Beef Jerky
- Thread starter Mantic
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I've used http://www.wildwestjerky.co.uk a few times and I've made jerky myself a few times using recipes I've googled. Homemade is nice enough, but not quite the same as the bought stuff.
Cutting the beef thinly is key and one way to help with this is to partially freeze the meat and use a very sharp knife.
Cutting the beef thinly is key and one way to help with this is to partially freeze the meat and use a very sharp knife.
One of the bcuk members, Jerky Meister runs his own company making the stuff, I've bought stuff from him at the re-enactor's markets before and HWMBLT thoroughly enjoyed it. I'm vegetarian so left him to it
. The fruit leathers are excellent No connection, no benefit, just recommendation.
Cheers,
Toddy
Make your own - it's cheaper and very easy! I made a load and it was very good - ask anyone who was at chedworth!
Get some lean beef, cut off all the fat, cut into thin strips, marinade in cajun spice and soy sauce for a few hours, thread onto cocktail sticks, hang from oven rack and put on a 85 degree oven for one hour (this kills bacteria!!) and then reduce to 65 ish until done (you want it dry, but not so dry it snaps)
Easy!
Get some lean beef, cut off all the fat, cut into thin strips, marinade in cajun spice and soy sauce for a few hours, thread onto cocktail sticks, hang from oven rack and put on a 85 degree oven for one hour (this kills bacteria!!) and then reduce to 65 ish until done (you want it dry, but not so dry it snaps)
Easy!
weekend_warrior said:Make your own - it's cheaper and very easy! I made a load and it was very good - ask anyone who was at chedworth!
Get some lean beef, cut off all the fat, cut into thin strips, marinade in cajun spice and soy sauce for a few hours, thread onto cocktail sticks, hang from oven rack and put on a 85 degree oven for one hour (this kills bacteria!!) and then reduce to 65 ish until done (you want it dry, but not so dry it snaps)
Easy!
Cheers! How long (roughly) does it take after the first hour?
Thanks a lot guys for your advice and nope, I didn't think about the search feature. Normally I use it, guess I forgot due to lack of sleep (the little ones have been keeping me up). Bah!
Mantic said:
I have a fan oven - took about 4 hours in total. But you need to keep an eye on it, times will change due to weather and moisture in the air. Oh, and don't bag it up in plastic - use a nice cotton bag or similar - plastic will make it sweat and rot.
Cant comment on the one hour at 85, but surely traditionally, in the sun, it doesnt get to that temperature, isnt it the fact that there is no water in the stuff that kills the bugs, anyway, the instructions I followed said to prop the door of the oven open slightly (with a wooden spoon) to allow the moisture to escape more easily.
Last weekend I tried to make some for the first time. I used a standard oven and two different marinades. the one based on olive oil didn't dry well, but the one based on sweet soy sauce was nice. But I cut the pieces to thick, so I didn't work out as I hoped. But next weekend a second try.
I picked up some threads in the web last year and they all recommended an hour at 85 to kill bacteria, anything less is simply warm enough to help them grow. Yes the natural method probably doenst reach that high but then native americans weren't all immune to salmonella etc.also they were smoking the jerky and this is known as a preservative techniqne which also recuces the chance of bacterial culture.
Nick
Nick
Mantic said:
I have used the www.nesco.com website for information on dehydrating foods. They have a lot of useful information and recipes for dehydrating all types of foods.
They also recommend putting the finished jerky in an oven for 1 hour at 71 degrees centigrade (160 degrees farenheit) to kill and nasties that may be lurking in the meat. :twak:
Another website states that the meat shoud be put in an oven for 1 hour at 71 degrees centigrade (160 degrees farenheit) BEFORE the meat is put in the dehydrator.
Since the Atkin's diet became popular over here (USA), jerky is not that cheap anymore. The prices have approximately doubled for the stuff.
I'm vegetarian, but I'm fussy about the meat I feed HWMBLT, and I was taught traditional Scottish cooking when growing up; I know, lots of French influences in Scotland's real food, ashet pies and gigot chops, etc.; so if he's going to eat meat, it'll *be* meat and not some mechanically processed dog chew. :tapedshut
Gavin likes sausages though, juicy, herby, pork ones, and for a long time good ones just weren't available so I made them at home. (I hate washing out intestines and I am so glad that I will never again watch that frothy gloop bubbling out of the sheeps windpipe hanging over the side of the pot as the lungs boil for haggis making) The link is for a supplier of skins, spices, etc., I recommend them simply because I use them.
http://www.sausagemaking.org/
My brother on the other hand likes cheugh meat he can get his teeth into, the rind from a leg of pork is cut small and dried out and he loves it, even rabbit or venison is fried and laid out to dry crispy. The spices that are used for jerky are just as suitable for this type of stuff so I use some of the smoke products such as this link sells.
http://www.sausage-maker.co.uk/products.php?catid=8
Finally, I came across this set of recipe links when looking for a way to make dried meat for iron age/ medieval. I was really hoping to find instructions for doing it over an open fire with a leather cover so that the meat smokes too, usually thin strips are hung on an open willow framework under the leather happ.
Anyone else made it this way?
http://microwebtech.com/
http://www.bowhunting.net/susieq/jerky.htm
http://www.greatjerky.com/recipies.html
Cheers,
Toddy
Gavin likes sausages though, juicy, herby, pork ones, and for a long time good ones just weren't available so I made them at home. (I hate washing out intestines
and I am so glad that I will never again watch that frothy gloop bubbling out of the sheeps windpipe hanging over the side of the pot as the lungs boil for haggis making) The link is for a supplier of skins, spices, etc., I recommend them simply because I use them.http://www.sausagemaking.org/
My brother on the other hand likes cheugh meat he can get his teeth into, the rind from a leg of pork is cut small and dried out and he loves it, even rabbit or venison is fried and laid out to dry crispy. The spices that are used for jerky are just as suitable for this type of stuff so I use some of the smoke products such as this link sells.
http://www.sausage-maker.co.uk/products.php?catid=8
Finally, I came across this set of recipe links when looking for a way to make dried meat for iron age/ medieval. I was really hoping to find instructions for doing it over an open fire with a leather cover so that the meat smokes too, usually thin strips are hung on an open willow framework under the leather happ.
Anyone else made it this way?
http://microwebtech.com/
http://www.bowhunting.net/susieq/jerky.htm
http://www.greatjerky.com/recipies.html
Cheers,
Toddy
what's the best cut of meat for this - is rump good to use ?
Also, when in the oven for 1 hr at 85 degrees - assume you leave the oven door shut, then open it (with wooden spoon for example) for the drying afterwards ?
Cheers..
Also, when in the oven for 1 hr at 85 degrees - assume you leave the oven door shut, then open it (with wooden spoon for example) for the drying afterwards ?
Cheers..
I too prefer real meat. I think that our society has become so mollycoddled that meat has to be packaged and processed simply to remove any last visual references to where it came from. My Niece (12 yrs old) thought pork came from cows....
Years ago I worked in a Game Merchants - skinning deer, rabbits, et al and gutting this, that and the other so I've had more experience than most.
Never had haggis, mind you.
Years ago I worked in a Game Merchants - skinning deer, rabbits, et al and gutting this, that and the other so I've had more experience than most.
Never had haggis, mind you.
quiggers said:
Some people buy best fillet for jerky - i think thats a pure waste. Go round the supermarkets and buy the roasting joints that are on special offer (ie cheap) and get big lumps or you spend longer making it than you spend eating it. Get the sutff without too much fat marbling and spend a little time cutting ALL the fat & gristle off. This is important as the fat tastes grim and goes manky quick. Then stick the nice lean lumps in the freezer for an hour or two, this makes it really easy to cut nice even slices about 2-3mm thick. I prefer to cut across the grain of the meat so the jerky isnt too chewy.
Hope this helps
Nick
