Pasta Sauce on the Trail

[Wise Old Owl]

Sometimes posts on Page 2 never get a response - I copied this and moved it to its own thread. 12/28/07

[Smile]

Has anybody ever tried dehydrating fish, like baked salmon? With or without a sauce? Wondering how this would turn out.

I just got a dehydrator for Christmas and I want to try a few things, like a spinach/pinion nut sauce for pasta as well. I just wonder if I should move the thing out of my house onto a porch while dehydrating fish, any ideas?

[sarbar]

Fish=outside or well venilated It stinks to high heaven! But yes you can dry most fish.I'd do it minus the sauce and add it on trail. Treat the fish like you would other meat for drying. You could marinate it though!

[budforester]

I concur, do your experiments outside. I have not been pleased with fish on my dehydrator, but I might experiment with Sarbar's suggestion of a marinade. I suspect that smoked salmon could work, drying it to be shelf- stable. Take care to get it thoroughly dried, and probably store it in the freezer. I like shrimp on the dehydrator... boil, peel, and dry. Shrimp go well in spaghetti sauce, too.

[Smile]

I was thinking shrimp too, hate to use my dehydrator for the first time with fish though, there might be a lingering smell that lasts and lasts, yuk.

Perhaps I should start with easier stuff like apples, water, etc.

[sarbar]

Lol..yeah, fruit is easy

Btw, never hurts with dehydrators to line with parchment paper, less mess to clean up. I have dried a lot of tuna - I do scrub up my trays afterwards to make sure any odor is gone. Works great.

[Smile]

Parchment, great idea.

Will start with this tomorrow, it's one of those 9 tray deals, it looks kinda big, and I saved the box since this is not a 'sit out all the time' appliance.

How easy are veggies like peas, carrots and stuff. I'd like to make some sort of veggie garlic salt type trail crunch of some sort, just to munch on. Do you think dehy. is the way to go for this?

[budforester]

I dry veggies for the pot and most appear to be too hard for crunching as a snack. It sounds appetizing, but .... don't want no backwoods dental emergencies. I particularly like toasted nuts and seeds for snacks. From the dehydrator, I use snack "leathers" of fruit or flavored yogurt. Watermellon- jerky is one of my favorites. I'm presently looking for some low- sodium makeovers. Perhaps I should give your veggie- snack idea a closer look.

[Smile]

I just usually do them in the oven, didn't know if the dehydrator would leave them like "lucky charms marshmellows" like some of the dehydrated apples I buy, nice little crunch, but sort of like meltaways.

[sarbar]

If you want to munch on veggies dried...the Just Veggies are great for that! They are freeze dried so are like popcorn.

[Smile]

That's what I need, freeze dryer
OK, that is the kind of fruit I wanted to make. I like chewy too, but the freeze dried is super fun and delicious!

[Wise Old Owl]

Sun dried tomato's are sun dried for a reason. - The smell. It is very hard to get rid off. - I stopped drying some things that were easy to pick up at the supermarket. some fruits & veggies are beginning to become cost effective.
Samon, I would prefer if it was smoked - before dried. new lighweight packages are now available so there isn't any work invoved, its just the price are we willing to pay that?

[Smile]

OK, my first experiment with the dehydrator was amazing, I'm hooked. The sauce was easy to get into a little fruit roll up, and then I flipped it over for another hour, put it in a little food processor and got beautiful powder. Fired up the little stove and had that, mushrooms, peppers and pasta for dinner, yum a yum yum yummm!

Now, how long do these last? I was told by a friend the next purchase needs to be a vacuum sealer. Sounds like fun! Anybody do this, or just baggies.

[Ewker]

I have a vacuum sealer and use it some. Most of the time I use plastic containers to store products in. I do store dehydrated meats in single serving size containers in the freezer

[sarbar]

How long do things last? Not ong if they taste good

Ok, seriously? Fruits, vegetables, grains, starches up to a year properly stored.
Meat and dairy give 6 months.
Your best storage is tightly sealed in the freezer till trip time for meat and dairy items.
Properly stored away from heat and humidity the items can go longer but it is better to cycle through on a good schedule

[TIGGER]

Great Idea!
Also, I found a number of Freeze Dried Herbs in teh grocery store! Too expensive to use every day, but WOW!!!! The Garlic and Basil was Superb! SO, I will be taking some of those with me next time out! ( And Ramen.... no use in Reinventing the wheel...)
Tigger

[TIGGER]

Dear Wise Owl,
With all due respect, after you have been hiking for 20 days, you will not want to mess with the time it takes to get food into your mouth. Hence, the Raman noodles as a base with or without the spice package, mixed with the fun spaghetti or alfredo sauces, make QUICK WORK of your dinner!
TIGGER ( TIGGER's TREE HOUSE ETNA NH)

[fiddlehead]

Here's an easy alternative if your adventurous: Get some powdered coconut mild from an oriental grocer and also some curry paste or powder. (i used to use the yellow curry powder but it is very Indian food tasting compared to the Thai red, yellow, or green curry pastes. )
Problem with the thai pastes, are they are heavier and VERY spicy. (pet mach) You only need a little bit. (nit noy)
There are a variety of curry pastes depending on the size of the store. This is a great taste in the combination of the 2 ingredients. add some dried tuna or chicken and you will be the envy of your friends.

Another of my favorite things on the trail is pesto. I used to get my buddy to make it and send it out to me. He just uses spinach, olive oil, pine nuts and cheese (which is the one that could go bad over time) and sends it in a nalgene. This makes an awesome meal on the trail but again, it's a bit heavy (eat it first night out)

I'm gettin hungry
Time to go out and get some Masaman

[mweinstone]

i eat froliking dinos food. spatini isnt tomatoe. its spice to be added to tommatoe. duh!

[Smile]

Uomo, mangia la vostra salsa di pomodori!