5 min. ago, I put my first batch of beef jerky in my electric oven, temp 65?C.

Beforehand, I marinated the beef in soya sauce (+ spices + nitrited (sp ?) salt).
I fear nitrited salt + soya sauce will give something a bit too salty ... well, it's a first experiment ....
<img src="/images/graemlins/smirk.gif" alt="" />

Now, I just have to wait ............... a few hours ...........

In the meantime, I have some questions :
- how long will home made jerky stay good ; let's say at room temp. eventually vacuum packed .. ???
- do you prepare your jerky just before hiting the trail ?
- or do you make it a long time before and keep it in the freezer ?
- or ... what ... ?????

TIA

i want to make jerky too ! but how do you convince your mum to leave the oven on for a long long time with the door slightly open ?

here's a great link about jerky making: http://www.bushcraftuk.co.uk/200/oven_jerky.html

that's the "recipe" I followed (+ retriving some info on this forum).

Except I intend to keep the toothpicks to use them as ... toothpicks.... <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

I just tried to make thiner slices. May be the drying will be shorter.

Alain:

<img src="/images/graemlins/mad.gif" alt="" /> Jerky only stores for about 6 weeks?well ok, longer than that, but around my place it seems to last about 6 weeks. <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />

The US native peoples known as the Cree are credited with inventing pemmican, which is equal parts jerky and dried fruit mixed with some form of suet e.g. bear or bison. The origin of true Jerky is credited to the South American natives called the Quechua (originally part of the ancient Inca empire) as early as 1550. They called it Ch'arki and the conquering Spaniards recorded how the process was done.

Here is my very basic jerky recipe and recommended storage. Note the recipe is what would have been common in the frontier days of the early US west. Since I have my own dehydrator I don't use the oven method. I have also dried the meat in the Sun.

3 pounds top round London Broil, trimmed of fat
3 tablespoons salt (I use Redmond Sea Salt, but you can use Fleur De Sel)
2 tablespoons coarsely ground black pepper
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon onion powder

Cut meat into strips a little less than 1/4-inch thick. Place strips in a shallow bowl. Combine salt, pepper, garlic powder, and onion powder in a small bowl. Rub spice mixture into strips. Cover loosely with plastic wrap, and marinate for 48 hours in the refrigerator. Remove a rack from the oven. Preheat the oven to 145? -150? (about 60?-65? C) Remove the strips from the marinade and lay them directly on the oven rack so that air can circulate around them. Line the bottom of the oven with aluminum foil to catch the drippings. Place the rack in the oven, leaving it partially open to maintain a constant temperature. Leave the jerky in the oven until well dried, 6 to 8 hours. To test for the jerky for the proper dryness, remove a strip from the oven or dehydrator. Let it cool slightly, then bend the jerky; it should crack, but not break. A piece of jerky cracks but does not break when it is bent. This is when the jerky is done. Properly dried jerky is chewy and leathery. It will be as brittle as a green stick, but won?t snap like a dry stick.

Other ingredients to consider:

Worcestershire Sauce
Hot Sauce (Tabasco)
Liquid Smoke (to simulate drying in a smoke house)
Brown Sugar
Cayenne Powder
Cumin Powder
Soy Sauce

Although many prepackaged spice mixtures and recipes call for the use of a curing salt (sodium nitrate) I do not use this ingredient and still have good results. Jerky will last in an airtight container for several years at room temperature. You can vacuum package the Jerky, or freeze it, which will give you an indefinite storage option

Good luck,

Stargazer

ASAP = Always Suspicious, Always Prepared

Hey Alain,

About 20 years ago, I was drying about 100 lbs a week in a purpose made dehydrator, and selling about 95% of that (as fast as I could make it) at a tidy little profit. If you dry it to the point of not quite brittle (still a little bend to it, doesn't snap like a dry twig), it will last longer than you can leave it alone (I found a bag (brown paper) that was over a year old that was just fine). Vacuum seals, zip-lok bags, and tightly sealed jars are all good and well, but if you get it right, all you have to do is keep moisture and unwanted guests away from it, and it's good almost indefinitely.

Troy

hey, thanks for the recipe !
Next time I will try yours, instead of marinating in soy sauce (I will just have to find out what piece of beef "London Broil" is .....)
a classical white wine marinade...

Can I make pork jerky ? with a classical white wine marinade...

(chump...chump.. excuse me, I know it's not polite to speak while eating, but :
- I don't speak, I write ...
- I have to test my jerky ... a bit salty, but gooood .... <img src="/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />)

I have an electric oven, with an internal fan (forces warm air to circulate inside the oven. I don't know what the english term is).
So maybe it's faster :
I only kept the jerky hanging inside the oven for 5 hours. It's not brittle and seems dry enough.
Next time I will try 6 hours... but I don't want to overdry it ..

Now they have cooled ; I will use my vacuum sealer to protect them, put some in freezer, some in my fridge at 0?C, some will stay at room temp.
I will check them in a few weeks/months....
And that's just what I wanted to know : if the "shelf-life" was a matter of days, weeks or months.

Thanks for info.

Next time, I will try to dry my jerky a bit longer (1 hour more).
To see if I can keep it longer.

ALAIN, DON"T MAKE RAW PORK ANYTHING!!! That's a good way to end up in the hospital! However, with that said, you can dry cooked pork, provided that you remove enough fat that it doesn't go rancid. I'd also suggest that you not try to keep it around too long without refrigeration. Stick to lean meats and fish for the best end product. For meat, you can use wet or dry marinades. Soy/teriaki/worcestershire/liquid smoke/your favorite steak sauce all make good marinades singly or in any combination that suits your taste, I've even used Jack Danials for a "special order" batch way back when. It wasn't bad, but didn't suit my taste, the fellow I made it for loved it. Dry marinades can be just about any combination of dry spices that catch your fancy as well... I've used garlic, onion, cajun seasoning, italian seasoning, pepper (white, black, red), etc. Old Bay seafood seasoning was really quite good, but more for an at home snack with plenty of liquid refreshment to go with it (spicey hot and thirst provoking) than as a trail food. This is an area where you can really have fun experimenting with combinations, just don't do too big of a batch if you're not quite sure how a given combination will turn out. With a wet marinade, I always soak mine overnite in the fridge. For dry, lightly coat it and get it in your dehydrator/oven right away. You can also dry lean meat or fish for later use in soups and stews without any marinade, but in that case, dry it brittle/crisp... it should snap, not bend, and check it occasionally while you're drying it and pat off any juice/oil you see on it, you want it bone dry. This is good for long term travel/hiking, VERY little weight, and it goes a long way toward boosting the taste of any "Foragers Stew" you make up on the trail. Just a note, marinated meat doesn't go too well in soups/stews. The marinade tends to block the pores of the meat, and as a result, it doesn't reconstitute very well. Have fun, and enjoy the fruits of your labor. <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Troy

Dreaming .................

could I make "foie gras" jerky ...??...... <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

O.K., I'll stick to beef.
There are enough marinade methods or spices to try, to keep me happy experimenting for a long time.

I copy/paste your posts in my recipe folder.

Thanks again.