Paddle Meals: Joy Of Drying

June-July 1999

This is an article from WaveLength Magazine, available in print in North America and globally on the web

by Paddle Meals: Joy Of Drying

The Victoria Canoe and Kayak Club offered a popular series of food dehydrating demonstrations during 1998. Joy Newham, a past president of the Club, demo d recipes which dehydrate well and make a welcome change from commercial meals-in-a-bag. Joy, who works for Thrifty Foods, recommends checking the bulk food bins for dried vegetables and fruit or drying produce "in season". She is an avid canoeist and paddles a Voyageur in Timmy's Telethon which her partner Don Munroe coordinates for the Club. These recipes have been tested in the Broken Islands, Johnstone Strait, Kyuquot Sound and on the Yukon River.

TO DEHYDRATE: Follow dehydrator's instructions. When converting a regular recipe add 25% more ingredients to end up with the desired amount after rehydrating. Make sure ingredients are uniform size to dry evenly. Dried food should be leathery, but not crispy.

Rough Guide for Dehydrating:

Crab-8 hours

Shrimp or crumbled ground beef-10 hours Larger chunks of ground beef-12 hours

TO REHYDRATE: Add a reasonable amount of water (you don't want it sloppy) to dry ingredients in a widemouthed plastic jar or tub with a tight lid. Keep an eye on it and add water as needed during the day.

Rough Guide for Rehydrating:

Vegetables-2 hours

Seafood-4 hours

Meat-6 to 8 hours

JACK'S SEAFOOD FETTUCCINI

(Serves 2)

At home dehydrate separately:

300 g assorted seafood-canned or fresh crab, shrimp, clams

1 small red pepper, cut in strips 3/4 cup sliced mushrooms

1/4 cup chives

Rehydrate earlier on the day you serve

fettuccini

At camp:

1 tbsp. olive oil or butter

2 cloves garlic, crushed

3-4 cups water

1/2 cup Parmesan cheese 1/2 cup dried skim milk powder salt and pepper Noodles

Heat oil or butter in a pot, and add garlic, stirring so it won't burn. Remove from heat and add water. Stir in remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil, stirring frequently to prevent burning. Simmer until vegetables are cooked and sauce is thickened. Serve with organic angel hair or linguine noodles which cook in 3-5 minutes.

VIETNAMESE GROUND BEEF

At home:

Cook 570 g ground beef until it starts to turn dark brown, but not too well done. Dehydrated it will look like dog food. Dehydrate 1/2 cup finely sliced onions or include 3 tbsp. dried onion flakes

Toast 3/4 cup flaked coconut.

Rehydrate meat and onions earlier on the day you cook this. At camp:

3 tbsp vegetable oil

1 clove garlic, minced 1 tsp salt

1 tbsp curry powder 1 tbsp lemon juice

1 tbsp plum jelly 1 tbsp soy sauce 1/4 cup water rice or noodles

Heat 1 tbsp oil in a skillet, add coconut and stir over low heat until lightly browned. Remove. Heat the remaining oil in skillet, add rehydrated meat, onions and garlic. Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently until browned. Mix in the salt, curry powder, lemon juice, jelly, soy sauce and water. Cook over low heat 10 minutes. Mix in the coconut. Serve over rice or noodles

Muy sabrosa.

Deb Leach, her computer and kayak live in Victoria, BC.