We've had a Nesco food dehydrator gathering dust in the kitchen since last year. Yesterday, Amanda and I finally put it to use.
We first made a batch of apple chips. To make them, we cored a half dozen apples, sliced them about 1/4" to 3/8" thick, and then dipped them in lemon juice to prevent browning. Then they went into the dehydrator at about 140 degrees F. for 4.5 hours.
I should have gotten picture of the apple chips, but they lasted all of 10 minutes after coming out of the machine. They were awesome.
While the apples were drying we sliced up 6 chuck steaks and marinated them with seasoning that came with the dehydrator. After the apples were done we put the beef in and let it run overnight, about 12 hours at about 160 degrees F.
I took it out this morning. It's really damn good and a lot cheaper than store-bought beef jerky. For around $16 worth of beef I probably got about $50 worth of jerky, had I bought it at the supermarket.
The dehydrator came with 5 trays and will work with up to 12. This morning I ordered two more trays along with a package of the Nesco jerky seasoning.
As an aside, the dehydrator is not too noisy. It was audible from the next room but was basically a low-level white noise.
Making the apple chips and jerky was time-consuming but worth it. I'd like to see us get into using the machine a lot more because the home made dehydrated items are a lot cheaper than those bought in the store.
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1 comment:
Dave-
Below is the recipe I have been using for close to 40 years, with these modifications: I have the pre-Nesco dryer, different name, Harvestor or some such, uses the same trays, and only goes up to 145 degrees (now stuck there as it happens). I find that the beef I'm willing to pay for tends to have a lot of sinew and many years ago I started using boneless, skinless, chicken breast when it was on sale for $2 or less/lb. I usually like it as well or better than the beef. Where the original recipe calls for seasoned salt I use Mrs. Dash salt-free or similar (a little more, experiment to your taste, I tend to go a little heavy on all of the spices) that I run through the coffee grinder that I reserve for spices so that it mixes in and distributes well. I started making our own jerky to get a reduced salt level for my wife's needs. By drying the jerkey to almost crispy it lasts for more than a year without an excess of salt (I get ~10 lbs of meat on my ten trays at a time and usually do two or three runs in sequence before cleaning the trays and putting them away). I package the end product in 4 oz lots in Zip-lock sandwich bags with the air expressed to the extent it will, then package those in gallon zip-lock freezer bags and store them in a paper grocery bag to exclude light. By storing that out of sight and only bringing individual bags out when requested it does indeed last a year or more, depending on how much I've made up. The way I'm doing it, quite dry, it takes about 2 lbs of meat to make 1/2 lb of jerky. The original recipe as I found it:
Beef Jerky
1/2 lb. 125-145̊ 8-12 hours
1 1/2 lb. flank steak 1 t. seasoned salt
1/3 t. black pepper 1/3 t. garlic powder
1 t. onion powder 1/4 C. Worcestershire sauce
1/4 C. soy sauce
Cut steak diagonally across the grain in 1/8 to 1/4" slices (all the same); or separate into similar strips along the grain [along the grain takes lots longer]. Marinate for several hours or overnight [overnight, stir several times]. Spread on racks as separate pieces and "cook" (cookie racks on cookie sheets may take a little longer but are lots less messy).
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