I Bought a Freeze Dryer - Harvest Right

[Michael]

I Bought a Freeze Dryer - Harvest Right

I did another venison “steak” rehydration test.

This was whitetail round steak that I SV, then sliced into roughly 1/2” steaks and freeze dried on 5/22 of this year.

I pulled them out on Thursday, with original intent to rehydrate in the fridge overnight for lunch on Friday. I ended up not cooking it until lunch today. I rehydrated in a ziplock with cool water and reconstituted bone broth.

It rehydrated well. The steaks were originally cooked medium rare, but there was no inside pink color remaining, before or after rehydrating (or cooking, obviously.) However, unlike last time (when I only rehydrated for 15-20 mins) there was no dark line through the center. It was consistent all the way through.

I “tempered” them for about 30 minutes and dried with paper towel. I seared them in a cast iron pan with a bit of butter.



Again, there was no pink center, but they weren’t overcooked or dry.






The taste and texture were good. There was a firm bite, but I contend that they were more tender than I would expect from a pan seared whitetail round steak. (Some is probably attributable to the SV cooking, but is there something in the sublimation and rehydration process that aids in tenderization? Now I’m a little bit curious about that.) Obviously it wasn’t as “juicy” as a well marbled ribeye, but it was an enjoyable lunch. My wife liked it, too.


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[Michael]

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8PCvkktj2A"](Freeze Dried) CHICKEN FRIED Venison Backstrap - YouTube[/ame]

Another venison test. I freeze dried raw whitetail backstrap cutlets, and then rehydrated and chicken fried those pieces, along with some of the same backstrap that had not been freeze dried.

The non FD backstrap sample had a bit more "color" (medium pink) than the FD samples, but I couldn't tell any difference in taste or texture. (FTR, the remaining pieces of non-FD also did not have pink interior, and only the one piece of FD steak had the slightly darker center.)

[MontagueMech]

Great thread. You’ve convinced me to try one out in the near future.

[Michael]

Great thread. You’ve convinced me to try one out in the near future.

Thanks for the feedback!

[Michael]

For those that don't want to watch the video, I typed up a summary for a FD group that I figured I'd post here.

I've been doing various freeze dryer tests with wild game. One of our favorite meals is chicken fried venison backstrap (loin), so I did a comparison of freeze dried whitetail backstrap cutlets to non freeze dried cutlets.

From the same backstrap, I sliced 6 cutlets (from the center) to freeze dry (raw) and reserved the remainder of the loin not freeze dried, as the "control".

Once fully dry, I rehydrated half of the FD cutlets in cool water and the other half in venison bone stock (itself FD and rehydrated.) I rehydrated each for about 12 hours in the fridge.

Initially, when liquid was added, the cutlets quickly regained their red color (see pic) and looked very similar to the raw, non freeze dried meat. However, after sitting in liquid overnight, the surface of the meat lost its red color and turned more brown (just as any meat would if soaked in liquid for an extended period.)

Other than the FD and rehydration, I prepared the FD and "control" cutlets exactly the same:

- Soaked in buttermilk/egg mixture for about 4 hours
- Double battered in seasoned flour/corn starch dredge, then egg/buttermilk wash, then back in dredge.
- Fried one of each piece in vegetable oil in cast iron skillet

Results:

After frying, each of the pieces essentially looked the same on the outside, with crispy, golden brown crust.



The "control" piece was cooked perfectly, IMO, with a slightly pink center and crispy crust. It tasted exactly as I've come to expect from chicken fried backstrap (of course.)

The water rehydrated piece lacked the pink interior, but it didn't look overcooked. The taste and texture were essentially identical to the "control" piece!

The stock rehydrated piece (which was a slightly thicker slice) had a very slight dark center, similar to previous tests that weren't fully rehydrated. However, it didn't look unappetizing. The texture was identical to the other two samples, and the taste was very similar - though I got a bit of a delayed aftertaste of the stock that it was rehydrated in.



Bottom line is that I was extremely surprised by the results. I finished the rest of the pieces and once mixed together I couldn't identify which piece was rehydrated and which was from the control!

I don't know that FD will be my preferred method of storing venison backstrap - it's probably easier just to thaw and cook instead of FD, rehydrate overnight and cook - but I may continue to freeze dry some of it just to have diversification in case a freezer goes out (a friend of mine (Leon) recently lost an entire deep freeze full of wild game!)

[IkemanTX]

That is pretty cool. Most people haven’t had much success with freeze dried meats matching the original, so it is cool to see this worked out so well.
Perhaps because the backstrap is so lean…?


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[eaglegolfj]

My mother and my wife went in on the large one, trying to get the shop complete so we can get it set up. Cant wait to try it out.

[Michael]

My mother and my wife went in on the large one, trying to get the shop complete so we can get it set up. Cant wait to try it out.

Awesome! What will they be mostly using it for?


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[Etxnoodler]

Ours has been giving us fits. But will hopefully be worked out soon.

[Michael]

Ours has been giving us fits. But will hopefully be worked out soon.

Uh oh…Vacuum error?


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[Michael]

That is pretty cool. Most people haven’t had much success with freeze dried meats matching the original, so it is cool to see this worked out so well.
Perhaps because the backstrap is so lean…?


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Lean meats definitely work better than heavily marbled meats. Fat doesn’t really FD well, and definitely won’t store long term.

My tests have been relatively short term items, but I would think the lean meats should store well for at least several years.


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[Etxnoodler]

Uh oh…Vacuum error?


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My wife has been handling the freeze dryer so I’m not positive but the pump has some problems.

As far as what freeze dries well what do you think about chicken jambalaya that has sausage and bacon grease in it? Would be an epic meal to have on the mountain but I’m worried about to much grease to freeze dry.

Also the green chili pork stew recipe that is so good in the recipe section? It’s lean except for browning the meat in oil but it absorbs quite a bit.

I figure if sausage gravy would work these would.

[Michael]

My wife has been handling the freeze dryer so I’m not positive but the pump has some problems.

As far as what freeze dries well what do you think about chicken jambalaya that has sausage and bacon grease in it? Would be an epic meal to have on the mountain but I’m worried about to much grease to freeze dry.

Also the green chili pork stew recipe that is so good in the recipe section? It’s lean except for browning the meat in oil but it absorbs quite a bit.

I figure if sausage gravy would work these would.

For backpacking meals, I think it’s important to avoid large chunks of fat. I think it’s more of a function of the fat turning rancid more than anything. I’d think you’d be ok for both of those for camp meals as long as you store them properly and use them relatively quickly. I’m assuming the bacon grease in the jambalaya is for browning and not necessarily an added ingredient in quantity?

Hopefully y’all can get the pump issue resolved quickly. Is she working with HR techs on it?


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[Etxnoodler]

For backpacking meals, I think it’s important to avoid large chunks of fat. I think it’s more of a function of the fat turning rancid more than anything. I’d think you’d be ok for both of those for camp meals as long as you store them properly and use them relatively quickly. I’m assuming the bacon grease in the jambalaya is for browning and not necessarily an added ingredient in quantity?

Hopefully y’all can get the pump issue resolved quickly. Is she working with HR techs on it?


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Yeah bacon grease would just be for browning. I have those Mylar bags and o2 absorbers for storage
. She has talked to the hr techs and the oil we need to try it again should have come in today. So hopfully tomorrow she can run the tests on it. Was counting on this for my groups meals this year so I’m getting nervous.

[Michael]

Yeah bacon grease would just be for browning. I have those Mylar bags and o2 absorbers for storage
. She has talked to the hr techs and the oil we need to try it again should have come in today. So hopfully tomorrow she can run the tests on it. Was counting on this for my groups meals this year so I’m getting nervous.

Has she been able to run any batches, or did it "fail" the initial tests?