I'm planning to cook and dehydrate a spaghetti sauce with hot Italian pork sausage (somewhat fatty) and a small amount of very lean hamburger. I would also have some olive oil in it, from cooking peppers and mushrooms, though I would add most of th oil after reheating it in a freezer bag.

I am somewhat confused about the issue of dehydrating meat and meals with fat in them. Some recipes call for removing all fats from hamburger, even rinsing in several times. Some recipes seem to direct you to just cook up your sauce or stew with all its ingredients and then dehrydate and make no mention of eliminating the fats. Other recipes actually have you use a lot of oil.

Is this a health issue or just a an issue of making a mess in the dehydrator? I've got a Nesco. Is there a general rule about fats and dehydrating?

The issue lies in that fat can go rancid during storage. So dry fast and store tightly sealed in the freezer till trail time.
With higher fat items I would not personally carry the dried food for long periods, especially in hot weather.
As for messes? Just use parchment paper and line the trays :-)

Thanks, Sarah. I guess I am wanting to know if I should cook the sausages separately first and try to drain off all of the fat before making the sauce. I like to have a high oil content in my food when I'm hiking but of course i do not want it to go rancid.

It might be 3 or 4 days before I get to eating the spaghetti what with the travel to the mountains. While in the car I can keep it in the cooler but once we are on the trail it could be another day or two at 70 degrees or so.

Should the sauce be totally brittle dry?

Terry I pretty much had the same recipe on the trip I just got back from.

You want to reduce certain types of fat because of rancidity as Sarah has mentioned.

Our temps were around 25ºC to 30ºC (I think that is probably mid-80's in F). The sauce was fine. I've had it up to 8 days in my pack at these temps... I just keep it more toward the middle of the pack.

At home I cook it a little differently if I am drying it. I use hot Italian sausage (pork) and remove them from their casings. I fry it up like ground beef and then I rinse it with boiling water. I wipe the pan and cook the meat a little more. Then I rinse it a second time, return it to a wiped pan and reseason it. Then I add it to my sauce with my cooked ground beef (done in the same way as the sausage). My sauce has a bit of olive oil in it but not enough to be concerned about as far as rancidity goes.

At camp I rehydrate for about 30 minutes. I start with boiling water and use a cozy.

The sauce can remain leathery but sometimes I forget it and it becomes brittle. I just put it in a bag and crunch it up well. The pieces of brittle sauce crumble to almost a powder and rehydrate faster.

Edited to add...

When using sausage I tend to only keep the meal out of the fridge or freezer for about 2 to 3 weeks tops.

Edited by Laurie_Ann on 08/27/2008 14:11:40 MDT.

btw....one way to get tasty fat added in? Add in a shot (say a Tbsp per person) of EVOO when rehydrating. I flip between the 1 Tbsp foil packets and a 4 ounce Lexan bottle.
Makes nearly everything taste better ;-)

Sarah and Laurie, thanks so much for all your helpful info. Now I am off the the kitchen to cook up that sauce. I will definitely take along a lot of good California olive oil. I like to put it on everything, even my toast, and I've been told that it is much better for you if it isn't heated.

You are very welcome...

A drizzle of good quality olive oil will really add to the dish. I often take a small piece of Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese to have over my pasta just before serving. I just shave off curls with my Swiss Army knife. The oil and cheese bring it up a notch.

Here is Tobias (my son) enjoying his Fusilli and the sauce with the sausage meat... this was on Friday (wilderness paddling trip).



Tobias doesn't like as much sauce as my husband Bryan does so I always take that into account. If you look closely you can see the cheese.

Edited by Laurie_Ann on 08/27/2008 15:14:56 MDT.