View Full Version : Spaghetti sauce
I want to dehydrate some prepared spaghetti sauce-something like Paul Newmans-but I'm not sure where to start. Can I just spread this on an oven sheet and let slowly dry? Do I need to buy a "deydrator"? After it dries, can I store it in a zip lock? Is this a bad idea, or perhaps something that wil be okay?
My concern is that there are a lot of ingredients, and they will dehydrate at different rates. Plus, this will be a new experience-I don't do well in the kitchen. Any suggestions???
Skidsteer
03-15-2006, 18:42
I want to dehydrate some prepared spaghetti sauce-something like Paul Newmans-but I'm not sure where to start. Can I just spread this on an oven sheet and let slowly dry? Do I need to buy a "deydrator"? After it dries, can I store it in a zip lock? Is this a bad idea, or perhaps something that wil be okay?
My concern is that there are a lot of ingredients, and they will dehydrate at different rates. Plus, this will be a new experience-I don't do well in the kitchen. Any suggestions???
I've never tried it in the oven but if you do, use oven parchment paper. Less mess and it should dry faster.
Wal-Mart sells an excellent dehydrator by Nesco that comes with one fruit leather liner that works well for sauces. Last time I checked it was selling for $39.99.
Cooked spagheti sauce will dry evenly. Well, it has for me anyway. Bear in mind that if you over dry anything with tomato in it WILL taste BURNED. My experience is if your sauce is still bright red it's OK, if it starts to brown, STOP, take it out of the (oven, dryer, sun) IMMEDIATLY!
Good choice using Newman's Own, tasty.
Your sauce should dry like fruit leather, in camp: tear into bits before adding to water, that will help it reconstitute easier.
Doctari.
Blissful
03-15-2006, 20:12
We have a dehydrator we got at a yard sale for four bucks. Being yard sale time, you might keep an eye out. Never know what you can find. Check church yard sales too. But there's a plastic coated attachment piece with the unit that we have dried sauce and even chili on to reconstitute later. I have also dried alfredo sauce and that was yummy. We stored it in a ziploc just fine to carry and it weighed zippo.
But I would think spreading sauce on a cookie sheet and drying at a low temp in an oven cracked open would do the exact same thing.
I made batches of my favorate sauce and dehydrated it in a cheap dehydrator. Next I cooked up some spiced lean hamburg and dehydrated that. The sauce and hamburg were packaged in meal-sized freezer bags and stored in the freezer. Just before sending out a box to my maildrop, my wife would add a bag or two from the freezer along with some grated parmesan cheese. This was one of my favorite trail meals.
All you have to do is spread on sheets (parchment paper is a very good idea), and dry on the lowest setting in your overn (prop the door open). When dry, it will be like fruit leather. At this point, I put mine in a blender and powder. I noticed that the rehydrating is 1 part leather to 2-4 parts water. Start with 2 parts and then add more as needed :) It comes back with jsut boiling water added. The powdering of it helps, as it becomes 1 thickness, so hydrates faster.
This is one of the easiest things to dry :)
PS: If you get a dryer, you can line the trays with saran wrap..that is what I do.
The Solemates
03-16-2006, 10:52
I want to dehydrate some prepared spaghetti sauce-something like Paul Newmans-but I'm not sure where to start. Can I just spread this on an oven sheet and let slowly dry? Do I need to buy a "deydrator"? After it dries, can I store it in a zip lock? Is this a bad idea, or perhaps something that wil be okay?
My concern is that there are a lot of ingredients, and they will dehydrate at different rates. Plus, this will be a new experience-I don't do well in the kitchen. Any suggestions???
you can buy dry spaghetti sauce powder in packets for like 50 cents. that would be much easier.
Almost There
03-16-2006, 10:58
you can buy dry spaghetti sauce powder in packets for like 50 cents. that would be much easier.
That would make it easy...We must suffer for our Craft!!!:D
hammock engineer
03-16-2006, 10:59
I dried spaghetti with the sauce added. The noodles rehydrate faster using less fuel.
bobgessner57
03-16-2006, 11:11
I have found that homemade spaghetti sauce reconstitutes well but some of the store bought sauces made a clotty mess when rehydrated. After reading the ingredients labels I think it may be something to do with the modified food starch. Sarbar's suggestion of powdering the leather might solve that problem. I have always just packed up sheets and crumbs in whatever form it came off the dryer sheet. I usually dry burger by itself and add to the sauce or other meal when I package meals or sometimes in the field as the mood dictates.
The homemade vegetarian sauce seems to reconstitute well with cold water, just add water and stir, chunky tomatoe bits might take a few minutes to plump up. I have made cold sauce in a cup to spread on tortillas; add some cheese, pepperoni or summer sausage and whatever else can be scrounged to make an easy to heat pizza. The cold sauce is also good with cous cous or add extra basil and olive oil to make a bread spread/dipper.
I should add that I only use organic sauces..why? Because they do NOT contain corn syrup!! That seems to help a lot with drying..if you have Safeway's out your way, their line of organics works great.
The packets....well, problem with packets is usally you need to add tomatoes of some kind to the packets.
Alligator
03-16-2006, 12:45
I had the same browning problem Doctari mentions. I don't know if the temperature was too high (unadjustable) or that I left it in too long. My suggestion is to try a lower temperature setting, keep an good eye on it, and to make sure the sauce is evenly distributed. I was just drying tomato leather also. If I was looking to dry a sauce, I would do as Hammock Engineer said, dry the sauce on the pasta. Boil the sauce down thick before adding to the pasta.
Bought a new dehydrator recently with thermostat! Hope to be back in business soon.
I dry mine between 125-135* and I rotate the trays every hour :-)
Thanks sarber....how many hours???
Stoker53
03-16-2006, 20:02
I'm constantly amazed by how much I don't know about trail food. Evne after all these years..............:eek:
Great ideas!! Heading out for a weekend in two weeks and I'm gonna dry me some sauce.
Thanks sarber....how many hours???
Last time I dried some (a month ago??) it took me about 14 or 16 hours on the dryer I think. I turned off the dryer at nighttime though.
I kept rotating and checking the trays every hour..and stopped when it was leathery but not sticky anymore.
I would start checking at 6 hours and check back every hour. I would suspect in hotter climates it would dry faster than here in the Pacific Northwet ;)
Skidsteer
03-16-2006, 20:57
I dried spaghetti with the sauce added. The noodles rehydrate faster using less fuel.
That's the easiest way I've found as well. Less trouble on the trail. I break the noodles into @ two inch lengths and usually dry one or two servings at a time. I even add the parmesan before drying.
Dehydrated my first batch of Newmans spaghetti sauce and it worked great!! And when rehydrated, it tasted like fresh sauce.
Used half a bottle on parchmant paper, spread on a cookie sheet. Oven at 170 F, door slightly open. It was done in about 6 hours. I mashed the tomato chunks to help them dehydrate faster. I watched the edges closely so they would not burn.
Next I'm going to "jerky" some ground beef and try this mixed with the rehydrated sauce.
Awesome! Now keep going on it :D And yep, dried hamburger is good stuff with the sauce.
jaywalke
03-20-2006, 12:40
Awesome! Now keep going on it :D And yep, dried hamburger is good stuff with the sauce.
I'll second that. Use lean meat, because the fat is what goes bad first.
I brown it well (chop it up with the spatula as much as possible), then put it in a sieve and pour boiling water over it to get as much fat as possible off. Then I add spices (salt, pepper, garlic powder) and spread it out to dry on parchment paper in the dryer. An oven would work, too.
The final product turns dark and looks a little like gravel, but it bounces back just fine.
Be sure to store dried meat in the freezer after you make it-it prevents any left over fat from going rancid :) I usually put 1/4 cup of it in per bag, and freeze. That amount feeds me and my son...for two adults that like meat, I'd say bag 1/3 cup to 1/2 cup. You can freeze it this way for 6 months to a year with no problems!
When you take your lunch break at a water source, that's a good time to begin your rehydration process. Add the water to your dehydrated foods and they will be ready to cook by dinnertime.
fivefour
03-23-2006, 12:41
i am great at burning the sauce in the dehydrator.
kittyrock13
03-23-2006, 16:44
So whats the shelf life like for these dehydrated foods? Especially the meat. Say its in a post office for a couple weeks then you still dont eat it straight away?
Kittyrock...that is where I would highly suggest getting a food vac, and sealing all your foods up that you dehydrated. At that point you have easily 6 months of time for most foods. The only things you have to be careful of are items that had fat..since it can go rancid. Well dried, and defatted, and sealed with no air? You usually have nothing to worry about.
If you are talking veggies and fruit, a good 1-2 years of life, even badly sealed.