Just wondering how difficult it is. Do you add seasoning? How long does it last without refrigeration? Is a homemade product viable for storage?

Sue

Yes, and other dehydrated foodstuffs, but for speciic trips mostly, not long-term storage.

Not hard to do. I made it in the oven for a few years, but got a dehydrator and have used that ever since - nothing fancy needed for jerky. Yes, I use seasonings - depends on what mood I'm in - plenty of recipies out there. I have not kept jerky for long periods without sticking it in the refer, but it holds up fine - longer if dried harder, but most folks prefer it to be not that hard. Anyway, the vultures, er, kids, eat up any surplus pretty quickly.

I don't make enough of it to know about "long term" storage - I'm confident it would keep over winter. It's pretty expensive to risk lots of it for long term storage, IMHO - think freeze-dried nitrogen packed (commercial stuff) for that (low risk). OTOH, if you have 100lbs or so of lean meat that you are comfy with risking (perhaps a couple of deer), I suppose you could give it a try. Worst case, you'd have to cook it before using it.

I've become very fond of my dehydrated (cooked) ground beef (hamburger) - I get it super lean, cook it, drain well, and turn it into gravel in the dehydrator. Because I'm using such lean meat (97%), I skip the hot water rinse that some folks call for. I've kept some of it for a couple of months at room temp (OK - it was forgetfulness on my part) and it was FINE when I ate it - YMMV. Roughly equal volume of water to granules to re-hydrate, but experiment. I have to line the trays with nylon window screening to keep it from falling thru. Some of that plus some inexpensive pasta dish is VERY tasty out on the trail. Have made some great shepard's pot pie with that, potato granules, etc. on my backpacking stove, but that's a pretty elaborate meal to fix for backpacking.

HTH,

Tom

I do. it's not difficult at all. Have one of those ronco dehydrators. Marinade sliced thin london broil in Adolph's meat tenderizer, worstershire and soy sauce for a few hours, then place in the dehydrator, add cracked black pepper from the peppermill and salt and it takes about 12 -18 hours depending on thickness of meat. it never lasts long, because I can't leave it alone.

Tom,
How long do you dehydrate the hamburger?
How long do you have to rehydrate it as well?

Dale,

Longer than I need to: overnight. It's a function of when I have time to prep the hamburger and put it in the dehydrator. It probably takes 3 - 4 hours in my simple dehydrator. There are variables.

Re-hydration time depends on how I'm using it. I suggest NOT using cold water (slight risks). Boiling water dumped into the hamburger gets the job done in about 15 minutes IF I keep it insulated. I would "plan" the meal for a 30 minute soak the first few times, though, until you get the hang of it.

Variables for drying:

1. Fineness of grind - coarser takes longer
2. How much moisture was cooked/drained/blotted out.
3. Your dehydrator or oven
4. How you load the trays (dense or sparse).
5. Ambient humidity.


Variables for re-hydrating:

1. Fineness of grind - coarser takes longer
2. Temperature of water used and how long you keep it warm
3. Recipies - depending on what you are making, you might be able to add the meat and water to the pot and use cooking time to re-hydrate. That's tricky until you get the hang of it, but a few crunchy 'flavor granules" of meat won't kill you.

There are TONS of websites that cover this - just Google "dehydrate hamburger" for a start. A couple of sites have some unsafe advice w.r.t. long-term storage (dry canning in the oven), but generally they give good, safe advice.

HTH,

Tom

Susan,

I forgot to mention: For a long time I did the traditional meat-slicing, which works great as long as I plan ahead and re-sharpen my wife's kitchen knives before I start... then I decided to try running the meat thru the meat grinder instead - huge labor savings, even including cleaning the grinder. Extremely coarse grind, of course. First several times I rolled out the ground meat on waxed paper and flipped the giant "patties" onto the trays. I fiddled around with scoring the patty with a table knife first as well. That all worked fine. Then I saw this gizzmo in her baking stuff that looks like a caulk gun (sorta) - I think it's for cookie dough. Anyway, I use that now - works great. I see the stores now have something similar called a "jerky shooter" and if you get to making lots of jerky, give one a whirl.

Tom

I have made jerky in the oven. A food dehydrator would be better if you plan on doing a lots of batches.

There are many recipes. Just Google "Jerky Recipe". Give it a try.

Typical recipes run something like this :
First you thin slice lean meat (I use deer meat). Then you soak meat for a few hours in some mixture that usually contains something like
soy sauce or Worcestershire sauce and spices like salt, pepper, onion powder.

Turn oven on at lowest possible setting. Pat meat dry with paper towels. Put on racks. Stick a wooden spoon or stick in the door to leave a small crack. Go do something useful and check back every couple of hours. Will take 6-8 hours to dry.

I store in a zip lock bag in freezer, but it will be fine at room temperature if you get it dry enough. The salt you added to the meat also helps with storage.

I've been making jerky most of my life, and though my form is traditional, I certainly appreciate the modern concepts, such as a dehydrator, using ground meat through a shaping press, etc.

There are a few essentials to consider in the process:

1. Start with fresh product. If the meat smells sour to begin with, it won't get any better in the dehydrating process. It could get a lot worse.

2. Use lean product. Unrendered dehydrated fat is unappealing unless it is bacon. Game fat also can give the jerky a gamier taste. Trim whatever meat you use real lean. Also note that most jerky is cut with the grain, contrary to the typical way we serve meat. This is what gives it the stringiness. I like mine thick cut as well, but never more than 1/4" thickness (any thicker adversely affects the dehydration effort).

3. Curing and seasoning. Traditional salt/sugar cures work pretty good. My primary recipe uses rock salt, brown sugar, white sugar, soy sauce, black pepper, hot sauce, worchestershire sauce, jamaica jerk seasoning, and water. The meat soaks overnight, then dries until a good pedicle is formed (the skin crusting effect).

4. Residual moisture determines shelf life. For the most part, the amount of moisture remaining in the meat will determine how long it can last in ambient conditions. The right cure helps, but it is really how dry you get it. If it doesn't dry out enough, it will rancidate in a matter of days if left out. Usually, I like my jerky very dry, almost brittle, and thus prepared it will last at least 6 months. The oldest jerky I've made and consumed using my traditional recipe is about 8 months. It was still good at that point, and likely would've lasted longer so long as it stayed dry. I use a smoker to dehydrate and further cure the meat (you just can't duplicate the flavor of smoked meat). With meat this dry, it works a lot better in my pemmican process ( I just had to get that in, you know <img src="/images/graemlins/smirk.gif" alt="" />).

I usually store mine wrapped in a paper towel inside ziplocs or in recycled plastic peanut jars I get from Costco.

Sometimes I don't dry it out as much so other people can enjoy it more (I admit I have teeth like a dog). Those who've tried it find it quite enjoyable, but I suspect there's better out there. I've used this recipe/method on beef, venison, elk, bison, bear, horse and antelope, and it seems to kill the gaminess fairly well. This is actually my preferred method of eating bear meat. I use a variation of this for my smoked salmon/steelhead/trout recipe to good effect also.

I also like to make pepper sticks, and I will smoke dry those till they are brittle and they also last a long, long time.

I've tried other ingredients as well, including Morton "Quick Cure", with some success. Quick cure makes the meat pink, but that goes away during the drying process.

I asked the same question on this forum one or two years ago.
And I followed the instructions given by some members (Chris + ?? I don't remember who ...).
I only made two batches up to now, so I didn't not invest in a dehydrator.
I use my electric oven.
Thin strips of meat ; a few hours - a night - in a very simple "marinade" (soy sauce + curing salt - "sel nitrit?" >> a bit too salted, but iI like it. Thu I will try something less salty next time)
Toothpicks help to suspend the strips of meat from the grill in the oven (don't forget some aluminium sheets to protect the bottom of the oven ...!!!)
Oven on the lowest temp. 50 to 75?C - that's 120 to 150?F; during 5h or 6 hours. Oven's door left a bit open - using a cork to leave a gap .
As Benjamin noted, it depends on meat thickness, etc... and on your tastes.
My jerky was/is quite hard.

I vacuum packed the resulting strips and put some in the freezer, some in the fridge and let some in a closet, at room temp.
That last batch was still OK more than a year after making it.
Very dry + salty .... looooong conservation time.
And I still have the ones I put in the freezer... Will try them next year maybe ... if I don't use them before.


The oven method is quite simple :

Buy a steack, cut strips and experiment. Eat the results during the following week.

Then, next saturday buy another steack and try a different marinade, a longer time, etc..
After a few steaks, you will find your prefered combination (thickness, flavor, dryness....)
No meat wasted that way.
You can then try to prepare a whole deer ........ <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

I haven't made a batch in a while, but I used to (when I had more time) quite a bit, as a matter of fact, I used to sell it at a club bar as fast as I could make it.
It's not at all difficult, if you take a few short cuts. I got on good terms with a grocery store butcher, and twice a week, I'd pick up a whole bottom round, cut and trimmed, all ready to go (at no extra charge BECAUSE I was getting two a week). I'd take the strip-cut meat home and divide it up into batches in gallon ziplock bags, pour in my marinade mix (soy, worcestershire, garlic, and pepper) and after the first batch sat over night in the fricge, filled the dehydrator. Every 12 hours I had about a half pound of finished product that I could enjoy myself, or drop at the club for roughly a triple mark-up (yes, it's a good recipe, I had back-orders for it). The secret is to have the trimming/cutting done for you when you pick the meat up (the butcher can do in ten minutes, what would take you or me a couple of hours), and don't worry about all the "special marinades" marketed at you. Experiment with soy, worcestershire, steak sauce, teriaki glaze, and spices 'til you get a tasty simple recipe you like, then you're on a roll <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />
Give it a try, Sue, you'll either enjoy yourself and have a good time (like I did), or decide that it's quicker/easier to buy it, but I guarranty it won't be cheaper <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Troy