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Interestingly, I was researching just that this evening and came up with the following:
http://www.sausagemaker.com/index.asp?PageActio…
I am interested in the one with stainless steel shelves and a timer. I have an excalibur and rarely use it. i think i would feel better about dehydrating in stainless steel. However, for liquidy ingredients you still need to use the teflex sheets and i am not sure how safe they are. Hope this helps.
My bf and I have the SausageMaker and it is great! I highly recommended it. It is much better than the Excaliber in my opinion. It is more powerful. They do sell Teflex type sheets to go with the SausageMaker (the dimensions are different than the Excalibur) but I use unbleached natural wax paper and just mist it with olive oil and I find that works great and that I don’t need the Telfex sheets.
The one we have doesn’t have a digital temp so I often just stick a little digital room thermometer in there to check the temp – I normally leave it the same all the time.
RCBAlive – it’s true, great minds do think alike!
I found the Sausage Maker in my research and have been eyeing it.I like the fact that it is raised off the shelf for better ventilation. It runs on more watts than the Excalibur so it is clearly more powerful. Also, it doesn’t look like the Excalibur has the side ventilation, which would cut humidity in the oven and further increase drying time. Glad to hear that someone has used it and is happy.
QueenFluff, How much does it cost to run this thing? Can you tell a difference in your electric bill whenever you use it?
I love the idea about the natural wax paper. They have the teflon and silicone trays but I don’t feel real good about using either of those. That has been my one concern but if I can use wax paper that is perfect.
I went to a great, gourmet, raw food class the other night and they taught us to make these curried crepes with apples, veggies and this incredible sauce. Then they changed the crepe and sauce recipe and made this remarkable vietnamese crepe with different veggies. It was like going to a fine restaurant. I have got to buy a dehydrator! I’m new to raw foods and that type of food adds a whole new dimension to a raw food program.
Hey Queenfluff. Just wanted to know what the noise level is like on the Sausage Maker. I find the noise level on the Excalibur pretty annoying. Can you make a comparison between the two?
I like the idea of the unbleached natural was paper, but do we know how safe that is? although the temperature is not really high, I wonder what type of chemical reaction might occur when heating it.
Also, it appears that the grid of the trays are pretty big. do you find that you need to put most things on the wax paper? what happens if you don’t use oil on the sheets? what types of things can you put directly on the trays without it?
Dain5000,
That class sounds amazing. Could you post the recipes?
BTW, I have an Excaliber 4 tray. I returned the 9 tray because it was so loud.
FYI:
http://cgi.ebay.com/D-10-Stainless-Steel-Dehydr…
Dain5000-
I haven’t really noticed the electricity cost – I guess I just don’t keep track. I am not the one paying the electric bill right now but I didn’t notice a difference before. I don’t use it very often right now. Yes, the wax paper works beautifully – just make sure you get the natural unbleached stuff, it should be brown in color. The white stuff does not work – I tried it and my stuff stuck to it. Make sure you flip your stuff in time too – once your things are formed enough you won’t need the wax paper any more and you can leave the stuff on the stainless steel trays.
RCBAlive -
The SausageMaker IS loud – I don’t notice it as much because I don’t have great hearing. But we put ours on top of a towel which muffles the noise a bit. I think it is really just the vibrating of the steel that causes most of the noise not really the fan. I think it depends on what sort of surface you have it on too – we have ours on a wooden table right now. If you want to run it over night, keep it away from your bedroom if you can’t sleep with any noise! :) I haven’t ever owned an Excalibur – just used one at a raw restaurant before and the kitchen was pretty noisy there – but I think the SausageMaker might be louder but just because of the steel.
As far as the wax paper goes, I can’t really tell you anything about what chemical actions might occur – not really sure. Another idea might be to use a stainless steel sheet of sometype and than when the items are formed enough, you can flip them on to the regular trays. The grids of the trays are bigger to increase air flow which results in better dehydration (it really does help). I find that if I have anything liquid or that might bend before it is dehydrated I have to use the wax paper first until it is partially dehydrated than I remove the wax paper, flip my items and put them directly on the trays. No oil on the wax paper and the item will stick and you will have trouble getting them off and wax paper might stick permamently on it. You could probably put things that are already firm on there – maybe pieces of fruit or veggies. Most of the things I make start out liquidy or soft so I always have to use the wax paper. You really only need a light coating of the oil – I use a Misto Olive Oil sprayer or I use one of those brushes for like butter or basting.
My bf and a friend of his are in the planning stages for an infrared dehydrator which will dehydrating time in half – I think it will be alot less noisier too! Can’t wait to be the first to experiment with it! :)
Dain5000, those recipes are just what I’m looking for right now. Please post!
Teacher’s email was down. I will have those recipes tomorrow and was given permission to post them. There is a Thai crepe with filling and sauce, a curry crepe with filling and sauce, and a pumpkin mousse, I thought they were all fabulous and think most SAD people would like them. I am taking the pumpkin mousse to a get together on Thursday and another on Sunday. It is killer, tastes like a fabulous pumpkin pie mouse but has no pumpkin in it.
Can’t wait to get those recipes, Dain5000. Also, which class did you take and where? I’m always up for new classes.
I take the classes in Lexington, SC. The teacher is Sharon Wright. I have known Sharon for a few years. She is very interested in nutritional health and was a gourmet macrobiotic chef for several years and taught as well. Several months ago she made the switch to raw and is updating her recipes so they are all raw. She has no objection to my posting hte recipes, which I did earlier today. I will continue to post any new fabulous recipes. We made raw turtle candies last week. They were killer too.
know anything about the Cabela’s Commercial Food Dehydrators?
I was just looking at the Cabelas catalog yesterday. I have a plastic cheap dehydrator and want to upgrade. The Cabelas one is not plastic. I like that it has the glass front. The SausageMaker and LEM have metal fronts – at least the ones I’ve seen. On the down side, the drying screens are extra and I think those would be necessary. I can’t tell what the fruit roll trays are made of. I use parchment with my current dehydrator.
Also – they are on sale right now – http://www.cabelas.com/hprod-1/0019202.shtml
At that site, if you click on one of the products and then click the link to the field test report, you get a better description of the dehydrator. You just have to ignore all the references to jerky and hunting.
The Cabelas one looks cool. I returned my Excalibur after a few weeks (30-day return policy). I was concerned about the plastic toxicity.
All the raw books suggested Excalibur. I didn’t even know there were other options (other than the cheaper Nesco models). Would like to hear more about metal options & experiences.
I prefer my food with a high-water content, but dried foods are perfect for hiking & camping.