Backcountry Egged Food - Need Help

Nature Boy

Howdy![p]Gonna cook some beef jerky for my backpacking expedition, and also gonna try something I have never done. My friend lent me his food dehydrator (no fan, just heating elements and rotatable trays). Anyway, the plan is to smoke a smallish brisket, and cut it up into small pieces to dehydrate. Also want to smoke some peppers and vidalia onions to dehydrate. My buddy is dehydrating tomato paste to bring, and I was gonna put together a nice pot of backcountry brisket chili up in the hills.[p]A few questions..any help/tips are greatly appreciated:
1) Zip mentioned using Tender Quick to help preserve the meat a bit. How do I use this stuff??[p]2) Will the food dehydrator cook the brisket additionally, and if so should I pull the brisket off just after the plateau temps are reached??? [p]Any other tips also welcome!! Thanks a bunch.
NB

Gfw

<p />Nature Boy, hope when you finish it looks ike the jerky in the picture - it also started as brisket!

[ul][li]Beef Jerky[/ul]

Spin

Nature Boy,[p]1. With all respect to Zip, I don't feel it is necessary in this case. If you fully dehydrate the meal and then vacuum seal, you will have served the purpose.[p]2. Cook the meal to completion, then dehydrate. The dehydrator will only remove the moisture. In the field, add water to the bag to rehydrate and then reheat (in the bag) in boiling water.[p]Rehydration requires the proper amount of water and time. Warming the water will speed the time some. Some experiments at home can help greatly with the results in the field. Bouillon cubes can be a nice asset for flavoring the juices during rehydration. Spices can be added to the bag prior to sealing.[p]Gonna be a great adventure,
Spin

Zip

Nature Boy,[p]Use the TQ as a salt replacement in a 1 to 1 ratio for salt. I'll email you my recipe. You cannot cook the whole brisket on the dehydrator in my opinion. You can use the TQ to cure chunks of beef to dehydrate. The bigger the pieces of meat, the longer the dehydrate time. As far as additional items to make, try some peaches, pears, pineapples, and green peppers.[p]Zip

Nature Boy

Spin,
Thanks a bunch. Great suggestions. Seems less intimidating after your straightforward answer.[p]Gonna be a blast. We have been eating dehydrated food on these trips for years, and am familiar with cooking it....just never prepared it (usually Mountain House or Alpine Air do the prep!). One thing for sure, is cooking at 10,000 feet is definitely different than at sea level![p]Cheers
NB

Nature Boy

Zip,
Thanks. My goal is to egg the food, and get a great smoke flavor in the food before dehydrating.
16 days without humpty is gonna be hard enough....at least I can have the taste of the Egg when I am chillin' out.
Will be nice to have a warm pot of smoked brisket and pepper chili on a 40 degree August evening...and it will keep me warm on the 20 degree nights.
Plan on doing some veggies and fruit if I get time. This non-fan dehydrator takes plenty of time to do the job.[p]Cheers!
NB

Mary

Nature Boy,
You must fully cook the meat before dehydrating. Dehydrating does not cook foods at all, and the temperatures during the dehydration are conducive to bacteria growing. Best bet is to fully cook your meat and slice and dehydrate immediately. Slice thin or dice into small chunks to dehydrate safely.[p]Among we gardeners who dehydrate some of our produce, the prudent thing to do is freeze dehydrated food to kill bugs and eggs, else you risk critters hatching in storage and ruin the food. That's how little heat is involved in dehydrating.[p]Also, once your food is dehydrated, get sealed properly right away to retain the best flavor. There's no reason you can't package the dried foods in a single pouch containing all your ingredients for a dish - makes life easier on the trail.[p]Mary

Nature Boy

Mary,
Thanks for the tips. Not sure where I would be without yall. [p]Good tip on packing all the ingredients together. I am looking into picking up a dehydrator with a fan. Found out they are very inexpensive, and my friend (in Little Rock) told me American Harvest has a new model out that forces air thru in a new and better way. I figure 20 or 25 bucks, and I will be in business...and will get some use out of it when we finally get our veggy garden going. I am getting unbeleivably excited.[p]Thanks again
NB

Mary

Nature Boy,
I started with a small one sans a fan, then got a really nice one with a fan. The fan is a big improvement on the dehydrator, especially for wet things like tomatoes. have fun.[p]Mary