Why dehydrate things separately?

[Zora]

Hey thar,
I'm new to dehydrating and I noticed that almost every recipe I see is made up of independently dehydrated items. Occasionally it looks like things are pre-mixed together if it's a liquidy thing like a sauce, fruit leather, etc.

I'm just wondering why, and if this is necessary. My guess would be if it is necessary, it's due to different drying times of component ingredients?

But is it strictly necessary? Say I wanted to make a stir fry of vegetables, would I still need to cook everything separate including the sauce? Or how about a saute of sweet potatoes, vegetables, meat? I would in real life just cook all the ingredients together. Just trying to understand why the recipes are the way they are.

[atraildreamer]

You have more flexibility in choosing a menu if you have separately dried ingredients. Also, the flavors might migrate into other food if dried together, (have an onion-flavored banana chip, anyone? :p). You can experiment with adding, or deleting, ingredients and are not stuck with the same dehydrated menu, meal after meal.

If a dish needs oil, it is better to add it at the time of final preparation, (on the trail). Oils and fats cannot be dried due to having no water content. They will turn rancid after a while.

[russb]

I don't dry ingredients separately. I make the full meal, and dry it all. IMO it allows the flavors to meld together. Chilies, stews, casseroles are perfect for this. For a few years now I havent even made any special recipes just to dry, I just put my leftovers from dinner into the dehydrator instead of the fridge or freezer.

[Tuckahoe]

Foods have different drying rates according to their moisture content and how they're prepped. Drying individually allows proper dehydration plus ingredient flexibility when cooking.

My personal preference is to dehydrate whole prepared meals. Part of my preparation is to insure that each of the ingredients are cut or of a size that they're all appropriately dry at the same time.

[Lyle]

Some things require different re-hydration times. For example, I make bean, beef and corn burritos. The refried beans re-hydrate almost instantly, and require a particular quantity of water which is absorbed, 100% to make the proper consistency. On the other hand, the beef and corn take longer to re-hydrate and usually leave some liquid that is drained (or included as part of the bean water). Trying to do them all together makes a kinda soupy bean, crunchy corn mix.

Added to that, you have more versatility with individual ingredients.

On the other hand, some meals will work ok dehydrated as a combined, finished product, but I find these are the exception. Chile is one that works ok.

[Vegan Packer]

For a few years now I havent even made any special recipes just to dry, I just put my leftovers from dinner into the dehydrator instead of the fridge or freezer.

Great idea!

[Hosh]

I noticed a lot of recipes integrate previously dehydrated items together for re-hydration. A friend gave me "LipSmackin Backpackin" as a recipe source. It also has a lot of pre-dried mixed in the field recipes. I usually cook mine all mixed, BabelFish5 on youtube is my go to guy, that way I can control the spices they way we like it. I generally over-spice things, dehydrating seems to take some of the intensity out of the food.

Lots of people buy #10 cans of dried veggies and mix everything together. Seems better than buying the MH and other pre-made complete meals.

As far as doing stir fry all together and dehydrating, that should be fine. You need to be careful with dehydrating fats in oils, meat, dairy, and eggs. I always buy my eggs and dairy from a commercial supplier. Hamburger should be 90+ % lean, cooked very thoroughly, and well rinsed in very hot water. I have had hamburger gravel last over 3 seasons vacuum sealed in mason jars and stored in a freezer. Use either pouch or canned chicken since it has been pressured cooked. Normally cooked chicken, dehydrated, takes forever to re-hydrated and it's still chewy.

I do think you can get a better product cooking everything together. Pastas,mushrooms, potatoes etc. absorb the various flavors.

As far as separate drying times, I don't think you can over dry, and flipping or rearranging things during the cycle helps to get good consistency.

[fiddlehead]

Bananas (probably my favorite dehydrated food) are only dried slightly (for me), I like them flexible and long and skinny (do you know if bananas will split into 3 equal parts lengthwise)
Black beans are probably my favorite lunch time dehydrated meal. So I cook them a bit dry and then dry them on plastic wrap that is laid 50% on each tray.
Broccoli, and plum tomatoes are a favorite for my Thai dishes that I create on trail (although I also use carrots and cauliflower sometimes)

So, I can't imagine drying all of the above at the same time.
Wouldn't be very good tasting, and they ALL require different drying times.

The hamburger I dry, I do in the oven, not in the dehydrator.

If you are drying all veggies, go ahead and try them all at the same time.
But you might find that some will take longer to get the consistency you want.

Perfection in drying is helped immensely by experience. (and taste)

[Hosh]

I agree, don't know of any broccoli and banana dishes I've fallen in love with. Might be better if one throws in some Brussels sprouts to the mix.

My comments are related to beef stroganoff, tuna casserole, spaghetti with meat sauce, chicken and rice, southwest omelets. Doing separate dehydrated ingredients, makes for a less tasty meal.

Dehydrating hamburger in an oven is certainly fine. You'll have less control than a dehydrator, especially if you have to keep an oven door ajar to limit higher temperatures.

[Mtsman]

I don't dry ingredients separately. I make the full meal, and dry it all. IMO it allows the flavors to meld together. Chilies, stews, casseroles are perfect for this. For a few years now I havent even made any special recipes just to dry, I just put my leftovers from dinner into the dehydrator instead of the fridge or freezer.


Wow, and the light bulb just turned on~! Thanks for this.

[Zora]

Cool, thanks for all the replies. Yah, I saw that chili seemed to be one of the exceptions to dehydrate separately. I'm looking at doing some pulled pork and either a turkey or chicken mole, I think those are candidates as well. Also soups that are pureed should be good I'm thinking.

I'm getting closer with my menu list (this is for a thru) and will try to suss it out. If there are any things that look like they aren't worth it to dehydrate I might try to save some time and buy online with some credits I have at amazon. I read that chicken is ok if you pressure cook or steam it but I might do pouches with that if I find something without a ton of chemicals in it.

(she says in a small voice pre-emptively: yes, I know it's possible for many if not most to buy along the trail. The foods I have to or want to eat because of health conditions are usually available in specialty shops, I'm getting a lot of donations, someone else is paying for shipping- and it's the regional priority fixed rate (avg should be $6.50/box) and I'm sort of an insanely thrifty shopper. 99 cent only, oh snap)

[LoneStranger]

Try some small test batches if you are going to try drying chicken or other meats. I will dry ground beef and shrimp, but have given up on chicken. My early attempts were using fresh chicken I steamed and shredded. The result was a very chewy, jerky texture after rehydrating. After that I went to canned chicken which is pressure cooked as part of the canning process. I cut that into very small cubes and dried it on fruit leather trays. That was better, lots of flavor added to meals, but still too tough. Pork will have similar results I'd expect. I buy freeze dried chicken now, but since it is pricey I use a lot of beef and shrimp.

I do dry things in large batches of single ingredients and meat is a great example of where that works well. Once you have a process that gives you the result you like it is easier to do it in large quantities. That gives you consistent results on trail that you know will work because you tested it at home. I make a test meal out of just about every item I dry. Better to find out something didn't work at home than on trail where you're left hungry and with a heavy garbage bag to carry the next day :)

[Tuckahoe]

If I could offer one piece of advice, that would be to make yourself a reflectix cozy. You will get better rehydration results with your DIY dehydrated meals as well as good fuel economy.

[Zora]

Another data point:
http://www.thrueat.com/blog/better-spaghetti-rehydration

[Tuckahoe]

https://www.youtube.com/user/MrBabelfish5/videos

Take some time to watch Babelfish5's Hungry Hammock Hanger videos. They are worthwhile and offer a number of ideas and options beyond just pasta.

As a personal thought, having read the link posted from the thrueat.com blog, I am a big fan of mixing and dehydrating meals together. By creating and testing at home you are able to tweak your recipes to your tastes with the measures that you desire. The issue described in the link honestly just does not exist in reality.

[LoneStranger]

Another data point:
http://www.thrueat.com/blog/better-spaghetti-rehydration

Ick! That was disgusting and should have come with a trigger warning :)

I've been thinking about doing up a post on how I make my lobster marinara and looking at that was a great motivator. There is no reason a human being should have to eat like that on trail. If you are going to go to all the trouble of making your own meals, make them something worth eating, not something you have to choke down.

Storm today but once I can get to the store I'll cook up a batch and fire up the dehydrator. The house will smell wonderful, but that is a price I'm willing to pay if it keeps even one person from eating sauce out of a jar like that!