At Home Jerky

[JigginIsLife]

I am making jerky and was wondering if my recipe will work,

Its kind of a jumbled mess of stuff but the majority of it consists of:

Liquid Smoke

Soy Sauce

Brown Sugar

Ginger

Black pepper

Garlic Powder

and thats about it

i was wondering if you all think this will work or what i can do to improve it. Do you think that getting an acutal out of the bag cure or will this taste fine??--

Im a first timer so im kinda winging it.

[Deitz Dittrich]

It is my understanding that you will need a cure.. otherwise you risk getting pretty sick..

I have made my own marinaids and such, and have yet to make something that tastes better than store bought mixes.

Last year or the year before the company Shore Lunch came out with a few new mixes... I madea few of them and they were quite good!

[Bigbartguy]

call a Cub, Rainbow (or your local big grocery/meat mart) and get Allegro's Marinade (any flavor would work - but smoke or regular are the ticket). It's usually used for beef/fish marinade.

much easier than making my own -I got tired of trying new recipes, just to waste meat and find out they taste horrible. This stuff is great. I actually bought a 12 pack of it. Soak the meat for a couple of hours and throw it in the dehydrator.

[JigginIsLife]

so then do i need cure if i put it in the oven for like 4 hrs or am i ok then?? i mean i didnt let it sit out and just dry but i set it in the ovan at like warm for about 3 hrs and i figured that would be quite enough heat to kill anhything in there wouldnt ya think??

[bbqhead]

i agree with the homemade jerky, tried

every recipe on the net... soy sauce,

terriaki, ect never did anything for my

taste buds. i use hi mountain jerky cure

and add a few spices to it.

randy

[yendor]

tell me if I am wrong but I think the only time you need to cure the meat is if you are going to smoke it, the reason would be to prevent botulism

[JigginIsLife]

well thats what im trying to figure out?? if i cook it oin the oven on warm i dont know if it gets warm enough to kill any bacteria such as botulism. So if anyone knows for sure whether or not i need cure please inform me cuz if i dont need it it would save me some serious $$. or if you find a HSOforum that lists on whether you need it or not let me know.. Thanks!!

[irvingdog]

Cure can, and does come from salt, acids or both. The best and most enoyable way to make jerky I've ever seen comes from a method by a guy named Alton Brown from the Food Network. He cures with Soy Sauce and Worchestershire sauce (yum!) and then dries the meat (Thats what dehydrators and ovens do) using a box fan and furnace filters. I've done it. It works. Super fast, cheap and really fun gadgety kind of stuff. Here's the whole shebang:

1 1/2 to 2 pounds flank steak

2/3 cup Worcestershire sauce

2/3 cup soy sauce

1 tablespoon honey

2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper

2 teaspoons onion powder

1 teaspoon liquid smoke

1 teaspoon red pepper flakes

Special Equipment: 1 box fan, 4 paper air-conditioning filters, and 2 bungee cords

Trim the flank steak of any excess fat, place in a zip-top bag, and place it in the freezer for 1 to 2 hours in order to firm up.

Remove the steak from the freezer and thinly slice the meat with the grain, into long strips.

Place the strips of meat along with all of the remaining ingredients into a large, 1-gallon plastic zip-top bag and move around to evenly distribute all of the ingredients. Place the bag into the refrigerator for 3 to 6 hours.

Remove the meat from the brine and pat dry. Evenly distribute the strips of meat onto 3 of the air filters, laying them in the grooves and then stacking the filters on top of one another. Top these with 1 empty filter. Next, lay the box fan on its side and lay the filters on top of it. Strap the filters to the fan with 2 bungee cords. Stand the fan upright, plug in and set to medium. Allow the meat dry for 8 to 12 hours

Like I say, I've done it myself. Now I want to build lots of my own re-usable racks and have fans going from both sides to increase capacity.

Want more? Search engine Alton Brown and Jerky.

You'll be glad you did.

[bbqhead]

the hi mountain jerky cure does kinda cure the meat.

i think gander mtn carries it.

smoking meat is a tricky deal. you want to get beef

to 140 or higher as quick as possible so it doesnt

stay in the danger zone to long.

using the commercial cures give you some protection.

i have a link to one of the best jerky sites around

but i have to find it.

will post tommorrow

randy

[JigginIsLife]

SOOOO i DONT need to cure it. Then why the big deal with cure?? i mean do i really need it or what. i have read in many different articles that cure is NEEDED but, then you say it isnt. i tried a batch without cure and it came out great, and im not sick...so far... knock on particle board. but i will keep researching.

[Tippman]

I'm no pro at this either, but what I've heard is that curing the meat will allow it to last longer. If not cured it should be left in fridge and won't last as long.

[Papa Woodie]

I have never cured beef or goose before. My thinking is, Beef, how rare would you eat a steak? Some are pretty rare. So if its beef jerky, your going to "cook" it better at 150-160 degrees for a few hours in the smoker/dehydrator, you actually are pretty much cooking it "more" than you would a steak that you eat.

Catch my drift? Now, if we went to pork or something else, cure is a necessity.

[bbqhead]

ok here is a few links that i am including with post

that deal with safety issues. or tell you how do it

safely. you can do jerky without cure but when smoking

or in the dehidrater[sp] the meat stays in the danger

zone for too long. i have done jerky in everyway

that i have found on the net but i would say that the hi

mountain jerky cure is the way to go...

http://www.randyq.addr.com/jerky/jerky.htm

hope this helps

bbqhead

[bbqhead]

i would always use a cure for jerky. if i smoke any meat for

people, i have did a few wedding receptions. i pray\

no one gets sick... you never know what is in the meat

you get. smoking pork is a long day. you have to check

temps every 1/2 hour.... doing 40 lbs pork butt on the smoker

tommorow for deer camp and 10 lbs venison for jerky.

bbqhead

[kjgmh]

I use Mortons Tender Quick as a cure. I use a dehydrator and this was recommended in the directions of the dehydrator since the temp of the meat does not get above 140 degrees.

[iamgmc]

I'll put my jerky that has been cured into my day pack you put some uncured meat into yours.It is a perservitive plain and simple its how they kept meat before refrigeration.