jerky

[gfish]

So, I made jerky this weekend using the Alton Brown recipe. It came out quite yummy, and was a fun little project. Next time I want to try for a teriyaki flavoring.



Some lessons:
You really want lean cuts. I wasn't able to find flank steak, so I used some promising looking sirloin. It came out just fine, but if forced to again I'd trim the fat beforehand much more aggressively. It ends up pretty nasty if you don't, and you'll waste less meat if you trim it before drying.

A little desk fan really isn't big enough. It took at least 24 hours to really dry, and I left it going for another 10 just to be sure. Next time I'll use fewer filters and pack the meat tighter.

Fiberglass filters worked just fine, but I did have to be careful to remove some wayward fibers that stuck to the drying meat. Possibly this could be prevented through better surface drying before placing the marinated meat on the filters, but I ran out of paper towels.

Comments

[quiet000001.livejournal.com]

Thanks for pointing out the recipe! I am not a jerky fan myself, however I am trying to keep an eye on what my dogs are consuming, and I'm thinking that making my own jerky for treats might be a great way to do that. (Because I do not even want to KNOW what is in some dog treats. It scares me.)

(And I know some people are going 'eep! making jerky for a DOG??!?' but given a) the cost of medical treatment should they get cancer or otherwise ill from the god-knows-what and b) the relatively small amount they'd get each time as a treat, I'm thinking it's worth it.)

Also, you might want to try putting some cheesecloth over the filters next time. It shouldn't significantly interfere with the drying process, but should provide protection against most wayward fibers.

[sheistheweather]

Yummmmm.

[gement.livejournal.com]

Having gotten fiberglass splinters in my fingers before, I quail at the thought of them in my tongue. *shudder* But I'm glad the recipe worked! I second the recommendation for a cheesecloth layer.

[spiritdancer]

There are also some fairly inexpensive paper filters out there that should work (and you wouldn't have to pick off fiberglass after drying)

[plantae.livejournal.com]

Okay, my feeling on this has always been grocery store meat = bacteria farm, cooking required. Does this worry you?

[gfish.livejournal.com]

Truth be told, I didn't really think about it. Surely Alton wouldn't let me down?

Having read the USDA page (http://www.fsis.usda.gov/FactSheets/Jerky_and_Food_Safety/index.asp) on the subject, I'm not sure what to think. Having used a curing mix on non-ground beef, it seems like I'm pretty safe. But I still might go ahead and heat it to 160 next time, to see what that does to the final product.

[nimitzbrood.livejournal.com]

From what I've seen/heard/read the salt curing mixture is more than enough to draw the moisture out and make the meat a "veritable wasteland" as far as germs are concerned. Are you talking about heating it to 160 _after_ it's dry? Just curious.

On the drying rig - I'm seriously considering opening up my existing dehydrator and putting a toggle switch on it to turn off the heater but allow the dryer to run. That should give me a similar effect to Alton's setup. If you know how to use a soldering iron it should be damn easy.

BTW...

[nimitzbrood.livejournal.com]

You do know that every Good Eats(tm) episode is available on YouTube legally right?

http://shorterlink.org/4101

I was home *ahem* sick a week or so ago and now I'm add^H^H^Hup to season 7. ;-)

Re: BTW...

[gfish.livejournal.com]

I knew they were there (thanks to SurfTheChannel), but I didn't know they were legal copies. Keen!