Home made jerky, first attempt

[Hammock Hamster]

Hi all,

Just took possession of my new dehydrator and thought I would share my first test of it.
The dehydrator was from westfalia and came in at just under £40 delivered!

So firstly I made up a mix of salt, pepper and garlic.

Then I took some lean rump steak and sliced into trail snack sized pieces.

I then patted them dry and rolled them in the salt mix (in hindsight I used far to much and nice as the end result was a bit too salty for trail snacks but great for cooking) then placed on the drying trays.

I left in the dehydrator for about 10 hours, swapping the drying trays round about 3 times until it had dried out fully!

Finally I let it cool, dusted off the salt and put it all in an airtight jar for later!

I also used the bottom tray to dry some onion and carrot both for camp cooking which also had the pleasant side effect of infusing the beef with a hint of onion!

Hope you like it and hope to show some more of my attempts soon!

Cheers, Hamster

 

[spandit]

Salty snacks are great if you've got adequate water. Looks good so far!

 

[mace242]

Done well there. I have exactly the same one from Westfalia too. Bargain, isn't it? You wait until you start using wet marinades - soo tasty. If you want some good marinades to use pop into Lidl and they have some quite nice bbq marinades in little sachets.

 

[Hammock Hamster]

Done well there. I have exactly the same one from Westfalia too. Bargain, isn't it? You wait until you start using wet marinades - soo tasty. If you want some good marinades to use pop into Lidl and they have some quite nice bbq marinades in little sachets.

Hi mace, bargain doesn't quite cover it when I consider the price of most of the others found whilst looking for one.
I was a bit sceptical due to the cost but couldn't be more pleased with it.

Funny you should mention marinades as I have my second batch soaking in the fridge as I type.
I'm not really a fan of the American style heavily seasoned jerkys as I like mine to take quite natural, bit like ruining a good steak with ketchup, but at just my personal preference.
I knocked up a really basic one with just salt, pepper and a touch of garlic and chilli flakes in some water instead of soy or worcester sauce. I did drop in about 2 table spoons of brandy too as I didn't have any red wine left and am hoping it just gives a hint of flavour.

Will hopefully have the result on here by tomorrow evening!

Hamster

 

[SiWhite]

The best results I've had with jerky is using a Jerk Spice Mix - in the little Schwartz bottles everything else comes in.

 

[Man of Tanith]

my personal favourite is mix of soya sauce and worchester sauce
although i use a basic dehydrator i made using MDf and a 100watt light bulb
must invest in a fancier one at some point

 

[Dave]

Does anyone know how much it costs to leave a dehydrator on overnight? Is it pennies, or pounds?

 

[mace242]

if you keep an eye out Morrisons sometims does spray smoke marinade too. Not sure if your thing but I like it.

 

[mace242]

I cant remember the maths but it was either 27 or 72p a batch in that drier.

 

[Grendel]

I tend to use a mix of black pepper, Salt, Garlic powder, Chilli flakes and either Wochester sauce or light soya sauce that way it still keeps the meat tender and tend to make mine in 6 hours on a medium heat turning once but everyone has different tastes of how hey like it.

 

[HillBill]

Nice one.

I'm building a solar dryer/dehydrator to do the same thing. No idea how well it'll work due to England being the planets place where "the sun don't shine" If it does though....

 

[Hammock Hamster]

Hmmmm.... bit of help needed here.

Since my firt batch i have done another this time in a weak marinade of mainly salt, pepper and garlic.

This batch dried really, darker and a bit harder than the first, but didnt have quite the sright flavour for me.

Anyway both batches are now in an airtight kilner jar and i have noticed that first salty batch has started sweating, still tastes fine and isnt likely to be around long enough to worry about it actually going off/rancid but am hoping to do more batches for medium/long term storage and want to know if anyone else has any ideas.

Im not sure where the moisture is coming from as they were all fully dry inside and out unless this is some sort of residual fat in the meat?
The second batch, which was a bit leaner than the first, has shown no signs of sweating and does seem to be slightly harder and darker.

Any help would be appreciated as i actually prefered the now sweaty extra salty batch and am hoping to make en masse for storage.

Cheers, Hamster

 

[mace242]

It could be that there is a small bit of fat in the first batch and over time the salt is drawing out the moisture in that. It is slightly possible that the meat wasn't dried right to the centre too. How thin was it and did you check for this? I cut my jerky very thin and dry until it's quite brittle. Possibly I overdo it but I know for sure it's dried and in an airtight container it lasts 6 months easily. I also store it with a little rice. Just to ensure that any moisture in the container, etc is taken away.

 

[Hammock Hamster]

It could be that there is a small bit of fat in the first batch and over time the salt is drawing out the moisture in that. It is slightly possible that the meat wasn't dried right to the centre too. How thin was it and did you check for this? I cut my jerky very thin and dry until it's quite brittle. Possibly I overdo it but I know for sure it's dried and in an airtight container it lasts 6 months easily. I also store it with a little rice. Just to ensure that any moisture in the container, etc is taken away.

Was definately dried all the way through and was cut into thin strips, just over a quarter inch when dried.

I will definately try the rice idea and i think its most likely to be a small amount of fat as you suggested. Will fat like that have a detrimental effect when stored over a long period?

 

[monkey boy]

thats a really good idea m8, may I try some this wkend?

 

[Hammock Hamster]

thats a really good idea m8, may I try some this wkend?

I will bring some for snacks and another lot for the billy with some rice etc... gives me the chance to try my new billy out too!

 

[Bighund]

Looks like you have some tasty snacks there, good job

 

[mace242]

A very small amount I don't think so. After all it runs within the muscle. I try to trim off all that I can but I can tell the bits where I miss it. One day I really need to do a proper time test to see how it does. I think it's more important to have a clean airtight container to store it in. It depends on how long you're planning to store it too. I am wondering if you're looking at a very long time then if vacuum packing and freezing the jerky once made will be a better idea. I've never done this though so I'm looking to the rest of us for advice on this.

 

[Hammock Hamster]

A very small amount I don't think so. After all it runs within the muscle. I try to trim off all that I can but I can tell the bits where I miss it. One day I really need to do a proper time test to see how it does. I think it's more important to have a clean airtight container to store it in. It depends on how long you're planning to store it too. I am wondering if you're looking at a very long time then if vacuum packing and freezing the jerky once made will be a better idea. I've never done this though so I'm looking to the rest of us for advice on this.

To be honest i am only thinking of storing for up to 6 months max, knowing my love of the stuff probably much less, im just a bit concerned over the "sweating" thing as IIRC its the lack of moisture that prevents and bacteria from causing the meat to spoil?
Its being stored in an airtight jar but there will be some residual air in it as its not sealed to create a vacuum.