A comment on another thread got me wondering about the need to rinse hamburger before dehydrating.

Most pros recommend rinsing. But, I have always used the "97% Lean" hamburger without rinsing and never had a problem, even on ten day trips.

What about you? Do you rinse?

If it were 80/20 then yes. I think that lean you'd have a hard time even draining off any grease from the pan....

I don't rinse, I usually use a pretty lean ground chuck, or ground round. Never had a problem, although I've never been out there for weeks at a time. I do spread it out on a paper towel after browning, I think that absorbs some of the fat.

I use the 95-97% burger and usually drain it well and press it down with some paper towels while in the strainer. Then lay it out on some paper towels before putting it in the dehydrator. I've had no problems with it.

quote OldFingers57: "I use the 95-97% burger and usually drain it well and press it down with some paper towels while in the strainer. Then lay it out on some paper towels before putting it in the dehydrator. I've had no problems with it. "

Same here. I think our store has 96%.

I use 93%, drain, and press with paper towel and no problems.

I rinse several times but that is because I am using the 80/20.

Rinse.

Residual fat adds nothing to dehydrated meat. Add a little olive oil after rehydrating, but get rid of as much fat as possible up front. I have no recipes for rancid hamburger.

If you really don't want to have to worry get some TVP (textured vegetable protein) It looks and tastes like burger, but is soy. You don't have to cook it at all. It comes in a brick and you just crumble it up and throw it on the dehydrator trays and dry. We use it in a lot of recipes in place of burger.

Thanks for the idea. I think I'm going to do some experimenting.

The last time I purchased TVP, it came in powdered form from the health food store. Perhaps at can be carried dry to the campsite and rehydrated to form burgers there.

For the no rinse very lean group, hand trimmed sirloin steak, cubed, toss in freezer to set up, run through a food processor to desired coarseness (I like a coarser cut than ground beef). Brown and dry like you would burger. Works great with venison cuts.

butthead

Why not just steam/boil/braise the beef if you're going to rinse it anyways? Accomplish the same thing in one step instead of two.

97% lean just pat it down before drying. Never had a problem.

We buy the leanest beef and after it is cooked we rinse it.