Tango Charlie

Yes, that is the their other product I was thinking of, just couldn't remember the name. I think that would work beautifully! I have some of their chili garlic sauce. I'll try that tomorrow. It might produce an amazing dry rub.

Okay, I'm sorry to report to all Sriracha lovers of the world that.... It doesn't freeze dry (too much sugar). So for now my strategic sriracha reserves will have to stay in the many bottles in the pantry. I do think the other products they make will FD, because they only add sugar when they add it in the final step before it becomes sriracha.

As far as the demister, I rubber banded a paper towel over the demister as a precaution but haven't had any problems. In the dryer is more ham and turkey... Getting sick of that, but threw in some sriracha for fun! Thanks for the ice cream sandwich answer, I wondered about that

Welcome Scotch! It's going to be the longest wait of your life!... Least it was for me, glad to see you here

I started with frozen ham, and I only ran the freeze cycle for about 3 1/2 hours and then kicked it into drying. With factory drying settings it took from 7pm until noon the next day. Last night I did my do-over pieces of ham, some browned hamburger, and some barbecued hamburgers. I found at 8am there was still 2 hrs left on dry timer but it was holding 250mTorr, that is about as low as you go.... So, on a hunch I shut it off a couple hours early at 8 and everything was done! So, I'm learning the machine pretty quickly and how to get the most out of it. The 3-31/2 hr. Freezing time has worked great with pre-frozen foods, cutting 6 hrs off each run.

First run done, smoked ham from Thanksgiving. It turned out really good. A couple pieces are going to have to go back for a second trip.

I have looked seriously at a can sealer! You can get supplies from a local LDS church if you plug in with them, but in the end (for now) I'm going with mylar because of serving size and use-ability. I saw on a mountain house video that once opened a #10 can of beef has to be used in 5days. So... I want smaller portions so once opened it is in a manageable portion. My machine comes tomorrow, so excited!

BGW, I'm going to be trying both soon. I talked to a guy at harvest right, he said he preferred his meat pre-cooked... But it's just a preference. I think really lean meats will do great raw, I think the fat ring of a good steak wouldn't freeze dry well. So, you might want to trim the fat. ... Have to play with it I'm not certain, but in my head fat wouldn't FD well

Hey, no aviation background. Just military lingo for my initials. I am cooking some T-bones today and am going to FD them. My machine should be here tomorrow! Glad to see people back on the forum, thought I killed it, lol. Anybody know if you can freeze dry meat with the bone in? My head says no, but not sure. I will be looking forward to the seafood, tuna answer!

So, quick question..... Anybody try freeze drying tuna? I've always canned several tuna a year, they seem pretty oily, so I wonder how it would go. Sorry, random thoughts from my brain. And yes Kerry, everything pre-frozen in appropriate thickness... ;-)

I've got everything ready, got cart setup, vacuum oil ordered, and have a TON of stuff ready to FD. All my Thanksgiving leftovers and a bunch of other stuff waiting. I'm just waiting for my unit to ship.... So anxious!

I have a question, with things like FD cheese. Do you rehydrate in some water and scoop it out? Or is it something that you just sprinkle over a baked potato and let steam do the work or whatever it is you add it to?

I big thanks to Kerry Beal, I just bought one of HR's units and had a million questions and you have answered most of them already here on this forum. Thank you!