beef jerkey: first attempt...

[lub0]

using my excalibur 5-tray dehydrator I dried a few kilos of silverside "slamon cut" beef as per reccomended by the morrisons butcher. The results are amazing!

after just 3-4 hours in the dehydrator it is ready. I literally bought the beef at 1:30pm today and just after a few hours...

 

[salad]

Looks great.
I done some in the oven with the door open on a low temp.
Did you use any spice with it ? or go for the natural

 

[IntrepidStu]

wow, my dehydrator takes about 7 hours, although it is then pretty tough and takes alot of chewing. I find I have to be realy carefull with spices because they become VERY concentrated in the end product. I still havent really done a batch that im happy with so ill be interested in what you used.

Stu

 

[mitch66]

hi, look's nice very nice, where did you buy your excalibur from ? seen them on emay for about £240. i found someone on you---- that dehydrate's well everything and then seal's it a vac bags. im sure her husband was in a vac bag and what a setup she had. she always had gloves on.good luck with your dehydrator.

 

[IntrepidStu]

hi, look's nice very nice, where did you buy your excalibur from ? seen them on emay for about £240. i found someone on you---- that dehydrate's well everything and then seal's it a vac bags. im sure her husband was in a vac bag and what a setup she had. she always had gloves on.good luck with your dehydrator.

Mines a Dorrex and I think I got it from Backpacking light.
http://www.backpackinglight.co.uk/page39.asp

It works great but you have to improvise for fluids by using baking paper.

 

[lub0]

I frogot where I got mine from, but it was the cheapest place at the time. Always google shop around for a few hours before buying.
They are real expensive for what they are, but then again they are the only dehydrator worth buying becuase they do such a damm good and quick job.

I just used salt to flavour the beef but next time I'm gonna marinate it.
I set the excalibur oven to it's highest heat (65 celcius) for 2 hours then turned it down low for the remaining hour.

One word of warning though. The excalibur is very expensive to run. Equivilent to a kettle, even.

 

[paolo]

using my excalibur 5-tray dehydrator I dried a few kilos of silverside ....

Wow, looks great..
One of these days i will try too...

 

[AJB]

Marinade paracetamol! So it doubles as part of you FAK too

 

[tytek]

That looked so good I was licking the screen!!!

I am a bit of a jerky fan to say the least.

 

[widu13]

I've the el cheapo dehydrator from http://www2.westfalia.net/shops/household/preserving_food_and_jam_making/preserving_food/dehydrating_/193811-food_dehydrator.htm and a vacuum packer.

They're brill. A cheap and easy marinade- garlic, worcester sauce, chilli sauce, soy sauce. Can be as spicy garlicy, sweet as you like. No meaasuring just bang 'em in and stick your finger it to taste...fantastic.

I don't know how long jerky lasts outside of the vacuum packer but in the one pack I've managed not to eat! 4 months later and it seems fine. Cook a "normal" meal and dehydrate the lot, fantastic for carrying just remember it won't look the same when rehydrated, more like stew!

 

[AJB]

I've the el cheapo dehydrator from http://www2.westfalia.net/shops/household/preserving_food_and_jam_making/preserving_food/dehydrating_/193811-food_dehydrator.htm and a vacuum packer.

They're brill. A cheap and easy marinade- garlic, worcester sauce, chilli sauce, soy sauce. Can be as spicy garlicy, sweet as you like. No meaasuring just bang 'em in and stick your finger it to taste...fantastic.

I don't know how long jerky lasts outside of the vacuum packer but in the one pack I've managed not to eat! 4 months later and it seems fine. Cook a "normal" meal and dehydrate the lot, fantastic for carrying just remember it won't look the same when rehydrated, more like stew!

Hi, do you like this dehydrator, I've been thinking about one for a while but have heard mixed reports about ones as much as £100, so I've never taken the plunge - any pros and cons of this model?

AND, sorry, same goes for the vacuum packer, do you have a link to yours? Any good? This one is on the same site...

http://www2.westfalia.net/shops/hou...dying/52156-electrical_vacuum_foil_sealer.htm


Sorry for all the questions and for hijacking the thread.

Cheers

Andy

 

[pilsbury]

My Jerky is shelf life tested for 12 months after vac packing but I have eaten stuff up to 3 years myself.
and an Excaliber costs approx 20p per hur to run, not 60p that a kettle cost to boil,
I have 3 9 tray excalibers and they get up to 73c on maximum power.
We have been making jerky and dried snacks for over 4 years now and they seem to be growing in popularity thank goodness.

 

[AJB]

My Jerky is shelf life tested for 12 months after vac packing but I have eaten stuff up to 3 years myself.
and an Excaliber costs approx 20p per hur to run, not 60p that a kettle cost to boil,
I have 3 9 tray excalibers and they get up to 73c on maximum power.
We have been making jerky and dried snacks for over 4 years now and they seem to be growing in popularity thank goodness.

27 trays – yikes!

Any chance of some recipes?

 

[widu13]

The Westfalia dehydrator is relatively cheap to run. It is non heat adjustable but comes with plenty of trays. No timer either. I've found it simple to use from the start.

The vacuum sealer is from http://www.fresherpack.co.uk/ but they appear out of stock at the mo, but I splashed out a bit more after asking around on the net and the advice everywhere was to get a professional model, so I got this one: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=220542349822#ht_5453wt_958

I know a lot of people have got a US make (Foodsaver) but a net search didn't return favourable results.

 

[pilsbury]

27 trays – yikes!

Any chance of some recipes?

I make 12 - 15 kilos at a time normally, either beef or mushrooms, one of the most popular is Chinese,200ml soy sauce, 5g five spice, 10g sugar 25ml sherry per kg of beef, marinate for minimum of 24 hours which I do with all my flavours and then dry for 12 hours, we dry that long to make sure of the shelf life, then pack, lable and try and convince the general public it really is worth chewing as it tastes great, most people just turn there noses up but more and more people are willing to try it.

 

[AJB]

Thanks Widu, are the dehydrator trays dishwasher proof? The sealer is a bit pricey for a first venture into this, but thanks for the info, no doubt if get into it I'll regret buying a cheepo initially!

And Pilsbury, that sound great, thanks you.

 

[mitch66]

hi, thanks for your advice. carl

 

[AJB]

Hi Widu,

Sorry, another question!

I've been doing a lot of reading on dehydrators, most people say stay away from models with no temperature control. I've seen the one you have at up to £60 so your link is a good price, but do you find not having the control an issue or is it an unnecessary up-selling con, obviously in your opinion

Have you just used it for Jerky or have you tried anything else?

Thank for your help and I promise I won’t pester you anymore

Andy

 

[widu13]

The temp control is not an issue- you can leave the cover at an angle and that makes a gap and lets some heat out. I've never bothered. The lack of timer doesn't bother me as we go to bed late and get up early so switch on before bed and switch off when we are awake.

We've don't cooked dinners, raw fruit and veg, jerky (the lot basically). The trays go in the dishwasher. Our dehydrator was about £25. For that price I think it's brilliant!

 

[AJB]

Many thanks for the info - I couldn't wait and have already bought one