Freeze Drying Hamburger Patties - Cooked

[@annwithaplan9766]

I did some burgers a few weeks ago. Brought them on a trip and ate some of them the other day. I had precooked chicken patties that had herbs in them. They rehydrated really well and didn't break. They also tasted just fine. Family members really liked them. I just have to make sure to weigh them next time to know how much water to rehydrate them with later.

[@SchoolReports]

We've also dried cooked, thin chicken breast pieces (split in half, thickness) to use for chicken sandwiches and those stayed together great and rehydrated perfectly. (we sometimes rehydrate using canned chicken broth) In fact I find that cooked chicken freeze dries and rehydrates better than raw chicken. Salmon also does better cooked than raw. Some things seem to do much better raw and some better when cooked.

[@annwithaplan9766]

@@SchoolReports - Yes, I'm new to this myself. I was trying for full meals, so I made a wok full of fried rice and freeze dried it. I brought it on my trip and fixed it a couple of days ago. Turned out great.

[@SchoolReports]

@@annwithaplan9766 That sounds good! We want to do more meals too, instead of just ingredients. First I have to finish freeze drying the alphabet; coming up are (I) ice cream, (J) jalapenos (K) kiwifruit and (L) lemon pound cake.

[@annwithaplan9766]

@@SchoolReports - Yum. My daughter did ice cream sandwiches and said they were yummy.

[@SchoolReports]

@@annwithaplan9766 I currently have an ice cream and ice cream sandwiches video scheduled for 10-19-20 and they ARE very yummy!

[@THX..1138]

I think if you poked a bunch of holes in the patties with a fork after cooking they would rehydrate better/faster later.

[@jerrysmith372]

Good video - thanks. I haven't done any cooked hamburger patties - only raw.

[@SchoolReports]

And I probably wouldn't do cooked ones again, but I had to try it! I think the raw ones do better.

[@anthonyw5188]

Another good video! A couple of thoughts: 1. Try using beef broth to rehydrate these. It might add a bit of a beefy oomph. 2. Rehydrate in cool or cold water. not hot. My understanding of proteins is that when they cook, the strands shrink down and tighten up, driving out the moisture. I haven't had a chance to test these theories out yet, but they are on my list to test out!

[@SchoolReports]

I believe that you are correct. And we have used beef broth for rehydrating beef and chicken broth for rehydrating chicken; works great. This was the first time we had tried rehydrating raw meat with hot water. I didn't like it that way and wouldn't plan to do it that way again. kzbin.info/www/bejne/qJCmiJ2Ia5Z2mpo Usually we rehydrate raw meat with ice water and put it in the refrigerator until it's well rehydrated. (like this kzbin.info/www/bejne/gnPSmYaqectmgZI )

[@lloydwagoner5511]

Great content!!

[@SchoolReports]

Thanks!

[@26lettaz74]

Where can I get one of your plastic door sealers vs the fabric ones they now give out to the Harvest Right Machines? Those seem/look to work better?

[@SchoolReports]

It's a tight fitting disc I cut out of Acrylic. (I used 0.075" thick acrylic (1.9mm thick) I would probably use 1/8" (3mm +) next time) The disc seems to work better than the pad that came with the freeze dryer for lowering heat transfer. I'm basing this on the fact that the front of the door does not get as cold with the plastic disc in place as it did with pad. (think airplane window) I also added metalized film bubble stuff around the door seal. I love how good of a job it has done and have not experienced any downside yet. And it's better for monitoring the freeze drying items too. This is what I did: kzbin.info/www/bejne/m6OrYol6prOcbpI

[@nicholaslandolina]

Steam it

[@gregvence7356]

Curious, why the paper towel on top?

[@SchoolReports]

With the cooked burgers, I find that, as they are heated during drying, they sometimes have a little bit of fats come off of them and coat the areas around them. The paper towel absorbs any grease coming off of them.

[@ghermansizer]

Grease and oil goes rancid over time. The shelf life wouldn't be very long on greasy or oil foods. But probably would for last months. Maybe a few years. Better than sitting in the bottom of the freezer getting freezer burn though.

[@SouthGeorgiaGarden]

What size are the bags?

[@SchoolReports]

The bags in this video are the "Quart Seal Top Gusset 7 Mil Stand Up Mylar Bags Sets" from packfreshusa.com/quart-seal-top-gusset-7-mil-stand-up-mylar-bags-sets/ My two favorite bags are this quart bag (it is really about 3/4 quart) and the 2 quart bag. They list the actual volumes on their web site. We've used over 1800 of their 1 & 2 quart bags and have been happy with them so far. They have a variety of bags, but this style is our favorite. We recently bought the 1000 pack of the quart size and the 900 pack of the 2 quart from their wholesale part of their website. We're good for a year!

[@gregvence7356]

@@SchoolReports Thanks for the bag link. I'm building a list of sellers. :)

[@ghermansizer]

It's better to freeze dry raw hamburger meat then rehydrate with beef broth and or beer. I've learned trial n error. I'm not a fan of precooked meats freeze dried but there is a few exceptions. Costco's frozen Italian meat balls come by really good freeze dried. Also lean ham and eggs in my freeze dried Denver omelets is good too. I could barely tell that all the ingredients for my omelets were freeze dried.

[@SchoolReports]

I agree 100% kzbin.info/www/bejne/qJCmiJ2Ia5Z2mpo But, people ask about precooked the most.

[@dirkdiggler9379]

The slurping and lip smacking is rough with headphones on