting meat texture is pretty much normal when rehydrated and cooked up.

Maybe check out some backpacking cookbooks? One of my favourites is called A Fork In The Trail , another great resource is backpackingchef.com which has lots of recipes and will also sell you an e-cookbook for $4.

Hope that helps!

 

[Mickey328]

Thanks Moolie. Sounds like the trick may be the flaking. I did mine in chunks. Think I'll give it a try on just a small portion and see if I have better luck

 

[moolie]

I think the secret is actually in the pressure cooking with steam, from what I've read

All pressure-cooked (or canned) meats flake easily.

 

[cheepo]

i haven't actually dehydrated chicken myself...but I think it does best if it is cooked first
and in small pieces...
i like moolies pressure cooking first..idea...

 

[~gd]

i haven't actually dehydrated chicken myself...but I think it does best if it is cooked first
and in small pieces...
i like moolies pressure cooking first..idea...

I think the water soluble proteins are carried to the surface by the dehydration process where they tend to cross link. Cooking denatures the protein and tends to lock it in place. If you start with raw meat try rehydrating with COLD water. It is not as good as precooked meat but is way better than meat thrown into boiling water to hydrate. ~gd

 

[k15n1]

Smaller pieces is usually the first thing I try.

Also, you can rub some bread crumbs into the raw meat.

I've been field testing camping meals at the office for the last few months and haven't had any trouble with re-hydrating meat. I'm using small pieces and relatively small amounts, just a few oz per serving.

 

[me&thegals]

We do this in thinner (1/4" slices) or ground and squirted in flat sheets for jerky.

 

[moolie]

Smaller pieces is usually the first thing I try.

Also, you can rub some bread crumbs into the raw meat.

I've been field testing camping meals at the office for the last few months and haven't had any trouble with re-hydrating meat. I'm using small pieces and relatively small amounts, just a few oz per serving.

I've read this in a number of backpacking cookbooks, about adding 1/2 cup of fine breadcrumbs per pound or so of meat, but have never tried it because it sounds unappetizing to add all that bread--how does it turn out in the final dish?

Also, are you at liberty to share any of your camping recipes or are you working on them for future publication? My family does a lot of camping due to our involvement with Girl Guides of Canada (like Girl Scouts in the US) and we always love to try new meals. If you are able to share any, I'd love to check them out--and so as to not hijack this thread, could you please share anything you are able to in my journal? Thanks in advance!