Hi what iv found with dehydrators is meat or chicken doesnt come back very well, but if you like your meat a bit chewy then all is good, however i like my steak med :-) but if your a well done king of gent then do it. Try and hydrate jerky its almost impossible the challenge will be over time that comes back, However mince is very good in a sauce of some kind like pasta bake etc. Past experiments found food with high fat doesnt dehydrate and can spoil very quickly. Pulses are great like dahl tarka dahl yum yum. With drying fish yes it stinks like a fishermans boot but i dont see the point in it. If you go to any chinese food outlet they do lots of dry fish that you can just add to your meal as and when, plus the shelf life is long and its light. Rhubarb and custard dehydrates and comes back excellent. Buying a vacuum bag machine is a must if you want a longer shelf life...My suggestions is to experiment, dehydration doesnt have to be bland and if you like chilli use fresh!!!!

Interesting, I'd not considered Chinese food outlets for dried fish, I'll nip into Manchester's Chinatown and see what can be found. Thanks for the heads-up Stefan!

I've never had much success with chicken, I find it dehydrates well enough but is a bugger to rehydrate.

The trick with chicken is to slice it very thinly and cook it in a pressure cooker. The only way I've found to slice it thin enough is to put the raw chicken breast in the freezer for a few hours until it is almost solid. You can then slice it about 1mm thick before cooking it. Slice it any thicker and it won't re-hydrate properly. Oh and you need to wear gloves when slicing it or your fingers will get painfully cold. As I said this works well but it's such a faf I rarely bother. For some reason I find minced turkey breast works better than minced chicken but again it's best if cooked in a pressure cooker.

Ian C.

No probs. I think chicken is a very dry meat anyway and dehydrating just makes it like concrete, like ian said mince turkey is good and even mince beef. I am planning to make some really nice stuff this time around and maybe do a kitchen sketch on top of the Monolith mountains ha ha.

Thanks for your useful suggestions, Ian.