Dehydrating Chef Boy Ar Dee stuff...........

[Mrs Baggins]

I love the sauce in the canned Chef Boy Ar Dee products (raviolis especially!). Since they only come in cans does anyone know if that stuff can be dehydrated??? I don't have a dehydrator yet but I'd consider one if it could dry the precooked canned stuff like that. :D

[russb]

In general yes. However some things dry better than others, or should I say rehydrate better. Keep it in long enough, almost anything will dry out, it is rehydrating it in camp which will prove difficult in some cases. The raviolis themselves will be an issue i would guess. It might work if you diced up the ravis into smaller bits first. If your taste is really for the sauce, just dry the sauce.

[Pokey2006]

The Beefaroni works better. But the taste is a bit "off" when rehydrated. You might be better off cooking up a batch of spaghetti and dehydrating that instead. I wonder if the fat content is what throws off the taste of the canned stuff.

[Bob S]

I would make a guess that things like ravioli with meat sealed inside would not dehydrate well inside without being cut up.

[Survivor Dave]

I would highly discourage that. I was looking on the web to find something, but no luck.

The way I see it, is if you don't completely dry the ravioli, meat especially, you might not completely dry the inside. It is not good to take a perishable product, once it's opened, and not keep it at proper temperature. May I suggest some from Trader Joes. Not instant, but 10 minutes to cook.

As far as the sauce, Try Manwich mixed with regular tomato sauce. The reason folks like the Chef Boyardee Sauce is it's loaded with sugar(and salt).

Good luck. Eat safe.

SD



I love the sauce in the canned Chef Boy Ar Dee products (raviolis especially!). Since they only come in cans does anyone know if that stuff can be dehydrated??? I don't have a dehydrator yet but I'd consider one if it could dry the precooked canned stuff like that. :D

[budforester]

Don't Spaghetti-O's have the same sauce? Maybe test that one first. I agree that stuffed shells may be very tricky to dry throughout.

I have experienced some "burnt" off- flavors with prepared sauces. Heating in air can cause caramelizaion of sugars in the acidic sauce.

[sarbar]

The "off taste" when dried can be related to a number of issues - first check the can - does it have corn syrup of any form? Corn syrup dries horribly and tends to get a "burnt" flavor.
Then look for preservatives. And items you cannot pronounce. They also give off flavors - you are concentrating flavors you normally would not taste in larger amounts.

[hopefulhiker]

I ate dehydrated food for the whole hike. In order to save weight I used the cozy cooking method. In order to rehydrate the food you have to almost mince it up to a uniform consistency. This way parts of it don't end up crunchy when you rehdrate it.. It also rehydrates quicker for the hungry hiker....