Food Dehydrators..............which one??

[Twisted Titan]

The Misses looking into getting one.

I remember a few people having a Excalibur series (?)

Anybody with prior experience, recomendations or possible pitfalls would be greatly appreciated.

Thanx

[osoab]

I like my Nesco.

[Twisted Titan]

I never Heard of Nesco.

How many Racks dose it have???

[joboo]

http://www.excaliburdehydrator.com/ Have the 9 rack one, can't imagine anything working better.

[osoab]

I never Heard of Nesco.

How many Racks dose it have???

Comes with 5 racks. Extra racks are about 2 for 10 bucks depending on where you buy them. I think you can have 10 racks total.

I bought mine about 3 years.

Here is the model. http://www.nesco.com/products/Dehydrators/Dehydrators/FD-75PR-Snackmaster-Pro-700-Watt-Food-Dehydrator-Speckled/session_e87167442b5b/

[Shami-Amourae]

I use Nesco. It's the most reliable brand I've used, and does jerky the most professionally so far that I've tried. I use the FD-60 (http://www.nesco.com/products/Dehydrators/Dehydrators/FD-60-Snackmaster-Express-Food-Dehydrator/session_c3f726d57b29/) model.

Also get tons of tri-tip cut of beef. I spoke about this beef jerky recipe of mine in a recent thread. Freeze the beef, then let to thaw partially. With a sharp knife cut off as much fat as possible and cut thin strips for the jerky along the grain of the meat. Soak it in a mixture of Bragg's Liquid Aminos (http://www.swansonvitamins.com/BR008/ItemDetail) + Brown Sugar + Freshly Ground Pepper + Liquid Smoke for about 4-5 hours. Put it on the racks and sprinkle on sea salt. I swear, this is the best jerky ever. I've never had anything better, and I'm a jerky enthusiast. I eat it all the time. So good, I'm making some literally right now in my Nesco.

Not many people use tri-tip for jerky, but I believe it gives a more stringy texture with a denser beef flavor. Like when you take a nice bite of jerky and get a long strand of meat when you pull with your teeth, I love that. I put a crap load of pepper I freshly grind in a coffee grinder so the pepper oils saturate the meat pretty deep. It's importantly you freshly grind your pepper since the pepper oils evaporate otherwise.
Have fun. ☺

[chad]

Medco as well.

[gunDriller]

dashboard of a car in the hot summer sun makes a dynamite improvised drier & cooker.

i've used mine to bake potatoes.

you just need trays that fit in the space.

[sirgonzo420]

dashboard of a car in the hot summer sun makes a dynamite improvised drier & cooker.

i've used mine to bake potatoes.

you just need trays that fit in the space.

that reminds me....

did you ever eat that skunk?

[midnight rambler]

L'equip Filter Pro filters the intake air.

[big country]

I have an excalibur like listed above already. The excalibur is superior!

Here is one reason I really like it:
You can do multiple different foods at the same time (on different trays) w/o the flavors mixing like the do in a nesco.
The fan that moves the air over the food on the excalibur blows from the rear over the top of the trays
The fan on the nesco pushes/pulls from the TOP of the trays and all the air (and flavors) move from one tray through the next

I also find it easier to load square trays then I do round trays. Especially longer strips such as jerky!

I like my excalibur a lot!

[mick silver]

to me this is the best one for the money . look around you can find it at a better price . http://www.basspro.com/LEM-Products-10Tray-Stainless-Steel-Dehydrator/product/45530/83119

[mick silver]

one more . we still use this one . works great ...http://www.cabelas.com/product/Cabelas-Heavy-Duty-Dehydrator/728907.uts?Ntk=AllProducts&searchPath=%2Fcatalog%2Fsearch.cmd%3Fform_state%3D searchForm%26N%3D0%26fsch%3Dtrue%26Ntk%3DAllProduc ts%26Ntt%3Dfood%2BDehydrator%26WTz_l%3DHeader%253B Search-All%2BProducts%26x%3D29%26y%3D11&Ntt=food+Dehydrator&WTz_l=Header%3BSearch-All+Products

[Silver Rocket Bitches!]

I bought a Aroma AFD-615 a few years back. It's no Excalibur but it does what I want, namely dehydrating fruit before it goes bad, sirloin jerky, surplus apples from the tree and fruit leather. You have to manually turn the trays every hour or so but I don't spend a lot time dehydrating. I spent $45 or so and the thing has paid for itself. If you're looking for economical I'd recommend it.

[gunDriller]

that reminds me....

did you ever eat that skunk?

no, it's the kind of thing that tends to not be high on the list of priorities ;)