Dehydrating Sausage Help Needed

I am working on dehydrating some meals for my hike this summer. Right now I am working on spagetti with sausage. My problem is that I am not sure if it will dehydrate completly.

I have so far dried it for probibly 12+ hrs. But it still feels a little greasy, but all the pieces of meat feel dehydrated and hard. I put it in a plastic bag to see if I can see any condensation.

Is this still usable? I don't want to waste 5 meals, but then again I do not want to be in the middle of nowhere with moldy food.

Any thoughts?

The oily feel is from the sausage, which is fattier than hamburger. It shouldbe fine. but I'd store it in the freezer, and use it for shorter trips. In other words, not in a bounce box.

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Originally Posted by sarbar

The oily feel is from the sausage, which is fattier than hamburger. It shouldbe fine. but I'd store it in the freezer, and use it for shorter trips. In other words, not in a bounce box.

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Thanks, looks like I need to stitch with hamburger for the longer trips. Any thoughts of how long it might last outside of a freezer?

I'd encourage you to reconsider dehydrating the sausage, and simply dehydrate your spaghetti sauce and supplement with hard fermented summer sausage/balogni (the real stuff from a real ethnic deli). It works much like hard cheese and holds it's own for months.

As you noted, hamburger is the better choice. If you get it greaseless, it lasts a long time.

I carry a small canister to rehydrate meat thru-out the day. I do a trail spagetti that is raman noodles(just the noodles) packaged with spatini....sauce powder sold in the "packet" section, tomato soup. Very quick rehydrate then I mix in a packet of katchup(sometimes) and add what ever meat I rehydrated that day.....crumbled sasuage would be great!

Sausage is simply ground up fatty pork with a few spices -- mostly sage. i would grind some fat free pork, dehydrate it, and reconstitute it on the trail with a bit of canola oil, salt, pepper, sage and rosemary.

One of the bargains that appear again and again in Maine Grocery store ads are whole pork loins at $1.99 a pound, occasionally even cheaper. It's the cheapest protein around, and the most fat free -- if you ignore the envionmental pollution caused by the millions of hogs fattened on tiny lots -- their poop all going into the nearest river, or stream.

But the responsibility for that rests with the state of North Carolina, where most of the eastern hog farms are located. If I refuse to buy the polluting pork will NC really notice -- and if enough do, will NC respond by just allowing more pollution to avoid disrupting an important industry?

There's a limit to what consumers can do. I buy the pork, write letters of protest, and give the savings to the multiple land trusts that I help suppport and hope that it all works out for the best.

The loins are as fat free as pork gets -- thus properly dehydrated pork lasts as long as any meat. Just buy the whole loins, trim off the fat, chop the fat-free meat as thinly as possible or grind it in a home grinder, and dry it as you would hamburger.

On the trail mix the dried pork with salt, pepper, a bit of sage and other spices of choice -- and enjoy.

Weary

I often dry hamburger when going hiking. If i am drying it for hiking next week, i don't dry it to hard. If i'm drying it for a thru-hike, i dry it very hard. I've had it last 6 months and it probably would've lasted longer but i couldn't wait any longer to eat.
buy it lean as possible, brown it, pat it dry 3 times with lots of paper towels, then dry it in the oven at very low temps (150 or thereabout)
The harder you dry it, the longer it will last but also the harder it will taste. It usually rehdrates up pretty good though just by throwing it in your cooking water as soon as you start cooking. have fun.
I'd forget the sausage. fat won't dry.

Orange bug is right. Do not limit it to the "ground sausage" that everyone else is talking about in this thread. there are many leaner choices that could be dehydrated well. Try dehyrating some good (precooked) Italian sausage or summer in quarter inch cubes. Most of the fat is already rendered. Or cook it enough to render the fat (you might need to press it) then dehydrate.

You could refrigerate or freeze to bring more fat out or even boil but boiling takes away most of the flavor.

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Originally Posted by Austexs

Orange bug is right. Do not limit it to the "ground sausage" that everyone else is talking about in this thread. there are many leaner choices that could be dehydrated well. Try dehyrating some good (precooked) Italian sausage or summer in quarter inch cubes. Most of the fat is already rendered. Or cook it enough to render the fat (you might need to press it) then dehydrate.

You could refrigerate or freeze to bring more fat out or even boil but boiling takes away most of the flavor.

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If you are doing sketty, (I can't speel Spehghetti) I would use Italian or Summer dehydrated or precooked bought along the way.

another technique that might help to "defat" the sausage is:

After cooking, place the hot sausage in a collander and pour boiling water over it. Much of the fat will come away with the hot water.

Miles of Smiles
Tom

Thanks for all of the suggestioins. I went with sausage for something different. I think I will do as was suggested and keep it for short trips.

My main thinking was I want to get enough meals to get me through the 100 mile wilderness sobo. These will save me a lot of food weight and bulk.

I also wanted to put some together for when I recieve the next map set in the mail. If I am already going to the PO and paying for some postage, I may as well get a mail drop of food.

Sorry--wish I could help, but my wife threatened to leave me if I even thought about dehydrating my sausage