George Shirley wrote:
Nick Cramer wrote:
"binarybill" wrote:
Thank you for your answers,1, I believe the drippings were from the
marinade.
2, I agree that the idea of drying meat at that temperature seemed
unsafe
to me, however, I have never made jerky before so I thought I should
ask.
I bought some at the store the other day and didn't like it at all plus
it was expensive.

I've been making beef jerky on-and-off for 50 years. I thin slice it, cut
it into strips, rub it down with s&p and put it in fly-proof frames to
dry
in the Sun. If it doesn't dry fully in one day, which it usually
doesn't, I
bring it indoors at night to shield it from the foggy, foggy, dew. When
I've made large batches, some has lasted fine for months. I've never
gotten
sick from it. My Thai wife now makes it the same way, although she
marinates it. Sweet, garlicy and hot! What did the American Indians do?

According to my grandmother they hung it over racks made of sticks, put
a couple of kids to watching it and to drive off the flies and the dogs.
Sun and wind would eventually dry it out but quite often they threw it
away because it turned green or soured. When dry the western Indians
pounded it with berries and other edibles to make pemmican. That being
said, we modern people don't have the constitution for eating food that
may be going "off" or getting ready to go off.

Most peoples who eat hot chiles did that originally to disguise the
flavor of rancid or near rancid meat.

George

I'm too lazy (well, busy getting dinner ready, too) to look up the
reference, but a few years back a US anthropologist reproduced the way
Indians preserved large cuts of meat. They had discovered a number of
post holes, with traces of timber in them, in the bed of a cold lake.
After some research (and maybe some speculation), they figured the
natives had tied parts of game carcasses deep in the cold water.
He experimented with some stekas, I believe, and maybe horsemeat. Come
Spring, he pulled them up and had them tested. No pathogens were found,
although the meat was slimy and sour on the surface. He cut some from
inside and roasted the pieces, and declared them just fine...

Dave