Amazon Purchase: Excalibur Electric Food Dehydrator, 9 Tray 600W, Black (Made In The USA)

ORDER PLACED: December 12, 2014 Price: $201.25 Ea. Qty: 1

Amazon Link: https://amzn.to/3WaJvV4

Status: Still Available!

I could not wait to get to this purchase to share with you my review of this product. This item was purchased nearly a decade ago and it is not hidden in a cupboard, in the garage or under a shelf somewhere. It has, and does take up real estate space on the counter as it is in constant use. This by far has been one of our best purchases we have made in general, much less an Amazon purchase. The incredible thing is that is is selling for much less now than when I bought it back in 2014!

We are jerky aficionados, beef jerky in particular. This unit has been constantly used for 10 years for dehydrating beef, deer, elk, bison, fruits and vegetables. It is a solid and high quality unit that still garners 4 1/2 stars with over 5,000 reviews. All parts on our unit are original – including the washable trays.

The 9 tray capacity holds about 4lbs of beef in our experience. After the jerky is cured and ready to eat, that equates to about 1 lb of fresh homemade beef jerky. We have found that you get about a 25% yield of net edible high protein and delicious jerky from a fully loaded unit. Of course this all depends on how thick you slice your meat.

We like it as “in the middle” thickness. Not too thick not too thin. It is a fine line between a super crispy snack or a nice semi-hard – yet chewable slice. This is a personal preference and to be honest, we like all forms and variations of beef jerky.

(We have many home recipes that I will be sharing in this review)

Your local butcher or supermarket can or will slice the beef for you to your liking. The investment in a processor like this will save you mega bucks in comparison to buying jerky off of the shelf. Prices have sky rocketed for beef jerky and dare I say, that the off the shelf products are simply priced at ridiculous cost!

Because this unit is used primarily for beef jerky, I will go into more detail of how we use it for that.

Tip #1: Buy meat on sale to maximize your savings. We usually look for any type of roast that is on special and either slice it ourselves or have the market or big box supermarket do it for us. Ask if your retailer or butcher will slice the roast for you. More than not the answer will be yes.

Tip #2: We only season one side of the meat as they are arranged on the trays. The trays are large so do not be afraid to pace the slices close to each other. As the meat begins to dehydrate, it will shrink and naturally create a separation of slices.

Tip #3: We use both high temps and medium high temps to cure our jerky. Sometimes high heat for a few hours and lowering the temp to a lower heat at the end produces the best product. You will have to experiment with time depending on how thick your slices are.

Tip #4: Our unit does not have an off and on switch! We were unplugging the product in the beginning using the outlet as an off/on switch. You can keep the unit on at all times and the temp dial set to zero. Once you turn the dial up in temp, the unit will kick on. Took us a few years to figure that one out.

There is no timer and we are OK with that. Checking on your jerky every few hours is your best gauge as to how well your meat is curing. Again, it is all dependent on the thickness of your slices. In time you will be able to pretty much time your jerky as to how long and what temp you like best.

When you turn the unit off, it is like a cooking a steak. Once pulled from the heat, the meat will continue to cook/dry. Sometimes we leave the unit off overnight after turning the temp off for that perfect cure. The process is fun and interesting to be able to tweak your timing for that perfect bite and chew.

Our top 3 favorite recipes are: (We live in the Southwest)

#1. Salt and pepper. Himalayan sea salt or Redmond Real Salt from Utah is our favorite salts. We use the fine cut of salt as it evenly coats the surface of the slice. Fresh ground black pepper tastes best but you can use already crushed black pepper. Season to taste.

#2. Salt, Garlic Salt (or powder) and ground cayenne pepper, green chile or red chile powder. If you are not familiar with red and green chile, I will leave a link below for New Mexico products.

#3. Soy sauce, salt and pepper. This is more of a wet rub and will take more time to cure but the taste is amazing. Actually, you may use any liquid of your choosing such as hot sauce from a bottle. Experiment with your own seasonings and let us know what you use in the comments below.

Bottom line is that this unit is in constant work making us fresh delicious protein snacks. It is made In the USA if that is important to you. I can go on and on about the amazing tasty treats you can make at home but you are best creating your own and having fun with it. If you have questions, please fell free to comment below. We would love to talk to you about recipes, performance and anything else to do with this unit.

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I Bought It On Amazon (Father)

Hatch Green Chile Powder: https://amzn.to/45SYk1Z

New Mexico Red Chile Powder: https://amzn.to/4cPhhVx

Redmond Real Sea Salt From Utah: https://amzn.to/4cT2DfM