Dried meat / fish? Dehydrator?

About (not) consuming fresh raw fish and fresh raw egg yolks
art
Posts: 102
https://cutt.ly/meble-kuchenne-wroclaw
Joined: Thu 20 Oct 2005 00:01

Dried meat / fish? Dehydrator?

Post by art »

is dried meat ok?

and is there such a thing as like Dried Salmon Jerky?
fictor
Posts: 517
Joined: Wed 09 Jan 2008 19:35

Dried fish? Dehydrator?

Post by fictor »

I live in Norway, and here we have something called 'tørrfisk'
It means 'dry-fish" and is basically fish that is hung up to dry
right after catching and removing the insides and head and stuff.

There is no salt or other ingredients used in the process, only the fish.

The fish is hung up when t is still early spring, and quite cold outside.
This prevents molding, rotting and other nasty stuff.

Then, as the summer comes, the fish is dried out by the wind and sun.
It hangs there for something like six months. Outside all the time.

Then, after carefully selecting, some of it is sold as dog/cat food, a lot
exported (mainly to Italy, I think) and some sold in stores here in Norway.
It is excellent travel food, and quite good taste wise.

My question is this; judging from my description of this product, do you think it will cause acne? Of course one can not eat as much as 50+ grams a day, because this fish is like 80% protein.

What do you think?
User avatar
RRM
Administrator
Posts: 8164
Joined: Sat 16 Jul 2005 00:01
Contact:

Post by RRM »

The maillard reaction even takes place in our own body (and its not that hot inside).
The Maillard reaction comprises a very wide range of reactions, and there are very different maillard reaction products; varying from totally innocent ones to very bad ones, varying from completely natural occuriring to exclusively 'chemical ones'. Hmm, exclusive is the wrong word, actually, as even nature (forest fires) can give rise to very 'chemical' heterocyclic amines...

Cooking is just a way to 'indiscriminately' create heterocyclic amines from any possible combination present in the food cooked, giving rise to a whole spectrum of heterocyclic amines.
User avatar
RRM
Administrator
Posts: 8164
Joined: Sat 16 Jul 2005 00:01
Contact:

Post by RRM »

Taken from a diffewrent thread:
fictor wrote:To my understanding, one can dehydrate any type of fruit, and even meat/fish in this dehydrator. This process does not cause a millard reaction/provoke chemical alteration of the protein in the used fruit/animal food. Is this correct?
Yes!
I also wonder spesificly what kind of dehydrator, as I am looking into buying one if the answer to my question above is 'yes' :)
Any dehydrator is ok, as long as you can adjust the heat / warmth. Some of them have a special option to do so, whereas with others you can adjust the heat by adjusting the number of boxes you attach on top of the dehydrator (the more layers, the cooler).

Regarding the maillard reaction:
There are various maillard reaction products. The ones that cause acne are caused by heating. From experience (and im extremely susceptible to acne) anything dried below 70 degrees celcius does not cause acne. (i have not experimented in the range of 70 to 100 degrees celcius)

So, yes, below 70 degrees you can safely dry fish.
(or as they dry fish outside in scandinavian countries)
Iris
Posts: 508
Joined: Mon 08 Dec 2008 14:09
Location: Netherlands

Post by Iris »

We've got an axcallibur dehydrator, this one: http://www.excaliburdehydrator.com/9-Tr ... r-prod.htm

Works perfectly fine, but I guess most others will too. We always set the temperture at 40 degrees celsius, with everything. We dry fruit (if you decide to buy one, you should realy try drying pineapple and mango, that is sooooo dilicious!!! Way better than store-bought organic) and occasionally fish. And for my dog liver and I once did lung.
And once I tried drying coconut, but I think it wasn't dry enough when I took it out, because after a few weeks it got mouldy...
fictor
Posts: 517
Joined: Wed 09 Jan 2008 19:35

Post by fictor »

Cool! I will check out what kind of dehydrator that seems to meet my
needs, and then buy one :)

Looking forward to dry mango and tuna! :D
fictor
Posts: 517
Joined: Wed 09 Jan 2008 19:35

Post by fictor »

Would this be a good dehydrator? http://www.rawguru.com/store/raw-food/e ... r2400.html

85-145 Fahrenheit, is that ok, if I stick to the lower end of the range?
Gerard
Posts: 86
Joined: Thu 14 Feb 2008 01:31

dehydrator temp.

Post by Gerard »

I ran a dehydrator in an inadequately-heated room in wintertime, and it was too cold (dehydrators run keeping foods *somewhat* warm and dry); it can also be too cold at times to run it.

So the dehydrator must be situated in such a way that there is a minimum-temperature airflow around it. If buying one, it is good to remember this.

Fictor's outdoor-dried fish reminded me of this. Because a dehydrator can be a little noisy, running all the time, one is tempted to put it maybe outside a kitchen-- in an unheated pantry or even garage. But it really won't work there if it is too cold.
Iris
Posts: 508
Joined: Mon 08 Dec 2008 14:09
Location: Netherlands

Post by Iris »

I think it would, fictor. This one doesn't have a timer, right?
85 degrees fahrenheit is about 30 degrees celsius, so you should do perfectly fine staying in the lower range.
And I think 4 trays are sufficient (assuming you don't have a whole orphanage to feed ;)). We have 9 trays, and last week I dried 11 pineapples on them :shock: So we had a "small" stock here :)
fictor
Posts: 517
Joined: Wed 09 Jan 2008 19:35

Post by fictor »

Thank you both for the replies! I will consider buying one when
I get back to financial balance, after buying too many, too expensive
Christmas gifts (I love to give gifts though, so it is all worth it ;) )
bbdave
Posts: 21
Joined: Sat 28 Mar 2009 03:00
Location: Ohio

Dried meat (beef, chicken, pork, etc)

Post by bbdave »

I recently bought an Excalibur dehydrator, mainly to dry raw meat. According to the Wai diet guidelines, the drying temperature should be kept at a minimum. Does this mean that I would need to get really fresh meat in order to make it safe to eat dried? Or would the drying process help get rid of some bacteria, so that I could buy meat at a regular store and eat it safely after dehydrating?
User avatar
Oscar
Administrator
Posts: 4350
Joined: Mon 15 Aug 2005 00:01

Post by Oscar »

Welcome.

If your body is used to bacteria, and if your immune system is in good shape, then you don't need to worry too much about bacteria. Of course fresher meat tastes better.

Are you on the Wai diet? And if so, how long have you been on it?
bbdave
Posts: 21
Joined: Sat 28 Mar 2009 03:00
Location: Ohio

Post by bbdave »

I've been on the Wai diet for 4-5 months now, mostly at 95% raw and 5% cooked. I have been eating 4-8 egg yolks daily for over two months, but I have never eaten any raw beef or chicken.

So lets say I buy two chunks of beef from the grocery store. I then slice up one chunk and dehydrate it at minimal heat, and keep the other chunk of beef in the fridge. After the beef is dried, would there be any big difference in the amount of bacteria between the raw beef and the dried beef? I'm guessing that there won't be, since the dehydration process would not heat up the meat enough to kill much of the bacteria. Is this correct?
User avatar
Oscar
Administrator
Posts: 4350
Joined: Mon 15 Aug 2005 00:01

Post by Oscar »

I think that's correct. You're used to bacteria then, so you should be okay.

The Wai diet is actually 100% raw... ;)
bbdave
Posts: 21
Joined: Sat 28 Mar 2009 03:00
Location: Ohio

Post by bbdave »

Right, I meant 95% Wai diet, and 5% cooked/munch foods. Ok, I will try making some beef jerky today.
Thank you for your responses.
Post Reply