Dehydrating project #2 – Beef Jerky
This project is the reason I OWN a dehydrator. My husband purchased a dehydrator for me as a Christmas gift a couple of years ago in hopes that this day would come. I think he was hoping it would have come sooner than now, 
but better late than never.
Zucchini was a success so I am moving on to bigger and better!!! For my beef jerky research I started with my own website (pretty cool! Egh…) Lily, my amazing friend has done several classes on dehydrating for us and will be doing another one for us in a couple of months. Her beef jerky handout can be found on the Dehydrating page on this website. I started my research with her handout and headed to Maceys Grocery Store in West Jordan in search of MEAT. I met a new friend in the meat department, his name is Jacob! He is the BEEF JERKY king! He helped me pick out the perfect cut of meat and sliced it into 1/4 inch thick strips. Slice the meat with the grain for a chewier jerky and slice across the grain for a more tender but brittle jerky. I ended up with 2.91 pounds of Beef London Broil. Good meat choices are: London Broil, Top Round, and flank steak. You want a lean cut of meat and need to trim off any fat.
I decided I wanted to try two different recipes so I tried the Teriyaki Jerky from Lily’s handout (from Mary Bell’s Book of Just Jerky) and then decided to see what Alton Brown had to say on the subject of beef jerky. His segment on jerky was interesting because he didn’t even use a dehydrator; he used a box fan to make his jerky. I used my dehydrator but I did use his recipe. Both marinades were easy to make up. I just draped a gallon Ziploc inside a large cup and made the marinades right in a bag, EASY PEASY!!! I divided the meat between the two bags and put them in the refrigerator to marinate. I ended up marinating the meat for about 30 hours, just because I got busy doing other things.
When I was looking for tray inserts for my dehydrator I ran into a website called Lemon’s Corner that suggested heating your meat in the oven for 20 min at 170 before you put it in your dehydrator to kill bacteria. I wanted to read more about dehydrating meat safely so I read another article on The National Center for Home Food Preservation website. It offers additional tips for safely dehydrating meat. After reading these two articles I felt fine just removing my meat from the marinades and putting the meat directly on the dehydrating trays. I dried my meat at 160 so I felt pretty good about the bacteria being killed at this temperature. If you would like to take extra precautions and heat your meat in the oven, check out the above websites.
However, the lowest priced tadalafil treatments might involve few steps that are similar to this. If they offer other services other than Hypnotherapy and Counselling specialties then they should be sildenafil soft tabs avoided. Headache, nasal congestion or fatigue is some http://pamelaannschoolofdance.com/aid-6190 discount brand viagra type of after effects which are mild and tolerable in nature. The most common side effects of these medicines in comparison to cipla tadalafil price thecomplex surgical procedures.
I took the meat directly out of the fridge and placed it on my dehydrating racks. The meat should not overlap or touch. I set my dehydrator at 160 and the meat dried overnight for 10 hours. When beef jerky is done it should crack but not break when bent. Let the jerky cool and place in glass jars or plastic bags. Jerky will store at room temperature for two weeks.
Both recipes I tried were yummy. My taste testers were split on what recipe they liked best. Alton’s recipe had a little bit of heat. I ended up with 20 oz. of jerky from my 2.91 pounds of meat. So my jerky cost .73 per oz. I checked beef jerky prices at Sam’s Club and it was between .66 – .80 per oz. So if I watch for a better price on meat I should be able to save some money making it at home. I also have the added benefit of knowing how to dehydrate meat if I need to. I 
didn’t purchase my meat on sale so I should be able to find a better price pretty easily.
Next time I think I will start checking my jerky to see if it is done sooner than 10 hours. Mine is good but I wonder if I might have over dried it a little bit. I also think I’m going to put my dehydrator on the deck during the summer. The heat it puts off is more intense than I thought it would be. During the winter it will be nice in the house but on a 90 degree day I’m thinking outside is the better answer. My dehydrator is also the size of a mini fridge so I’m sure that has something to do with all the heat.
Beef Jerky is definitely something I want to try again. I want to learn more about longer storage options and also about rehydrating it for cooking while backpacking. I hope you’ll try it. Let me know if you find any good recipes you want to share!
