Nesco FD-75PR 700-Watt Food Dehydrator
by Nesco
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Category: Kitchen
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Product Summary
Manufacturer: NescoBrand: Nesco
Model: FD-75PR
Color: Gray
Product features:
- 700-Watt 5 tray food dehydrator dries in hours instead of days
- Top-mounted fan; adjustable thermostat from 95-to-160 degrees F
- Flavors don't mix; no need to rotate trays; opaque exterior blocks harmful lights
- Includes recipe book, 2 solid sheets, 2 mesh sheets, and 3 jerky spice packets
- Measures approximately 13 by 13 by 10-inch
Kitchen and Housewares Reviews of Nesco FD-75PR 700-Watt Food Dehydrator
Customer Review: Works great.
Summary: 5 Stars
Nesco seems to be the top runner for reasonably priced dehydrators. We decided to get this one vs the square one because we werent sure how much we'd use it and wanted the cheapest option.
Having a temperature dial that goes up to 160 degrees is very handy for making jerky. Otherwise you have to pre-cook the meat which seems like a huge pain in the butt.
If you are new to dehydrating, here are some things you should know:
JERKY:
1) For jerky, they give you several packets of cure and spices, each of which is enough for 1 lb of meat.
2) There are 2 types of jerky you can make. The first is what you are used to seeing at the store. It uses strips of meat. You buy a lean cut of meat and cut it into strips. Then use a packet to make a marinade and let it sit for 24 hours in the fridge. Then you cut it into even thickness strips and dry. This is the hardest way of doing it by FAR because evenness of the cuts is very important for drying purposes. You want to make sure you cook the meat all the way through, and thick areas can cause big problems.
The second jerky method is to use ground meat. The major advantage is that it is much easier to make consistent 'strips' and the jerky is a lot more tender. This is a big deal for those who love jerky but it hurts their jaw because it is so tough.
Make SURE that the meat is rated at 95% lean or better. Just because it says 'lean' or 'sirloin' doesn't mean much. Leaner meat means you won't have fat that drips off the jerky that you have to remove with a towel. (like you'd blot bacon that you are cooking to absorb the grease). Remember that the fat does not dry very well at all and can make your jerky go rancid quickly.
You also need a food processor or blender because the ground meat is NOT fine enough to work well enough. Furthermore, you do NOT marinade with this method. Instead you add a packet (or whatever recipe of spices, salt, etc) straight into the meat. Hence it must be blended well.
Once blended, you can use a cake-decorator (that normally holds icing) to make sticks. I'd recommend just making 1 giant swirl on the sheet as that is a lot more space-efficient than making individual strips. After drying you can break em off as desired. You can also buy their special meat holder that makes nice flat strips if you don't have a cake decorator.
I recommend using a sprayer or something to add a fine layer of vegetable oil to prevent sticking.
FRUIT:
Most fruit is kind of tough when dehydrated. It is NOT the candied dried fruit that you get in stores! Nor is it the new freeze-dried crunchy type. It is also a lot of work to cut it all up in a consistent manner so it all gets dried evenly. Bananas do make for decent chips, but they arent as crunchy typically because you arent dumping them in oil like the chips that you might have bought.
I would recommend doing fruit rollups. For example, I used pineapple, mango and some applesauce and tossed it into the processor/blender. They give you 2 sheets for rollups that are raised on the edges. You just dump the fruity-product onto each sheet and it pretty much evenly spreads out FOR you since it is much like applesauce consistency.
Let er dry and cut it into pieces. It is tasty and easier. I recommend putting wax paper inbetween each slice though which makes it a bit more trouble but is worth it.
This approach makes it easier to add cinnamon or other spices if you want.
Description of Nesco FD-75PR 700-Watt Food Dehydrator
The patented converge-flow drying system ensures even drying, no need to rotate trays. With 700-watts of power food dries in hours, not days. The adjustable thermostat ranges from 95-to-160-degrees and provides greater flexibility and better results. Includes five trays but expands to 12 trays with LT-2SG add-a-tray accessories (sold separately). Also includes fruit roll up sheet, clean-a-screen. Contemporary granite vita-save exterior blocks light and helps retain more vitamins and nutrients.Dehydrators
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