tomas
Trail Wise!
Posts: 1,906 
|
Post by tomas on Jul 16, 2018 11:57:30 GMT -8
Over the years I've had a consistent problem of dehydrated meats being a bit crunchy or overly chewy when I used them in FBC meals. Or I have to let the meal hydrate longer and it cools down.
How do other people deal with dehydrated meats in FBC? I've used freeze dried meats instead with better luck, but that can be more expensive. I've thought about putting the meat into the water as I boil it; would that be a solution? |
|
BigLoad
Trail Wise!
Pancakes!
Posts: 13,000
Member is Online
|
Post by BigLoad on Jul 16, 2018 19:51:18 GMT -8
How do other people deal with dehydrated meats in FBC? I lower my expectations. OK, not always. Shredded beef and shredded pork usually turn out pretty well for me. My most effective trick is to start rehydrating meat before everything else, so it gets an extra five minutes or so, maybe as much as 15 minutes total. Actually boiling it would work better if you don't mind the extra cleanup. |
|
|
|
Post by johntpenca on Jul 17, 2018 12:10:58 GMT -8
My most effective trick is to start rehydrating meat before everything else, so it gets an extra five minutes or so, maybe as much as 15 minutes total. Actually boiling it would work better if you don't mind the extra cleanup. Yup. You can also pre-soak the meat separately in non-hot water to somewhat rehydrate it. This requires the meat to be packed separately from the other ingredients. sarbar? |
|
|
|
Post by High Sierra Fan on Jul 17, 2018 16:36:53 GMT -8
Also recall the difference in dehydrated materials and freeze dried. FBC works best, imho, with easily rehydrated materials such as freeze dried. Dehydrated, where the meals I’ve used (WeePak was a favorite brand) called for either a presoak or prolonged simmering or both, don’t seem to fit with the “pour in boiling water and wait ten minutes”.... of bag meals.
So, as above, maybe jigger the recipe keeping the dehydrated material aside for separate prepping?
|
|
zeke
Trail Wise!
Peekaboo slot 2023
Posts: 9,895
|
Post by zeke on Jul 17, 2018 17:37:15 GMT -8
Those who dehydrate their leftovers or meals from home don't seem to have difficulty with rehydrating in FBC.
|
|
sarbar
Trail Wise!
After being here since 2001...I couldn't say goodbye yet!
Posts: 1,030 
|
Post by sarbar on Jul 17, 2018 17:44:51 GMT -8
Here's my 2 cents on dehydrating:
When a meal is dehydrated all at once, the meat tends to be well cooked, and in small pieces. When meat is dried separately, it is often in larger pieces. That leads to a lot longer rehydration time
Also: Hamburger that is dried in tiny gravel pieces comes back a lot faster than dried chicken that is shredded.
|
|
rebeccad
Trail Wise!
Writing like a maniac
Posts: 12,711
|
Post by rebeccad on Jul 26, 2018 20:54:38 GMT -8
I make sure the hamburger is really well broken up, and then make sure I let the meal stand for at least 15 minutes. But I'll confess: this year I broke down and bought a #10 can of freeze-dried chicken, and it not only rehydrated much better than even the canned chicken I've dried in the past, but it tasted better, and retained the "chunk of meat" texture rather than being fine shreds. I think I'd still use the canned stuff for my "turkey gravy" on stuffing, but for most dishes, I'll spring for the freeze-dried chicken.
On the other hand, I few years ago I tried a little freeze-dried ham, and it was too salty to eat, no matter what I did. I even tried soaking it and draining, then rinsing, the way I've read people used to treat salt cod. No go.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Jul 28, 2018 15:00:15 GMT -8
On our recent 9 day 8 night ONP Coast backpack, I made up a single serving, for dinner, of Mtn House chicken, from a #10 can. To use it, I added one cup of water to a water tight container between 12 AM and 2PM. At dinner, I or my wife, drank the excess water, yummie, and added the meat to a re-hydrating meal about 1/2 through its soak time. The meat had good texture, tasted good, was not crunchy, and the added calories worked out well.
The chicken meat was added to 2.5ish+ servings of Mtn House chicken n rice or chicken ala king; all from a #10 can. he meals were re-hydrated in a freezer bag.
Defiantly a thing do that I will repeat.
|
|
sarbar
Trail Wise!
After being here since 2001...I couldn't say goodbye yet!
Posts: 1,030
|
Post by sarbar on Jul 28, 2018 20:07:27 GMT -8
On the other hand, I few years ago I tried a little freeze-dried ham, and it was too salty to eat, no matter what I did. I even tried soaking it and draining, then rinsing, the way I've read people used to treat salt cod. No go. I'd rather eat Spam. FD ham is soooo salty! |
|
