Freeze Dryers and Freeze Dried Food (Part 1)

[Chocolot]

I already make a pumpkin-caramel ganache. One of my favorites. I'm thinking of ideas to use FD cream cheese in chocolates. Cheesecake, obviously.

[Harvest Right]

On that note. Someone has taken Chocolot's cream cheese out of my office! Mr. Mike, you wanna send her some j/k

 

I will be searching high and low for your cream cheese. 

[Chocolot]

On that note. Someone has taken Chocolot's cream cheese out of my office! Mr. Mike, you wanna send her some j/k

 

I will be searching high and low for your cream cheese. 

You better find it:)  How did the cinnamon bears turn out?

[Deryn]

Maybe someone packed Chocolat's cream cheese in the box with the FD that I hope is soon to come to me.

[Mr. Mike]

IDEA:

I have a few other people swooning at the idea of a FD pumpkin pie..

 

Here's my twist.

 

Take a pumkin pie.  Cut it in half.  Take the half and smash it flat to about 3/4" thick..then cut the half into strips about 3/4" wide by 2" long.

 

Dry in place. 

 

When dry, dip half of the strip (long ways) in a chocolate mess of some sort of your choosing.. dark, semi sweet, bitter???..maybe drizzle some other topping.. on top crossing onto both sides.. Wa-La... Black n Tan.-Kinda.

 

What chocolate would you dip and what would you drizzle... raspberry sauce, carmel, white chocolate or other??

 

Ideas..Comments..new name.. Like maybe "Mr. Mike's Black n Tan Pumpkin Bars"...Yeah... Yeah.....That's the ticket..

 

Let'r rip.

 

Mr. Mike

[Kerry Beal]

IDEA:

I have a few other people swooning at the idea of a FD pumpkin pie..

 

Here's my twist.

 

Take a pumkin pie.  Cut it in half.  Take the half and smash it flat to about 3/4" thick..then cut the half into strips about 3/4" wide by 2" long.

 

Dry in place. 

 

When dry, dip half of the strip (long ways) in a chocolate mess of some sort of your choosing.. dark, semi sweet, bitter???..maybe drizzle some other topping.. on top crossing onto both sides.. Wa-La... Black n Tan.-Kinda.

 

What chocolate would you dip and what would you drizzle... raspberry sauce, carmel, white chocolate or other??

 

Ideas..Comments..new name.. Like maybe "Mr. Mike's Black n Tan Pumpkin Bars"...Yeah... Yeah.....That's the ticket..

 

Let'r rip.

 

Mr. Mike

I think starting with a tart pan like this would avoid the need to smush the pie.  You could simply cut into strips crosswise and you'd be ready to freeze dry.

 

Given the sweetness - I'd probably go with a bittersweet chocolate and I'd likely do a drizzle of bittersweet on the undipped half as well - although a white drizzle would give nice contrast.  

[Mr. Mike]

I'm not that much of a purist for the perfect pie...I was thinking that I could half my process time by buying already made pies.  Although it might be a little more non-uniform using a round pie.

 

If I were to bake one.. I'd do it right in the tray vs using a tart pan.

 

What other tool is there to make a uniform round ball of about  1/2" or smaller in dia other than a mini melon or cookie dough baller..I'm not much of a baker so I don't have knowledge of all the baking gadgets.

 

Mr. Mike

Edited October 29, 2014 by Mr. Mike (log)

[Kerry Beal]

I suppose you could use a piping bag to make little mounds that you could roll between your hands to get rounds.

[Kerry Beal]

Big bag of kale dropped off to me this morning at work.  Trying to decide if I should blanch it or FD it raw?  Thoughts?

[Mr. Mike]

 From another friend that made his own F. dryer...Kale and other thin, leafy greens don't do so well due to the freezing damaging the leaves and doesn't dry well as expected.  I haven't done leafy green stuff, so I don't know how it works.

 

Try some and see how it goes...but I wouldn't do a "big batch" until I know how it reacts.

 

Let us know.

[Kerry Beal]

 From another friend that made his own F. dryer...Kale and other thin, leafy greens don't do so well due to the freezing damaging the leaves and doesn't dry well as expected.  I haven't done leafy green stuff, so I don't know how it works.

 

Try some and see how it goes...but I wouldn't do a "big batch" until I know how it reacts.

 

Let us know.

Good idea - shall try some blanched and some raw - both salted so it can be eaten as a snack.  

[Harvest Right]

Know someone who LOVES to make "kale chips" with her freeze dryer. Not sure if she blanches them first or not. 

[Kerry Beal]

Finally back at it.  This batch took quite a while to dry - then I prolonged the time further because I had to work and didn't have time to unload this morning.

 

 

 

Mustard pickle and kimchi.

 

 

Jello -batch plain, batch with sour cream.

 

 

Bacon.

 

 

Ganache.

 

 

 

Butterfat from ganache.

[Deryn]

Kerry - how do you think that pre-cooked bacon came out? Tasty in dried form? And, the ganache, did it suffer much taste-wise from having lost some of its butterfat?

[Kerry Beal]

Must confess I haven't had a chance to taste the bacon yet.  It was a rush tonight as Alleguede was coming over to help me with my prep for the Luxury Chocolate Show that Anna and I will be doing on Sunday - so I kind of bunged everything in jars and mylar to be checked out later.

 

I did taste the ganache - crunchy but way too thick - I think in the future I'll make one with a whole lot less fat in it and spread it much, much thinner.  

 

I made a bark with neutral pop rocks and FD'd jello - I should have broken the jello into smaller pieces for the bark.  Alleguede is a jello tart and he really enjoyed the FD'd version.  

[Mr. Mike]

What is the bacon texture like with all the fat?.  I can't imagine crispy bacon being even more crispy-ier-er. lol.

 

When I've done pork roast, the fat  is still kinda hard-mushy.. is that the case with the bacon fat?

 

Jello with sour cream?.. How/what do you use that for?.. or is that just a "Frankin Foood Trial".. just for the heck of it..interesting combo.

[Chocolot]

What is the bacon texture like with all the fat?.  I can't imagine crispy bacon being even more crispy-ier-er. lol.

 

When I've done pork roast, the fat  is still kinda hard-mushy.. is that the case with the bacon fat?

 

Jello with sour cream?.. How/what do you use that for?.. or is that just a "Frankin Foood Trial".. just for the heck of it..interesting combo.

The bacon that I had Matt do was interesting. I bought pre-cooked bacon (health reg's). After FD, it was very crisp and the flavor very bland. I needed it to put on a maple ganache chocolate. It worked well for that, adding the look and the crunch. Didn't particularly taste like bacon, but worked for my purposes.

[Deryn]

I have found that a lot of pre-cooked bacon has little flavour, and doesn't even have that salt kick one craves when one eats bacon. And I guess because it was already cooked so crispy it didn't have much water to lose so there was little concentration of flavour during the FD process. Thanks, Chocolot - good to know. I will try cooking bacon that I know I like and then FD'ing it (when I get my machine) to see if that makes a great difference.

[Chocolot]

Good point!! I really didn't try it before FD. If I cook my own, I then become a meat processor and have a whole new set of regulations!

[Kerry Beal]

Here's the FD'd jello and pop rock bark.  

 

 

[Chocolot]

Matt, Did you find my cream cheese?  If so, I will be down Tuesday morning.

[Kerry Beal]

Well - it finally happened - way too long has gone by and it hasn't gone into the final drying cycle - so unloaded it this morning in order to defrost.

 

The kale however was done.  So pulled that out.  Perhaps I should put a bit more back in when I put back the remaining stuff.

 

 

The blanched version was clearly my favourite - tasted much meatier - not the bitter raw flavour of the unblanched - though both were quite satisfactory.  Of course the advantage of the blanched is that it is much easier to get into the tray - and it still comes apart as individual leaves after it is FD'd.  

[Harvest Right]

Still on the hunt for the missing cream cheese! Pretty sure Deryn is going to get a cream cheese treat with his FD

 

Will have to freeze dry some more for you.

[Kerry Beal]

Still on the hunt for the missing cream cheese! Pretty sure Deryn is going to get a cream cheese treat with his FD

 

Will have to freeze dry some more for you.

Oh no - worst comes to worst Ruth - I'll make you some.  

 

Matt - pretty sure Deryn's a her.

[Deryn]

Thanks, Kerry. Yes, I am.

 

Looking forward to getting my FD'er complete with starter cream cheese treat, Matt.

 

Not to worry though, Chocolat. I will send the 'bonus' back to you if I am so lucky as to receive it (after I sneak a little taste).