Preheat your dehydrator to degrees Fahrenheit, and leave for one hour prior to putting any food in it. This will help kill any harmful bacteria before applying any meat.
This will help eliminate the bacteria in the meat. After you have preheated your dehydrator, being the temperature down to F, which is an ideal target dehydrating temperature. Just like with cooking, drying time very much depends on how thick or large the cuts of meat are. Larger cuts of meat require longer than thinner, smaller cuts do.
In the case of beef, this can be anywhere between 4 and 12 hours, but in most cases, 10 hours is a good mark at which to test your beef jerky. Use a pair of tongs to take your jerky out of the dehydrator, one by one. Leave to cool on a drying rack or on a paper towel for a few minutes, allowing it to cool down to room temperature. View our privacy policy. Thank you for your submission! Home Drying Jerky. Drying Jerky. A popular snack, jerky is meat that has been salted, seasoned, and dried until most of the moisture is removed.
Because of its very low moisture content, it can be stored for several weeks without refrigeration. Some important tips to remember: Meat Selection beef, pork, venison, turkey, ground meat Choose lean cuts of meat with as little fat as possible; fat can cause rancidity and off flavors.
Avoid highly marbled cuts. Lean flank steak and round steak are good choices. To make jerky from ground beef, choose ground round, lean or extra lean ground beef. Preparation Remove as much fat as possible; this prevents "off" flavors. Remove any visible fat, connective tissue, and gristle from the meat.
Partially freeze the meat for ease of slicing. Jerky cut on the grain of the meat is chewy; cutting across the grain makes it more tender. Strips may be flattened with a rolling pin for uniform thickness. When Is Beef Jerky Dry? In testing the strips for dryness, get clean tongs to hang the strips on a wire rack. Let them cool at room temperature then slightly bend the beef strip.
When bent, an adequately dry jerky does not break in half but should crack instead. The dry strip should exhibit a firm, flexible form that can easily bend completely back on itself without snapping. Dried jerky should not be crumbly but instead displays a leathery texture that tastes palatably chewy. The chewy quality of dried jerky should have a nice crunch that breaks easily whenever you bite off a strip.
Plus, even if it has a dry surface feel, it should still be tender on the inside. Another good sign that it is dry is that it leaves no greasy or sticky residue when handled. Even if they are dried meat strips, they should feel that there is a substantial amount of meat crammed into them. When shopping for your meat, your best bets for making jerky are lean cuts with fine grain and minimal fat or connective tissue.
Round roasts and eye of round are ideal, and they are usually inexpensive. However, other cuts will also work as long as they're lean. Trim away any large seams of fat, as well as any connective tissue. Slicing your meat evenly is crucial in having all your jerky dry at the same rate, and it's hard to do that without a commercial meat slicer.
If you're slicing by hand at home, place the trimmed meat in your freezer until it's firm but not hard-frozen. It'll hold its shape and be easier to slice evenly with a sharp knife. An easy rule is to go thicker for a chewier jerky, and thinner for one that's easier to eat or if the meat itself is extra-tough.
You might also opt to skip this step entirely, and just ask your butcher to slice it for you. Marinating your jerky is a crucial step in the process. You can use either a liquid marinade or a dry marinade — otherwise known as a spice rub — depending on personal preference or what your recipe calls for.
Either way, the goal is to add flavor to the beef. You'll want some combination of savory ingredients such as salt and pepper, onion or garlic powder, soy sauce or liquid smoke; heat from chiles or hot sauce; and sweetness from sugar, honey or perhaps a sweet sauce such as teriyaki.
Start with simple combinations, and then tweak the mixture from batch to batch. Keep notes, so you can remember what you liked or didn't. Some beef jerky recipes call for a curing salt, such as "Prague powder" or Morton's Tender Quick, as part of the marinade or rub.
These help discourage bacteria, and make your jerky more food safe. Alternatively, the USDA suggests boosting food safety by boiling the marinade first, and pouring it hot over the beef slices. Leave your meat in the marinade for at least 4 hours or up to 24, or as directed in the recipe.
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