Healthy, simple, cheap dried meat.

I haven't seen anything exactly the same as this method of drying (minced) meat which I worked out, so I offer it here for those who can use it.

Wait until the mince you favour is on special, then buy up big (or use your own home-grown). This will work with beef, lamb, pork, chicken, veal, anything. Just make sure that it's all meat - not one of the so-called sausage minces with breadcrumbs or other filling.

Get a large saucepan or boiler, put in one to two kilograms (say two and a half or five pounds) of mince, then mix with water to a thin creamy consistency (stock is better if you have it, particularly for the lighter meats, but not essential). A potato masher is useful for this - the aim is to separate all the grains of mince. (I personally add granulated or crushed garlic at this stage). Bring to the boil, and simmer for about twenty minutes. Drain through a heatproof colander or strainer, SAVING THE LIQUID. Place the cooked mince in the refrigerator to chill.

Repeat these steps, RE-USING THE SAME LIQUID, and making up the volume if necessary, until all mince is cooked.

At this stage, we have fat-free cholesterol-reduced mince. We lost something when we cooked it in liquid, but re-using the same liquid over several batches kept that to a minimum (make sure the first batch of mince is well mixed with the others). I use it this way all the time. Even poor grade fatty hamburger mince is quite healthy and fat-free after this treatment.

Also set the remaining liquid aside to cool. The fat will solidify on top, and the gelatine-rich liquid will set. We'll get back to that later.

Dry the mince in a slow oven as follows. Chilling the cooked mince made it possible to separate all the mince grains by setting their gelatine content. Rub them apart, dropping onto a cool dry oven tray. Don't let the layer get too thick - reheating will liquify the gelatine solution - we have to dry the liquid before it can cement the grains together. Stir the mince occasionally on the tray as it dries. Again, do it in several batches. (You could probably use a dehydrator to do this job, but I prefer to keep the meat hot rather than take chances).

Weigh the dried mince, so that you have an idea of the equivalency between it and the original mince.

(At this stage you could restore the juice content to the meat by rehydrating the dried mince in the cooking liquid and redrying, but I haven't found it worth the trouble. The mince tends to stick together in cement-hard lumps if the gelatine content gets too high).

Seal the dried mince grains in airtight, waterproof containers. Zip-lock bags are good, or sealed jars.

NOW: remove the set fat from the chilled liquid. As a matter of interest, you can weigh it to assess how much of the meat you bought was actually fat. I throw it away, but if you want to keep it, repeat the boiling and setting process two or three times with fresh changes of plain water - this will wash the fat free of impurities, so that it will keep better as dripping, or be more suitable for use in soap-making. If you don't want to go to this trouble, remember that hens will peck at a block of fat; and pigs will relish it

LAST: reward yourself. Use the thick stock from the cooking liquid, throw in some chopped vegetables, a bit of the undried mince, some pasta or noodles, maybe some cooked beans, some herbs, and make a delicious nutritious soup.

TO USE THE MINCE: eat it - it's been cooked twice already. Rehydrating and heating helps. Soups or stews are good. Also a satisfactory pasta sauce can be made by rehydrating it with undiluted el cheapo canned tomato soup

Remember that one - undiluted canned soup makes a very reasonable sauce base for anything. Tomato soup (herbs and spices already added) is very versatile, but other canned soups can also add variety to your diet as a sauce base.

Regards, Don Armstrong

-- Don Armstrong (darmst@yahoo.com.au), June 08, 1999

Answers

Don, what is mince? Is this ground meat?

Thanks,

-- Bingo1 (howe9@pop.shentel.net), June 08, 1999.

Yes Bingo.

Translation for Americans and other non-English speaking folk *G*

Mince = Ground Meat

And this helpful advice from a vegetarian !!!

.{propaganda ON} DONT USE THIS METHOD, OR ANY OTHER . . EAT VEGETABLES INSTEAD. .{propaganda OFF}

-- two nations divided (by@a.common.language), June 08, 1999.

MEAT HEALHY? YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING!!! Eating meat is the biggest cause of human disease in this world! Now that Cows, etc. are shot full of growth hormones it is actually POISON!!!

Vegetarians are the healthiest bunch of people on this Planet! Meat eaters are the sickliest group of people on this Planet! The doctors offices and hospitals are full of them!!!

Eating "live" fruits and vegetables promote HEALTH!!!

Eating "dead" meat promotes disease!!! Death begets death!!!

Now that you know this, it's not going to stop you from eating meat, is it? THE REASON WHY IS BECAUSE ALL YOU MEAT EATERS ARE DGI'S!!!

-- freddie (freddie@thefreeloader.com), June 08, 1999.

Freddie is right! I'm 63 years old. At age 40 I was a heavy meat eater and had a heart attack.

I changed my eating habbits and became a vegetarian. I now enjoy total health! I do not take any medicines and have not needed to see a doctor for over 20 years! In fact, I do not have a doctor!

Raw fruit and vegetable juice (carrot juice) keeps the doctor away! I whole heartedly (pun intended) agree with Freddie's last statement...Now that you know this, will you stop eating meat? Off course not! You know why not? It's because all you meat eaters are DGI'S!!!

-- smitty (smitty@sandiego.com), June 08, 1999.

"dried meat".... When I saw this heading my first thought was, "Yeah, that'll be your neighbors if you live in a desert."

Our area is plagued with big noisy crows & messy Canada geese. I wonder how long these birds will hang around if the locals ever get hungry...

-- ready (for@the.bbq), June 08, 1999.

I also agree with freddie and smitty. All you sickly meat eaters out there pay attention! If you're tired of being sick, then YOU have to take the bull (also pun intended) by the horns, and stop eating meat and start eating more raw fruits and vegetables. I too had a similar incident like smitty's and changed my eating habbits. I also now enjoy "ULTIMATE HEALTH"! Try it, you'll like it!

IFF YOU DON'T AND POO POO THIS INFORMATION, YOU'RE SIMPLY A DGI!!!

-- Y2K ready (Y2Kready@aol.com), June 08, 1999.

Hey you old GIT! I know you're a vegetarian! PUT IN YOUR TWO BITS WORTH!

-- &&& (&&&@&&&.com), June 08, 1999.

I've known several vegetarians in my life. Based on what I've seen... Well, pass the sausage.

-- thanks (but@no.thanks), June 08, 1999.

Just a little perspective from my survival courses...It is true that in normal times vegetarians tend to be healthier. But in a winter survival situation it really helps to have the high-density calories and protein that meat provides.

-- Shimrod (shimrod@lycosmail.com), June 08, 1999.

I'll take meat any day. Be it rooburger or scrub bull, I don't care. Here where I live, considering it's still frosting every night, I need all the calories I can get. In about 215 days I might be the only warm thing in the sleeping bag.I also like pemmican.

Thanks Mr Armstrong

-- nine (nine_fingers@hotmail.com), June 08, 1999.

Hey all vegetarian GIs....I need to know what your plans are for next year, I mean what are you storing...Thanks

-- lurker13 (lurker13@nowhere.here), June 08, 1999.

I don't think there is any population on the planet nor in the history of humanity that has an exclusively vegetarian diet. Humans need animal proteins -- even if we're talking dairy products or insects -- to be healthy. You can't get a good amino acid balance from exclusively vegetable products. Check out Sally Fallon's Nourishing Traditions for a fascinating guide to native nutrition. Also see the Web site:

http://www.price-pottenger.org

Her theory -- and I think there's a lot of sense in it -- is that it's not cholesterol or red meat or any of other modern boogie foods that are causing our high rate of heart disease and cancer. Other indigenous populations eat scads of these things without trouble. Rather, she suggests it's the trans-fats in hydrogenated vegetable oils that have caused us so much trouble in the past 50 years or so. She brings a lot of historical data along with a lot of research citations to bear on that point.

-- David Palm (djpalm64@yahoo.com), June 08, 1999.

Hitler was a staunch vegetarian. From what I read, he liked telling other people what to do - a trait I've observed among vegetarians.

-- klm (klm@nwhr.not), June 08, 1999.