Does anybody have any pointers or equipment recommendations for making
jerky. I've googled around the wealth of info, but I'm hoping for people's
experiences with technique, recipes and equipment. We don't get a lot of
warm dry weather up here, so I'm pretty restricted to a smoker and
mechanical dehydrator most of the year.

TIA

D. Winsor wrote:
> Does anybody have any pointers or equipment recommendations for making
> jerky. I've googled around the wealth of info, but I'm hoping for people's
> experiences with technique, recipes and equipment. We don't get a lot of
> warm dry weather up here, so I'm pretty restricted to a smoker and
> mechanical dehydrator most of the year.
>
> TIA
>
>


I make jerky in a Nesco dehydrator (American Harvest "Snack Master Pro"
-- I think it's the same as a model FD-50). I like it better when it's
smoked, but it is good enough without the smoke that I usually don't
bother setting up the smoker.

I use 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp brown sugar, and 1/2 tsp freshly ground black
pepper per pound of lean raw beef strips. Sometimes I add a little
cayenne pepper. I mix it up and refrigerate it overnight to let the the
salt penetrate and the flavors meld, then I dry it at a fairly low
temperature until it is dry kind of like leather but doesn't break when
you bend it. You can leave the sugar out if you want, but I like it. I
store the jerky in a glass jar or a plastic bag, and I've never even had
it mold.

Best regards,
Bob

"D. Winsor" > wrote in message
...
> Does anybody have any pointers or equipment recommendations for making
> jerky. I've googled around the wealth of info, but I'm hoping for
> people's
> experiences with technique, recipes and equipment. We don't get a lot of
> warm dry weather up here, so I'm pretty restricted to a smoker and
> mechanical dehydrator most of the year.
>
> TIA
>
>
I do mine in a convection oven at (about) 150º F (65º C). Lots of marinade
suggestions available.

Don't trust your oven temperature control. I have to set mine for about 120º
to maintain 150º. I stick a thermometer in the oven to see what is
happening. The oven control is deadly accurate at higher temps.

"D. Winsor" wrote:

> Does anybody have any pointers or equipment recommendations for making
> jerky. I've googled around the wealth of info, but I'm hoping for people's
> experiences with technique, recipes and equipment. We don't get a lot of
> warm dry weather up here, so I'm pretty restricted to a smoker and
> mechanical dehydrator most of the year.
> TIA

You're welcome. I like my curry jerky based on a recipe gleaned from the
internet. Somebody named Bob I think. Santa Claus brought me a 9 tray
Excalibur Dehydrator for Christmas. Boy is it ever nice. Makes about 10# of
jerky at once. Timer and everything. According to the books I have, beef jerky
should be dried at about 140-150F. Any higher and it cooks and any lower and
you run the risk of sickness. I use 1.5" thick round steak, trimmed of all fat,
then sliced 1/4" thick, drenched in the marinade or dry rub overnite or two in
the fridge. Makes nice tidy slices. You must use 1 teaspoon of salt or
equivilent per pound of meat for best keeping. I found ziplock style packages
of jerky left on the shelf will moulder, keep forever in the freezer, but keep
best in a paper lunch bag in the relative dry atmosphere of garage canning
cabinet. But I live in the desert. Let us know how your experiments turn out.
Edrena

On Fri, 25 Feb 2005 16:19:20 -0500, "Ribitt"
> wrote:

>I do mine in a convection oven at (about) 150º F (65º C). Lots of marinade
>suggestions available.
>
>Don't trust your oven temperature control. I have to set mine for about 120º
>to maintain 150º. I stick a thermometer in the oven to see what is
>happening. The oven control is deadly accurate at higher temps.
>
At home, most people get to know their oven and whether it runs high
or low at typical settings. Home court advantage.

Professional chefs never assume that a temperature control is correct,
and always have their own personal high quality thermometers.

Getting a real oven thermometer is a worthwhile investment, compared
to the cost of ruined food.

Happy trails,
Gary (net.yogi.bear)
--
At the 51st percentile of ursine intelligence

Gary D. Schwartz, Needham, MA, USA
Please reply to: garyDOTschwartzATpoboxDOTcom

On Fri, 25 Feb 2005 22:22:48 GMT, The Joneses > wrote:

> Santa Claus brought me a 9 tray
>Excalibur Dehydrator for Christmas. Boy is it ever nice. Makes about 10# of
>jerky at once. Timer and everything.

I have one, but no timer. Not sure why I would need a timer. If you have
the money go for this one.

> According to the books I have, beef jerky
>should be dried at about 140-150F. Any higher and it cooks and any lower and
>you run the risk of sickness.

Not true. I dry mine at 115-125, depending on how humid the weather is.
Better flavor. If you let it get absolutely dry there is no chance of
sickness. So I dry mine for two to three days.

>I use 1.5" thick round steak, trimmed of all fat,
>then sliced 1/4" thick,

I use bison rounds. Generally they are about 7 - 7-1/2 pounds each. Two of
them will about fit in the 9-tray Excalibur.

>drenched in the marinade or dry rub overnite or two in
>the fridge.

I use no marinade. Simply slice and dry. But I grind mine and make it into
pemmican.

> Makes nice tidy slices. You must use 1 teaspoon of salt or
>equivilent per pound of meat for best keeping.

If it is absolutely dry it will keep without salt or anything else.

Don <donwiss at panix.com>.

"Don Wiss" > wrote in message
...
> On Fri, 25 Feb 2005 22:22:48 GMT, The Joneses > wrote:

"I use bison rounds. Generally they are about 7 - 7-1/2 pounds each. Two of
them will about fit in the 9-tray Excalibur."

I'm planning on using caribou clod fromm the front quarters. Is the bison a
very lean meat like caribou?

"I use no marinade. Simply slice and dry. But I grind mine and make it into
pemmican."

I'll have to google "pemmican" as I've only ever heard of it and haven't
tasted it.
>

"If it is absolutely dry it will keep without salt or anything else."

It can be -10C with a 95% relative humidity, so there's issues to keeping
anything that dry in the middle of the North Atlantic. Even in a gyproc
sheeted, heated and heat exchanged house it's rare to see humidy below 70%.
Besides, salt is the season of choice up here.

Has anybody dried sausage in the casings?
>
> Don <donwiss at panix.com>.

D. Winsor wrote:
> "Don Wiss" > wrote in message
>
>
> "If it is absolutely dry it will keep without salt or anything else."
>
> It can be -10C with a 95% relative humidity, so there's issues to keeping
> anything that dry in the middle of the North Atlantic. Even in a gyproc
> sheeted, heated and heat exchanged house it's rare to see humidy below 70%.
> Besides, salt is the season of choice up here.

I'm not sure what's your point?


> Has anybody dried sausage in the casings?
>

I have. It's tough to do because you have to dry sausage slowly at a
fairly high humidity so it doesn't dry too fast on the outside and "case
harden".

Bob

"zxcvbob" > wrote in message
...
> D. Winsor wrote:
> > "Don Wiss" > wrote in message
> >
> >
> > "If it is absolutely dry it will keep without salt or anything else."
> >
> > It can be -10C with a 95% relative humidity, so there's issues to
keeping
> > anything that dry in the middle of the North Atlantic. Even in a gyproc
> > sheeted, heated and heat exchanged house it's rare to see humidy below
70%.
> > Besides, salt is the season of choice up here.
>
> I'm not sure what's your point?


Thanks for sharing your experience with sausage. I would have thought it
the opposite but your experience makes more sense. My point above was in
reply to "absolutely dry". "Absolutely dry" is a hard goal to achieve up
here, even in the low humidity environs of a house equipped as I described.
Well, I guess they made dried salted fish here for centuries, so perhaps I
shouldn't be so pessimistic.