dehydrating hamburger

[nativeMama]

Well I finnally took the plunge and dried some hamburger today. I had read about other people doing it, and it looked interesting so I figured why not.

 

First I cooked it like I would for taco meat or chili. After draining as well as possible I put it in my metal collinder and poured boiling water over it, trying to remove as much fat as possible. I let it sit and drain for a little while then put it in the dehydrator. On the bottom rack I put the fruit roll up tray to catch any tiny peices. It didn't take long to dry really. about 3-4 hours is all. Now I have a qt jar about 3/4 full of what used to be 2.5 pounds of hamburger! Now it looks like rat turds! Sorry, gross I know, but true.

 

Has anyone else ever done this, eaten it and lived? Guess I'll try it for supper tomorrow before doing any more.

[Guest Guest]

ROFL! You are too cute...

 

Nope, I'm not a big dehydrator girl...I am outta control with canning and can hamburger all the time...you'll hafta let us know how it reconstitutes...like you said, I've read here where others have done that too and said it's fine.

[nativeMama]

cute? me?

 

I have tried canning burger, but I didn't care for the texture. Maybe if I raw packed it instead?

 

I did manage to can about 25qts each of beef and pork cubes along with some extra pints of broth from both. I've been looking for a good deal on chicken to can next. Sam's wants $.79 a pound for whole chickens, who are they kidding!

 

I liked the idea of the dry burger because not only does it need no refridgeration, but its light if it has to be carried. Maybe I'll let hubby eat it first, then the next night the rest of us can taste it... he has a stomach of iron anyway.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest Guest]

Maybe I'll let hubby eat it first, then the next night the rest of us can taste it...

 

 

ROFL!

 

You are SO naughty!

[mk7925]

I use dehydrated burger all the time. I put it in chili or spaghetti. It rehydrates really well. I also use tvp all the time with the dehydrated burgeer. My food snob grandkids can't tell the difference. I usually put it in at the beginning of the cooking process.

[nativeMama]

Well I just made up a pot of chili using my rat turds, oh sorry, I mean dry burger. I have to say it cooks up wonderfully and I really can't tell that it was dried. I think this is the way we are going to store ground beef from now on. Much better than canning it IMHO. I thought the canned burger was, I don't know, "sand-y" in texture.

 

But really I can't taste or feel any difference in this. WHOO HOOO

 

 

Please don't anybody tell me its bad to do this, cause I don't wanna hear it! LOL

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest Guest]

Well, I grind my own meat for hamburger so I control the grind and mine comes out NOT sand-y...so HA!

 

 

p.s. Oh, btw did I tell you what happened to the Smith's when they used dehydrated hamburger? Oh my gosh, you just wouldn't believe it..well see, what happened was Mrs. Smith.....oooops, forgot you didn't wanna know...oh well, you can't say I didn't warn ya!...

 

rofl

 

 

 

 

 

[arklatex]

Has anyone else tried dehydrating hamburger? I was looking for info on canning it but ran across this post. I like the idea of having things stored different ways. Sort of like not having all my eggs in one basket.

 

I'm interested in finding out if anyone else has any input on drying the hamburger.

[moonstar]

Never tried drying hamburger before but trying to dry some today. Got about 5 more hours to go. Read a lot of posts about it and one on another site from a trail guide and took info from all. Instead of running hot water from faucet over it though, I did what the trail guide suggested and poured off the grease, then put water in pan and brought to a boil to get as much grease out of it as possible. Poured off the water and added more and brought to a boil again. Did this 3 times. (He called it "flashing".) Figured it would get out more grease since our water heater is set at 140 degrees and boiling it is 212. Don't know how all this will turn out, but it's cooking. Still don't have my dehydrating book yet but it should come in this week, hopefully.

Anyone know how you can really tell it's dry enough? Would hate to jar it and vacuum seal it and then have moisture bubbles on the inside of the jar. I guess if that happened it would be ok to put it back in the dryer to dry some more and then jar it again?

[HighAltitude]

I dried 30 pounds of hamburger (85%lean) and am thrilled with my new convenience food. It thickens my homemade spaghetti sauce, and is a great backpacking food. I pan fried it, rinsed it in hot water to remove the grease, and dried it in a food dehydrator for 8+ hours until "crispy". Then, I packed in into oven-heated (250 degrees, 20 minutes) jars and "sealed" them with warm canning lids, since I don't have a vacuum sealer.

 

Were some instructions on making "Hamburger Rocks" posted here before? These instructions tell you how to oven-dry cooked hamburger if you don't have a dehydrator...looking....ah, here:

http://www.endtimesreport.com/hamburger_rocks.html

 

[Amishway Homesteaders]

Thanks for the link!

this looks like something we will have to try.

 

 

 

 

[Leah]

Also see thread - http://mrssurvival.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=18361

 

 

 

 

 

(edited by CAT -

 

Here's another that is good - http://mrssurvival.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=18939

 

and one more - http://mrssurvival.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=23019

 

 

[Snowmom]

Wow, it really is good then.

 

We have talked about doing this, but just never tired to do it. I won't buy anything less than the 93% fat. I suppose you would do that the same as what you did, A.H.

 

We just may try it one of these days.

 

for bringing this thread back up.

[Leah]

Tried out some of the dehydrated hamburger that we made. Noone could tell it from fresh, not even the 'youngins'.

We'll be doing this from now on, it certainly saves on freezer space. Energy efficient, too...

Thank you for the directions!

[btupper2001]

My brother and I take dried hamburger camping all the time. Yes - it looks like gravel when we add it to our spaghetti sauce and you'll never be able to make a hamburger patty out of it again! It's always turned out great up north (although after a week or two without any "real" food (and considering how bad of a fisherman I am) even that tastes good! I don't know how long you can actually store it dry out of a refrigerator. I'd be interested in that!

[dogmom4]

How long can you store it dehydrated?

Stacy

[Leah]

Belle said in 02/28/07 that she used 8 month old...

 

Originally Posted By: Belle

Q - How long have you been storing it?

 

The oldest hamburger I have stored is from June of 2006. I used some last week and it was still like fresh.

 

I'll be perfectly honest with you... I was NOT expecting these results. In fact, I originally did it to prove that it was dangerous or, at the very least, tasted disgusting.

 

I was wrong.

 

 

[susie]

The recipe for hamburger rocks comes out too cooked, the best is to fry the hamburer and then dehydrate it.

 

We sprinkle it onto bread and butter for a nice snack. You can also make pork or turkey or chicken this way. Or cut the mean into little cubes of about a half an inch and do those...they are very nice to chew on or for recipes...I soak them in cold water for a bit, and then cook.

[Leah]

HippieDad and I are eating the dehydrated hamburger I made back in the previous post - August 2007. (Mine were made by simmering the burger in water to remove as much grease as possible before drying, not frying it.)

 

I had completely forgotten about it in the back of the top cupboard. It may have been foolhardy to try it, but I put it in boiling water to rehydrate and cooked it in spaghetti sauce. We've been eating it now for a month with no problems, other than a little 'music.'

 

 

[Violet]

This is a dangerous thing to do. There is no salt to aid in preserving this meat. It would have to be really salted, as in jerky. However, not even jerky should be made with hamburger for safety reasons. The guidelines for making jerky with hamburger have been pulled. The only meat that is now considered safe to dry is jerky, and with specific safety guidelines. Either precooking the meat in a brine or using a vinegar dip method.

So, if you do this, know you are at a risk for ecoli, botulism, etc.

The salt in meats allows for changes in "water activity". It removes water that can allow bacteria to grow rapidly.

 

[sassenach]

When I dehydrate hamburger its cooked first. Period. Cooked, with the fat rinsed out and its called 'hamburger rocks'. There are other threads about hamburger rocks. One doesn't dehydrate raw hamburger because of what Violet said.

Maybe this technique should be in the deeper survival thread?

[gulfcoastruth]

This is probably a dumb question, but I am new so please bear with me!

 

If alot of hamburger dehydrates down to a little bit of hamburger...then it "hydrates well" ....does that mean you only need to reconstitute a LITTLE BIT (for your spaghetti or whatever?)

 

I"m thinking of trying this!

[OINK]

where did anyone say they were dehydrating RAW hamburger? Did I miss that? I read the whole thread. huh. Everyone I read said they cooked the meat prior to dehydrating. Anytime I cook ground beef it is cooked completely. Better safe than sorry. This definitely something I will be checking into.

[Cat]

Violet, I know you've been highly trained and I trust your judgement because I know that you know what you're talking about.

 

Would you please clarify what you think is dangerous about this?

 

Jerky is made with salted/flavored *raw* meats. This is *cooked* tiny bits of ground beef dried in a dehydrator.

 

Common sense seems to indicate that as long as it no longer contains fats (well, of course, there are probably *traces*) that it should be safe. Even commercially prepared jerky still has some fat on/in it.

 

Could you please see if there's some published info on this? I wouldn't know exactly where to look.

 

 

 

 

[Violet]

It is the salt in the dried meats that helps draw out moisture and help preserve the jerky. High amounts of salt are needed to preserve dried meats. The salt draws out moisture. Bacteria grows in warm, high moisture environments. It would be really moist and allow bacteria to grow before it had a chance to dry. There is no way to draw out that water quickly enough unless there is a lot of salt involved.

Read this link on "water activity". http://www.fst.vt.edu/extension/valueadded...eractivity.html

I emailed the National Center for Home Food Preservation about the hamburger. The only safe method now is for jerky, not any other dried meats without being highly salted. Even the meat for jerky is cooked or done in a vinegar soak before drying. Jerky is not even safely done, along with all that salt, without precooking. The salt in jerky cannot be safely reduced, so no low sodium soy sauce can be used.

You have tons of surface areas with ground meat, unlike a single slice of lean meat. All those surface areas means MANY more places for bacteria to grow. We have withdrawn our publications on dried hamburger jerky, only lean cuts of beef. As we are currently teaching food preservation classes, we teach not to use ground meats. (You can verify with Crazy4Canning)

It doesn't matter if the hamburger is cooked first or not, it doesn't have the salt needed. If a person salted it enough to keep bacteria from growing, it would be so salty you would not want to use it in cooking.

Also, even properly made jerky can only be stored at room temp. for 2 weeks, but we don't recommend that anymore, but rather in the fridge, if possible . For longer storage it must be frozen. So, keeping meat, especially ground meat, that was unsalted before drying on the shelf would be increasingly dangerous.