Beef jerky in stores

Ignoramus20054 said:

Does anyone know if "beef jerky" at stores is made with way too much
chemicals/sugar/etc, or it is mainly simply dried meat? Any idea? I
would like to buy some jerky to do some experiment (make pemmican),
but, if it is not possible to buy a relatively clean product, I will
dry my own. Can I dry meat in a dehydrator?

thanks

i

Here is a guy who does it on his smoker. He can get the cooking temp
down to 150 degrees. Do you think you can get your grill that low?

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

"Ignoramus20054" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
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Quoted message said:

Does anyone know if "beef jerky" at stores is made with way too much
chemicals/sugar/etc, or it is mainly simply dried meat? Any idea? I
would like to buy some jerky to do some experiment (make pemmican),
but, if it is not possible to buy a relatively clean product, I will
dry my own. Can I dry meat in a dehydrator?

thanks

i have looked at jerky in every store i go to, it always has sugar. too much
for me. i am looking for a dehydrator to make my own.

i have seen websites that offer it and advertise it towards LC-ers. it's
expensive but i bet it's great!

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In article said:

Ignoramus20054 said:

Does anyone know if "beef jerky" at stores is made with way too much
chemicals/sugar/etc, or it is mainly simply dried meat? Any idea? I
would like to buy some jerky to do some experiment (make pemmican),
but, if it is not possible to buy a relatively clean product, I will
dry my own. Can I dry meat in a dehydrator?

thanks

i

Here is a guy who does it on his smoker. He can get the cooking temp
down to 150 degrees. Do you think you can get your grill that low?

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

No, the lowest it goes is about 225.

i

In article said:

"Ignoramus20054" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Does anyone know if "beef jerky" at stores is made with way too much
chemicals/sugar/etc, or it is mainly simply dried meat? Any idea? I
would like to buy some jerky to do some experiment (make pemmican),
but, if it is not possible to buy a relatively clean product, I will
dry my own. Can I dry meat in a dehydrator?

thanks

i have looked at jerky in every store i go to, it always has sugar. too much
for me. i am looking for a dehydrator to make my own.

i have seen websites that offer it and advertise it towards LC-ers. it's
expensive but i bet it's great!

Interesting. I have a dehydrator (bought it at walmart 6 years ago), I
am not sure how safe it is for meat. I am not very concerned with
bacteria when drying fruits, but meat is another matter.

i

I use a dehydrator. Most grocery stores will even cut a piece of meat
into jerky size strips for you. You can get some really different
tastes if you google for some recipes. Good Luck

Quoted message said:

Does anyone know if "beef jerky" at stores is made with way too much
chemicals/sugar/etc, or it is mainly simply dried meat? Any idea? I
would like to buy some jerky to do some experiment (make pemmican),
but, if it is not possible to buy a relatively clean product, I will
dry my own. Can I dry meat in a dehydrator?

thanks

i

"Ignoramus20054" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

In article said:

"Ignoramus20054" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Does anyone know if "beef jerky" at stores is made with way too much
chemicals/sugar/etc, or it is mainly simply dried meat? Any idea? I
would like to buy some jerky to do some experiment (make pemmican),
but, if it is not possible to buy a relatively clean product, I will
dry my own. Can I dry meat in a dehydrator?

thanks

i have looked at jerky in every store i go to, it always has sugar. too

much

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

for me. i am looking for a dehydrator to make my own.

i have seen websites that offer it and advertise it towards LC-ers. it's
expensive but i bet it's great!

Interesting. I have a dehydrator (bought it at walmart 6 years ago), I
am not sure how safe it is for meat. I am not very concerned with
bacteria when drying fruits, but meat is another matter.

i

I've heard of many people doing it, or doing it in the oven at a low temp
for a long time (maybe 8 hours). You are right though - i think it isn't
safe to keep meat at a low temp - an invitation for all kinds of bacteria,
right?

i was going to look at the wal-mart one - i think they even advertise
themselves for jerky. has your lasted well these 6 years?

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Ignoramus20054 said:

Does anyone know if "beef jerky" at stores is made with way too much
chemicals/sugar/etc, or it is mainly simply dried meat? Any idea? I
would like to buy some jerky to do some experiment (make pemmican),
but, if it is not possible to buy a relatively clean product, I will
dry my own. Can I dry meat in a dehydrator?

The only thing that I've seen is tons of MSG, and from what I've read of
your posts, you don't have a problem with that.

In article said:

"Ignoramus20054" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

In article said:

"Ignoramus20054" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...
> Does anyone know if "beef jerky" at stores is made with way too much
> chemicals/sugar/etc, or it is mainly simply dried meat? Any idea? I
> would like to buy some jerky to do some experiment (make pemmican),
> but, if it is not possible to buy a relatively clean product, I will
> dry my own. Can I dry meat in a dehydrator?
>
> thanks
>
>

i have looked at jerky in every store i go to, it always has sugar. too

much

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

for me. i am looking for a dehydrator to make my own.

i have seen websites that offer it and advertise it towards LC-ers. it's
expensive but i bet it's great!

Interesting. I have a dehydrator (bought it at walmart 6 years ago), I
am not sure how safe it is for meat. I am not very concerned with
bacteria when drying fruits, but meat is another matter.

i

I've heard of many people doing it, or doing it in the oven at a low temp
for a long time (maybe 8 hours). You are right though - i think it isn't
safe to keep meat at a low temp - an invitation for all kinds of bacteria,
right?

I am not sure either way, so I am concerned.

Quoted message said:

i was going to look at the wal-mart one - i think they even advertise
themselves for jerky. has your lasted well these 6 years?

Mine lasted well, in the sense that it still works. I am not using it
that much, but once in a while some store has a crazy sale on overripe
bananas. We buy them and dehydrate them. Also, we have an old apple
tree and it has a huge crop of apples every other year. We also
dehydrate those.

i

Here is a link to a government faq about food safety for jerky preparation.
http://www.fsis.usda.gov/OA/pubs/jerky.htm

I make beef jerky quite often just using spices in my food dehydrator.
The temperature is about 140F. The drying process stops bacteria from
growing because of lack of water. If the temperature you use is too high,
the meat will cook and will taste that way as well. Too cool, and your
giving bacteria a chance to reproduce before the meat is dry. The meat would
eventually dry out and kill bacteria, but the toxins would be harmful and
still be in the meat.
By the way, let me know if your pemmican turns out. I've tried a few
times, but the consistency is gritty, like sand mixed with fat. It tastes a
little bland as well. Perhaps I'm drying the meat too much for the pemmican
or not grinding it down fine enough. Maybe if Ray is reading these posts, he
can help. I would really like to be able to make a palatable pemmican as I
would find it useful for hiking and as well as food storage for disasters.
Beef jerky apparently only lasts a few months, while pemmican will last for
3 or 4 years. Some, like Ray Audette believe it can last hundreds of years
if done properly.
Tom
210/180/180
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"Ignoramus20054" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Does anyone know if "beef jerky" at stores is made with way too much
chemicals/sugar/etc, or it is mainly simply dried meat? Any idea? I
would like to buy some jerky to do some experiment (make pemmican),
but, if it is not possible to buy a relatively clean product, I will
dry my own. Can I dry meat in a dehydrator?

thanks

i

Quoted message said:

i was going to look at the wal-mart one - i think they even advertise
themselves for jerky. has your lasted well these 6 years?

I bought one from our local Wal-mart, but the heat setting was too
high(over 200F). I can't remember the name of it. It had a label on the side
of it comparing itself to other name brand dryers claiming it dried jerky in
half the time. It had a fan and a heater, but got way too hot for making
beef jerky. If I wanted to cook the meat instead of drying, I would just
used my oven. I brought it back in case I got a defective one, but the other
one was the same. I ended up getting one from a friend that didn't want his
anymore. It has a heating coil on the bottom and no fan. It takes about 8
hours to dry the beef and the temperature is consistantly at 140F.
Tom

In article orQLc.89380$od7.76986@pd7tw3no said:

Quoted message said:

i was going to look at the wal-mart one - i think they even advertise
themselves for jerky. has your lasted well these 6 years?

I bought one from our local Wal-mart, but the heat setting was too
high(over 200F). I can't remember the name of it. It had a label on the side
of it comparing itself to other name brand dryers claiming it dried jerky in
half the time. It had a fan and a heater, but got way too hot for making
beef jerky. If I wanted to cook the meat instead of drying, I would just
used my oven. I brought it back in case I got a defective one, but the other
one was the same. I ended up getting one from a friend that didn't want his
anymore. It has a heating coil on the bottom and no fan. It takes about 8
hours to dry the beef and the temperature is consistantly at 140F.
Tom

do you cure the meat before drying?

i

Quoted message said:

do you cure the meat before drying?

i

I marinate the beef strips in the spices overnight in the fridge inside a
ziplock bag.

http://www.fsis.usda.gov/OA/pubs/jerky.htm
Here's the link to a government website that explains preparation to avoid
bacteria contamination.

Tom

In article l_QLc.91856$Mr4.927@pd7tw1no said:

Quoted message said:

do you cure the meat before drying?

i

I marinate the beef strips in the spices overnight in the fridge inside a
ziplock bag.

http://www.fsis.usda.gov/OA/pubs/jerky.htm
Here's the link to a government website that explains preparation to avoid
bacteria contamination.

Thanks. Do you have a specific marinade recipe?

i

Quoted message said:

Thanks. Do you have a specific marinade recipe?

i

After trying several recipes from the net, this is the one I liked the best.
I have since changed the recipe a little to suit my tastes. Using 1/4 cup of
soy sauce and 1/4 of worchestershire instead of 1/2 cup of worch. There are
so many recipes out there with totally different kinds of spices in them.
You may find that just a few spices that you like are better than any recipe
people offer. It seems that just about anything can be used. Lots of recipes
had a lot of sugar or honey in them. This one had 1 tsp. of honey in the
original recipe, but I've never added it and tastes just fine without any
sugar. My dehydrator has 4 racks and will only hold a little over 2lbs, so I
usually use half of this recipe. The racks have to be switched from bottom
to top to even out the drying process.

Beef Jerky Recipe
4lbs round steak
marinated in mixture of
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup worchestershire sauce
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/2 tsp coarse ground black pepper
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp nutmeg
4 tsp montreal steak spice
1 tsp louisiana hot sauce

marinate overnight in fridge
put in food dehydrator 135-140 degrees until dry (about 8 hrs)

Tom

I like a brand called Wild Bills. It seems pretty natural, and isn't
over-done in the spice department. I've ordered Jerky online from several
places, and almost all of it has been damn near inedible......Wild Bills can
be found online, google it.

One brand I got was like eating shaved beef drowned in Tabasco and red
pepper, another brand arrived with each piece absolutely encased in
uncracked peppercorns. I'm pretty sure the [censored] should have been marked
"Not For Human Consumption"

just check the label..they're probably all overboard in the salt department,
but otherwise I doubt you can get into too much trouble unless you start
buying "BBQ" or anything honey or maple glazed. Cowboy, Traditional,
Smoked, etc....you'll probably be alright.

"Ignoramus20054" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Does anyone know if "beef jerky" at stores is made with way too much
chemicals/sugar/etc, or it is mainly simply dried meat? Any idea? I
would like to buy some jerky to do some experiment (make pemmican),
but, if it is not possible to buy a relatively clean product, I will
dry my own. Can I dry meat in a dehydrator?

thanks

i

I've made my own and was never really satisfied with it. I tried many
recipes and different dehydrator times and tried in the oven,etc.,but never
got to the taste and quality I get from http://www.nbsmokehouse.com/. They
are pretty reasonable(jerky ain't cheap !) and ship quickly .Pretty much all
jerky has some sugar in it,but this one seems to be minimal as are
preservatives.They have nutrition info for it on the website.

"Ignoramus20054" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Does anyone know if "beef jerky" at stores is made with way too much
chemicals/sugar/etc, or it is mainly simply dried meat? Any idea? I
would like to buy some jerky to do some experiment (make pemmican),
but, if it is not possible to buy a relatively clean product, I will
dry my own. Can I dry meat in a dehydrator?

thanks

i