How to dehydrate sauces?

[mattydt20]

I recently purchased a dehydrator and am starting to work on jerkies and fruit. However, I think I need to start on some real meals.

First off, do you dehydrate the sauce along with the pasta mixed together? I've seen that people dehydrate them mixed together and also just dehydrating the sauce. Pasta is already dehydrated so it seems counterproductive to dehydrate it again.

Secondly, concerning sauces, with holes in all of the dehydrating trays, how do you keep it from seeping to the bottom? I have one flat plastic insert for fruit roll ups and such, but you wouldn't be able to put much on it at a time. Any thoughts?

[SGT Rock]

My experience is to dry sauce sans meat on that tray or use some seran wrap on the tray to make a leather. Dry some cooked ground beef if you want meat, if your a vegan, then I have found that vegies in the sauce will dry together fine.

I would just get pasta along the trail as you need it.

[ADKSara]

First of all, I would consider getting more of the plastic trays you use for your fruit roll ups. I think I have three or four, and I get them all going at once.

You'll encounter different opinions, but I dehydrate the sauce w/out the pasta. Generally we use angel hair for all pasta meals, and it cooks up really quick.

I try to spread the sauce as evenly as possible and break up any veggie chunks. When it is close to dry I sprinkle course parmesan or romano on the top of the spaghetti sauce for a nice sharp taste on the trail.

On a long hike this summer we learned that it was best to begin hydrating our dinner at our lunch time break. We would just cover it with H2O in a small nalgene to let the process begin, and then when we got around to eating dinner it was mostly hydrated and just needed to be warmed. We'd break up the angel hair, add a little more water and cook it up together in the same pot.

We also dehydrated italian spiced ground beef, and mexican seasoned ground beef that could be added for protein, texture and a different flavor.

We're getting ready to mass produce some of our dehydrated favorites for our 06 thru-hike. Happy Dehydrating!!

[PKH]

One quick note about dehydrating pasta: If you cook pasta first at home, and then dry it, you will reduce rehydration or cooking time in the field by about half. This is especially important if you like whole wheat pasta (healthier) which takes a lot longer to cook. I would give the same advice for cooking and drying brown rice as well.

As for sauces, you might want to take care to ensure low fat content. Fat is the enemy of long storage dry foods. You can always add olive oil or margarine at the campsite.

Finally, heavy construction plastic, cut to fit your dehydrator, will work very well for you and is generally easier to handle than saran wrap. Reusable as well.

Cheers,

PKH

[Footslogger]

I did straight pasta sause, without anything in it, and had great luck. Lot's of water in sauce so best (fastest) results are if you keep it thin on the tray. When it was "done" the dehdrated stuff broke up into little flakes and I was able to put it in pint sized freezer strength ziplocks. Re-hydrated really fast and truly added something to a pot of angel hair pasta. I also dried some mushrooms and added them to the mix while the water was boiling ....YUM. Combine that with some of those little garlic melba toasts and you've got quite a tasty trail meal.

'Slogger

[Alligator]

Extra fruit leather trays to dehydrate sauce by itself, campmor sells these. But I pretty much don't do this anymore as I find it to be an extra step. What I do is to keep the fluid in the cooked meal low and near dry it out while prepping. Cook it down as much as possible, so the sauce sticks to the solid foods. Then dehydrate.

I make a couple of meals where the sauce is a bouillon cube. So I prep the solids separately then add the bouillon in camp. If a thick sauce is desired, add cornstarch or mashed potatoes. Add extra spices too depending on meal.

As mentioned above, pasta will rehydrate quicker if dehydrated. It will not need to be cooked, thus saving fuel. Although, the thought of using a cozy may make this negligible. Anyone, can you cozy cook say regular spaghetti, bowties, egg noodles etc. (thicker pastas)?

[Footslogger]

Anyone, can you cozy cook say regular spaghetti, bowties, egg noodles etc. (thicker pastas)?=====================================
Probably not the industrial strength pastas ...but there is a line of "gourmet/designer" pasta that comes in elbow, bowtie etc shapes that is a bit more stout than the angel hair varieties. Can't remember the brand name right off hand but have found it in the pasta aisle at WalMart and it worked really well. I think it might be a bit like the "non-boil" lasagna noodles you can buy nowadays.

'Slogger

[lug nut]

I have cooked pasta and then have dehydrated it. It rehydrates very well. The problem I have had is with the sauce. I have dehydrated tomato paste but it does not rehydrate very well. The next batch of stuff I do I will try cooking the pasta, drain it, add the tomato paste and coat pasta well and then dehydrate it. Maybe this way the pasta will already have a coat of sauce on it so the sauce will hydrate better. the next batch of hamburger I do I will season it before I dehydrate. The last batch was really bland. I vacuum pack all of my meals and use that bag for rehydration.

[PKH]

Lug Nut,

I see your problem right off. Try dehydrating canned tomato sauce instead of tomato paste. The paste is alreadly superconcentrated before you start; that's why you're having such a hard time reconstituting the stuff. You will have the same sort of difficulities if you dry condensed tomato soup. That is, you have to add water to the stuff and then dry it.

Using canned sauce instead of paste, I am always amazed how quickly my sauce rehydrates, and I just use boiling water, a gaterade jar and a quilt cosy.

Good luck. It's not rocket science, or else I couldn't do it.

Cheers

PKH

[Alligator]

I have cooked pasta and then have dehydrated it. It rehydrates very well. The problem I have had is with the sauce. I have dehydrated tomato paste but it does not rehydrate very well. The next batch of stuff I do I will try cooking the pasta, drain it, add the tomato paste and coat pasta well and then dehydrate it. Maybe this way the pasta will already have a coat of sauce on it so the sauce will hydrate better. the next batch of hamburger I do I will season it before I dehydrate. The last batch was really bland. I vacuum pack all of my meals and use that bag for rehydration.Like PKH says, use tomato sauce. I usually make my sauce from canned tomatoes and tomato sauce. I would suggest maybe adding some veggies to the sauce, like zucchini or yellow squash, maybe some peppers, mushrooms and onions. This gives the sauce something to stick to. Of course, spice it up to taste. I find that spices are milder in my dehydrated meals, so maybe add extra. Then throw in the pasta and dehydrate.

[lug nut]

Thanks everyone for the tips. I will try this again this weekend using tomato sauce. I also add hamburger, onions, mexican style stewed tomatoes and jalapeno's, all dehydrated of course. Just need to work on the sauce. Where can you find the dried cheese sauce like is in macaroni & cheese. I know at one time 'Tones" made this in bulk but I can't find a source for it anymore. Any help?

[sarbar]

Thanks everyone for the tips. I will try this again this weekend using tomato sauce. I also add hamburger, onions, mexican style stewed tomatoes and jalapeno's, all dehydrated of course. Just need to work on the sauce. Where can you find the dried cheese sauce like is in macaroni & cheese. I know at one time 'Tones" made this in bulk but I can't find a source for it anymore. Any help?Lugnut...I find the cheese powder in bulk at WinCo stores in the west..but! you can get it here:
http://www.americanspice.com/catalog/20339/search/Cheese_Sauce_Mix.html?SEARCH=3&WORDS=cheese%20sauce&orig=30&PAGE=0&_ssess_=8e15ee970b6c6263f53a26218665efc9
Anyhoo...as for dehydrating, parchment paper works well for liquids. No point in buying a bunch of pricey liners if you don't have to!
Pasta..yes, precooking till al dente then drying till rock hard helps a lot. If you do it this way, all you have to do is add boiling water and cozy for 10 minutes or so (1 cup pasta needs 1 cup boiling water for example). This works for all styles-even whole wheat and super thick. Saves fuel, and having to boil in camp.

[Frolicking Dinosaurs]

I've used a hybrid method for making spaghetti sauce for years. I dehydrate tomato sauce mixed half & half with canned diced tomatos (with onions, garlic and mushrooms). I add that to a commercial dry spaghetti sauce mix. I also dehydrate cooked pasta to cut cooking time or use ramen noodles in place of the pasta.

[lug nut]

Thanks for that american spice web site sarbar. lots of good stuff there