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DIY (Dehydrate-It-Yourself)
Doing a bit of yard work last week I noticed that the tool library I frequent has a couple of dehydrators for loan. I am always keen to give it something a crack, and while I’m still learning the finer points of hunting, I am pretty handy in the kitchen. Returning my tools on Saturday I had a dehydrator of fairly good vintage waiting for me.
Now for my Julia Child moment – “here’s one I prepared earlier.” On Friday night I had cooked up a big lamb chilli (rough recipe at the end) served over Franks deli dogs and some home-baked ficelles. First time baking a soft bun – cracking feed. This was all quite hands-on eating, so I neglected to take pictures.
Come Saturday my leftover chilli was attentively laid out on the dehydrator and cranked up to 60 deg. Easy as.
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I stirred them about and rotated the trays, eventually just crumbling the chilli with my fingertips as it dried to make sure it wasn’t clumping up and had an even texture. I only checked it four or five times across 10-11 hrs. of dehydration.
All told it made approximately 350 grams of dehydrated chilli. Portioned out at about 60gms, they will make a generous feed with a bit of mash or your carb of choice.
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For quality control purposes I rehydrated a bit for lunch today. A bit messy but the flavour was spot on and at 55g of chilli and 45g of potato flakes it was plenty of food. It rehydrated pretty well considering I didn’t use the ol’ breadcrumb technique for mince (I considered it but didn’t really want to mess with Friday’s dinner too much). I reckon would eat well with a little helping of rehydrated yoghurt and coriander on top.
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All in all, really stoked with the results for my first experiment. Already scheming on the next batch. Reckon I'll get a bit of use out of these dehydrators I can borrow and then might invest in one myself. Vacuum sealer is also on the list as these will only keep in the short-to-medium term I reckon.
A few thoughts without reinventing the wheel:- Price – bloody good. Didn’t really track the cost but you could really winnow it down if you were clever. I probably paid about $30 for groceries, and with a few things from the pantry made dinner for four with six dehydrated meals leftover. You could probably double that number if you were only cooking to prep meals.
- Flavour – best part. Spice, texture and quality of ingredients all under your control. Having eaten it fresh and rehydrated there wasn't too much difference. A lot of dehydrated meals are way too heavy on the salt to try and amp up the flavour profile. My version had good depth and a bit of kick without tasting like the Dead Sea. It was also about 90% organic which is a plus for me.
- Time – I was already cooking so doubling the batch wasn’t any trouble. Even cooking just to dehydrate wouldn’t be particularly onerous. With a bit of practice you could really get your operation cranking and make a few meals at once to cut down on prep and power usage. When it’s in the dehydrator you don’t have to baby it, perfect for a rainy day when you’re tinkering in the shed.
Moral of the story: if you’ve ever looked at a Backcountry and thought “it can’t be that hard . . .” you’re dead right.
Recipe for the chilli:- 800g lamb mince
- Two onions
- Two carrots
- Handful of celery
- One small zucchini
- Two tins of beans (your choice – I used borlotti and butter beans)
- One tin of tomatoes
- Tbsp. tomato paste
- Cumin
- Coriander
- Mexican oregano
- Chilli powder
Pour a little olive oil into a heavy based pan and warm over a moderate heat. Add a couple of onions and carrots, peeled and roughly chopped, and let them cook until soft and pale gold. Add the zuchinni and celery, finely diced and let them get some colour. Remove the vegetables from the pan, add 800g of minced lamb, and let it brown lightly, stirring occasionally. The trick here is to resist the urge to “overstir” so the mince gets properly browned and doesn’t mash too finely.
Add one level tbsp of ground chilli to the pan, followed by one tbsp of cumin, one tbsp of Mexican oregano, one tbsp. of ground coriander. Really let the spices simmer away for a few minutes with the mince before adding your beans. A splash of acid here can go good -- lemon, vinegar or a dash of cooking wine. Let the mixture simmer, then stir in a tin of tomatoes and some tomato paste. Let it bubble away until you’re ready to eat, adding a ladleful of water if it's getting too thick. Serve with a tbsp of sour cream or crème fraiche and a handful of coriander leaves.
Nadia Lim eat your heart out. Have made this recipe often with turkey and chicken, but ‘tis the season so lamb made it into the pot. Ideally a bit of venison to come. Goes good over a soft bun with franks, on rice, mash, or just about anything. I’ve made up a pastry and baked it in a pie before. Adjust the spice mix to your taste, add some extra veg, you can’t really go wrong.
Would be keen to hear any recipes or techniques more practiced hands are using or see any experiments others have undertaken too. Happy eating everyone.
