Q and A: dehydrating ground beef and DIY mixes

Dehydrating ground beef

I would like to do this if you feel it is safe. Don’t want to “poison” my family!

1. Brown your hamburger in a skillet. While you are cooking it be sure to break it up well. You don’t want large chunks in your pan.
2. Once your hamburger is browned, drain all the grease from it. An easy way to do that is to use a colander.
3. After you drain as much grease out as you can, rinse the meat with boiling hot water until the grease is gone and let it drain again. You want as little as possible in your meat. Grease will make your meat go rancid pretty quickly. You want to avoid this at all costs.
4. After you have the grease out and the meat is well drained, put it in a clean skillet. Season your meat with whatever you choose to use. I use salt, pepper onion powder and garlic powder. Season it to your own taste. (You could make up different batches like “taco meat” or any other flavor) Continue cooking until all the moisture is gone. You want to get it as dry as you can without burning the meat.
5. If you are using a dehydrator, place your meat on the trays. I would use screens or fruit roll up trays so the meat doesn’t fall through. If you are going to be using your oven, put the meat in a baking pan about 1/2 inch or so deep. A cookie sheet or something similar works well.
6. Dry at 165 degrees for approximately 15 hours in your dehydrator. For your oven (if you can’t set it at 165 degrees) you may need to it at its lowest temperature. Put a spoon or something like it in the door to prop it open slightly. This will allow the moisture to escape as well a lower the temperature slightly. Stir every few hours to make sure it is evenly drying. When it is done, the meat will be dark brown and hard (like little rocks) with no moisture in it.
7. Store in air tight jars. You can use your vacuum sealer or O2 absorbers to draw out the air.

Judith Almand
Brandon, Florida

I don’t see any problem with this recipe but do make sure it is dehydrated very well — like little rocks — or it will mold in storage. Basically, it’s just crumbled jerky which we all dehydrate. (But if you dehydrate it so it’s still flexible like store jerky, it will not last long in storage. It needs to be very dry and hard like old-time dried meat or jerky. — Jackie

DIY mixes

I cannot find DIY recipes for packaged seasonings and sauces, such as taco seasoning, brown gravy, sloppy joe mixes. I would like to have these made up so I could quit buying the packets. Do you have a book (like your first cookbook) which gives the step by step instructions for these types of mixes?
 
Alecia
Salem, Alabama

No, I don’t, mostly because I don’t do “mixes” but just put in seasonings to taste every time I cook a recipe. But I know of a few good books out there on making mixes that you might like. One, The 4.1.1. Cook Book Seasonings and Homemade Fixes by Dewayne Newburn is great and available on Kindle (only). You might also check out Make-A-Mix by Karine Eliason and others, available both in book and Kindle versions. — Jackie