I got a really nice dehydrator oven a while back and I've been making jerky. The recipe that came with the oven says 165 degrees for 6 hours but this made my first two batches too tough so I made thicker cuts for the same temp and time. It seems to have worked but I'm concerned and don't want to put these in my lunch if there's a possibility of having made a mistake.

It won't kill me, will it?

I soak the meat overnight in a teriyaki-ish marinade. Determining the thickness of the cut is part of the learning process. You will decide what works best for you. I always refrigerate my jerky after it's done. As long as it's dry you should be fine. I've never had any issues with spoilage. I even made a batch and priority mailed it to my son who's in the Air Force. I simply asked him to refrigerate it as soon as he could.

quote:

Originally posted by JohnnyD:
I soak the meat overnight in a teriyaki-ish marinade. Determining the thickness of the cut is part of the learning process. You will decide what works best for you. I always refrigerate my jerky after it's done. As long as it's dry you should be fine. I've never had any issues with spoilage. I even made a batch and priority mailed it to my son who's in the Air Force. I simply asked him to refrigerate it as soon as he could.

I marinated it in vinegar, salt, spice and Tobasco for about a day and a half. The thicker cuts are a little squishy but I'm running them for two more hours to make sure.

I refrigerate them as you do anyway. I just wasn't sure. Thank you.

Have you tried ground meat jerky? I have a jerky gun (looks like a caulking gun). Mix the seasoning with the ground meat. I put it on wax paper and press it a little thinner.
You could also use a rolling pin amd wax paper if you dont have a gun. Comes out super soft and tender.

Give a piece to one of your step-daughter’s boyfriends and observe for about 12 hours.

Not an expert but have made it in my smoker a few times and it is always a big hit and didn't last long enough to worry about spoilage, but I still do.

So far I have used Hi Mountain Jerky mixes from Academy Sports for seasoning because it comes with a packet of sodium nitrite cure, that makes the jerky safer for longer and makes it taste like cured meat. IIRC ~7 bucks will do 15 lb of meat. Always use very lean meat, it's the fat that goes rancid.

Toughness of the finished jerky depends some on the way the meat is sliced. With the grain produces a tougher chew, across the grain less...

I used my smoker to dehydrate and don't add any additional liquid smoke.
I wish for my own meat slicer and a vacuum sealer to get more into jerky. I already have some "cure" and a gram scale for measuring the cure.

I Made bags of 4 different flavors, some mild ,some hot etc for the grandkids and step sons for Christmas and let them each pick a bag for them selves. They had a ball tasting and swapping flavors.

Like I said NOT an expert... YMMV.

quote:

Originally posted by arfmel:
Give a piece to one of your step-daughter’s boyfriends and observe for about 12 hours.

Hahaha! Dogs can handle spoiled meat though.

We do the ground meat jerky here.
Usually venison, but beef on rare occasions.
(like when the freezer has no venison)
Venison gets two trips through the grinder.
Mid sized grinder plate first, small sized grinder plate for the second trip.
90% or 93% store bought lean ground beef is used right out of the package.

Seasoning/curing mix does 15 pounds of meat and can be bought in many stores.

We prefer Cracked Pepper flavored.

We use a Cabela's Jerky Shooter (like a big caulking gun) and have several extra "tubes" for the Jerky Shooter. We use the double row tip so it extrudes two strips at once.

We prefer the round jerky over the flat.
More like a store bought Slim Jim in profile.
It's more moist and tender round vs flat.

Eight or so hours in a Cabela's commercial grade dehydrator.

And we store completed jerky in the freezer, with an open bag being eaten stored in the refrigerator.

Because it has the cure in the mix, several days at room temperature isn't a problem.

I have had it grow mold if it sits on the counter for weeks.

Any deer harvested will likely have 90% of it run through the grinder. We'll eat the tenderloins and sirloins and the remainder gets run through the grinder.

If you want a great treat, try making Salmon jerky. It's easy and very tasty. Just use a basic brine like one you'd use for smoked salmon and brine it over night.

Jim

quote:

Hi Mountain Jerky mixes

I use these, they are dry, and I also use wet marinades. My son gave me a jerky slicer for Christmas. It's a Weston brand https://www.meatprocessingprod...OEAQYASABEgIzRfD_BwE
and it is a joy to use!

For a dry mix (Hi Mountain), simply put these on the dehydrator and set the temp at 165 deg. I usually rotate the meat and trays every hour until I get the desired crispness. It's plyable and not brittle. How you feed the meat into the slicer is important: across the grain for easier chewing, with the grain for stringier jerky.

For a marinade, I use paper towels and dry the strips out as much as I can. Depending on the marinade, I will "baste" the strips on each side as I turn them, or not! Again, the time is irrelevant as long as the strips are plyable and don't break upon bending.

After letting the strips cool, I'll package them up into 4-5 oz. servings and vacuum seal them. I've had jerky last 4-6 months and still be as good as the 4-5 ounces I eat before vacuum sealing! I HAVE to taste the product, eh?

I make my jerky with my own marinade of soy sauce, worchestershire sauce (3 to 1 ratio) and then whatever spices for the flavor profile I'm going for.

I make mine in my oven at 170 and it takes 4-6 hours depending. I watch it like a hawk, flip and rotate as needed and pull pieces off as they look finished to me.

They are excellent and last well over a week without being in the fridge.

Just something you need to get a feel for.

quote:

Originally posted by odin:

My son gave me a jerky slicer for Christmas. It's a Weston brand https://www.meatprocessingprod...OEAQYASABEgIzRfD_BwE
and it is a joy to use!

I see they make 3 models, at least. One that tenderizes only, one that slices only, and one that does both. I would like the one that does both! What one do you have?

quote:

Originally posted by mark123:

quote:

Originally posted by JohnnyD:
I soak the meat overnight in a teriyaki-ish marinade. Determining the thickness of the cut is part of the learning process. You will decide what works best for you. I always refrigerate my jerky after it's done. As long as it's dry you should be fine. I've never had any issues with spoilage. I even made a batch and priority mailed it to my son who's in the Air Force. I simply asked him to refrigerate it as soon as he could.

I marinated it in vinegar, salt, spice and Tobasco for about a day and a half. The thicker cuts are a little squishy but I'm running them for two more hours to make sure.

I refrigerate them as you do anyway. I just wasn't sure. Thank you.

I think you marinating it for that period of time in salt and vinegar (if it's concentrated enough) would cure it and don't think you'd have to worry about it.

The model I have does both, although I haven't tried the tenderizer. I used to buy "thick cut" steak for jerky, when I was slicin by hand. This thickness will bind the crap out of the slicer. Also, if you want to experiment with chicken, put the breasts in the freezer for an hour to harden them up before slicing.

I'm more familiar with smoking jerky than dehydrating, but 6 hours at 165 seems like a long time. I bet they are getting done much sooner than you think. Even if you are doing ground jerky, I would think that once it reaches an internal temp of 165, it is 'done' and you only need to cook it longer if it needs to dry it out more.

We do mostly cut jerky, so it often varies in thickness. It starts out from a cold smoke for 1 to however many hours you like, gradually warming up the smoking chamber to about 145 just using with wood chips in a skillet on a hot plate, and when it has achieved the desired smokiness, we switch to propane heat to bring chamber temps up to about 180F and remove them as they reach the desired level of dryness. Thicker rubbery cuts stay in until they are done.