Meat Storage

[paul culver]

According to "Wayward Sailor" Tristan did not really do half of the stuff he claimed he did, so who knows. You can google up recipes for bergoo/burgoo but I haven't found any yet with booze added. I remember his dog loved the stuff.

Regardless, he was a great read.

--Paul

 

[saltbox]

storing meat

I used to do a lot of back country paddling, a week or 2 on the allagash river each summer. The challenge was similar and we always tried new ways of storing food with NO refrigeration or ice. One of my favorite things to do was to make beef jerky with very lean flank steak before we left. This was a great snack and as the days progressed, it always kept well (ziplock bag with papertowels between layers of beef jerky). Toward the end of the trips, I would 'rehydrate' pieces of jerky in the morning with water in a nalgene jar. As the canoe moved, the jerky jar rolled back and forth and by dinner time, it could be cooked up with spices for a mexican meal, beef stew or anything else that you wanted.
Hey, it worked for me...

 

[exoduse35]

love jerky

have a food dehydrator that i picked up at a local hardware store. it has about 5 18" dia. shelves and what looks like a hair dryer down the center, and makes the best jerky. i have never tried to re-hydrate any (now i must try, thanks). it will keep for several months in a vacuum sealed container. it cannot rot without oxygen and moisture, so once it is dry as long as it stays that way it is safe. If it can in fact be re-hydrated like fruits & veggies, i guess i will have to try doing larger thicker pieces and see what the limit is. just what i need another series of experiments with food, my wife will be SOOOOOOOOOOO pleased! thanks, does anyone know a good divorce attorney, just in case?

 

[Steve Swann]

Can that thought

My wife does a lot of home canning. In fact, probably about 2' of growth on each of our kids can be attributed to her canning efforts. Our absolute favorite is her fresh canned peaches. You have no idea how good these are!

A couple more things to remember about home canning. When you open a new jar of anything, when you pry the lid upwards, there should be a sucking sound as the seal breaks (very important, this seal-thingie). If there isn't, be VERY cautious about eating the contents. Check the seal and the underside of the lid for yucky things (my undergraduate studies were in Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology, can you tell?). Trust your nose and sniff carefully. Not always can you smell a bad jar of something, but sometimes you can. If in doubt, throw it out.

Home canned spaghetti sauce is the bomb. Lots of tomato acid so it is conducive to safe-to-eat, and generally is a fantastic canned option that you can really load up with meat(s). We put in hamburger, spicy sausage, and even pork ribs for the meat components. None of these get tough via the canning process. If there is any space left after standing on the jar to squish in all the meats I crave, we put in a splash of tomato sauce. Makes sloppy Joes, spaghetti sauce, a base for some kinds of horse duvers (think about it), and some creative toppings for other dishes.

I am still looking for commercially canned bacon. K-Mart used to sell it many years ago and it was really good! Anybody found a new source yet?

Steve Swann
Boise ID

 

[u079721]

Salt, sugar, caffeine, and fat.

The essentials of life are salt, sugar, caffeine, and fat - and maybe alcohol. None of these require a fridge.

 

[Kevin Johnston]

Canned Cheese

The Washington State University Creamery makes a number of canned cheeses (my favorite is either Coug Gold or Viking). I have heard that it has been used by a number of sailors on long excursions. It keeps well since it is in a sealed can. I don't believe that it has to be refridgerated and does well in the heat and humidity since it is in an air tight can and has a heavy body.
KJ

 

[Galley_Slave]

Back to Gareth's original question, we recently installed a Waeco freezer in our boat. It's fabulous, keeps meat solidly frozen, and there's even enough room for ice cream and it cools beer in just a couple minutes.

We installed it in one of the V berth compartments.

 

[exoduse35]

Believe it or not I recently tried a couple of the new generation Mountain House freeze dried beef meals and was absolutely amazed at the taste and texture. In my backpacker life I have tasted a bunch of nasty freeze dried food over the last 30 years, But this stuff was good enough to be resturant food. You may want to give it a try

 

[exoduse35]

i just found this site http://www.internet-grocer.net/realmeat.htm I haven't tried the product but they make it sound edible. And the quote from the sales pitch says it all.....

We've got 'em! The genuine articles. Real canned meats that will store 5-7 years or longer. (The manufacturer guarantees them for 5 years.) They're in stock and ready to ship or pick up. (A delicious addition to your galley for that blue water sailing adventure!)