Dehydrating Beef

[racfish]

Im gonna make some "Beef Jerky" using my new dehydrator.I made some alot of years ago but havent in along time.I got a couple brine concoctions to try. I'll let you all know how it comes out. Any tips from you all would be appreciated.

[wolverine]

I'm lazy. I just marinate the beef strips in Yoshida's. Quick & easy. After I pull it out of the Yoshida's I pepper some. Some I don't. Some gets a bit of garlic powder.

A little Morton's "Tender Quick" in the brine speeds up the process and makes the meat more tender.

How long you dry it depends on how long you want to store it. I tend to like softer jerky so I store it in the freezer once it gets dried to my preferred "tooth".

Also start with good meat. Fatty, stringy beef makes fatty, stringy, rancid jerky.

[dicinu]

I always get my meat at a mexican meat market already sliced and ready to dry for jerky hopefully this coming year I will be able to make some dear and elk jerky. if we get lucky to get tags for this years hunting season.

[racfish]

I got the meat from my local Tienda. I got both Dix mill and Biftek. Sliced perfectly for jerky and very lean.The problem with going to the Mex store are the ciccharones(fried pork rinds). Those are assicting.They are also extremely fattening. I get one almost everytime.The store where I go make their own. mmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

[dicinu]

yeah I married a mexican't lol I eat all the foods it is like xmas when she cooks her moms and aunts cooking my favorite mexican soup is Pozole thats is just delious to the taste buds. takes for ever to cook though. the meat I used was Millenesa Spelling I know is wrong it is more of a meat then a fatty steak for carne asada I use ranchera steak thats perfect for grilling carne asada with chef meridos steak seasoning is all you need talk about a cook out. it has been over a year since I did ribs on the grille. BBQ is my line of cooking in this house she does most all indoor cooking. I think we all need to have a Pot luck one day that would be a good plan for the Sound fisher folks

[Jaksonbrown]

This is the best recipe I have found for making Jerky. It Rocks.....


Marinade/Brine in
1/3 cup sugar
¼ cup salt
2 cups soy sauce
1 cup water
1 cup red wine
½ tsp. onion powder
½ tsp. pepper
½ tsp. garlic powder
½ tsp. Tabasco sauce
Trim all fat from meat. Slice meat with the grain about ¼: to
½” thick. The meat slices nicely when semi-frozen, or your
butcher will slice it for you in his machine. Place meat in the
cool marinade and leave overnight, or for no less than 8
hours. I like to leave it in for at least 24 hrs.
Remove from brine and allow to air dry without rinsing.
Smoke in your “Little Chief” for 12 to 16 hours, depending
on how dry you like the jerky. Use 3 panfuls of Hickory,
Cherry or Mesquite “Chips n’ Chunks” in the early stages of
the drying cycle

[racfish]

Thanks for the recipe. The ingredient I'm looking for is Sodium Nitrite. It stops the meat from spoiling while drying it at such a low heat.I found some finally at a chemical warehouse that I used in my Mad Scientist days. Hehehe

[G-Man]

Skip the Nitrite, real smoke will kill the bacteria on the meat and keep it from spoiling during the drying process One could also substitute bright sunshine for the smoke, and sun dry the meat. The UV rays do a good job of killing bacteria as well, the only problem being that bright sunlight is in short supply around here these days.

[Anonymous]

LOL G man.... Yea sun around these parts are scarce. My situation is this. I'm dehydrating the beef not smoking it. I tried smoking it but I couldnt roll it in papers and it was bad in my bowl. Hehehe.The Nitrite is for shipping it to New York to my nieces who asked me to make it. I didnt want them to get the squirts from tainted beef. Im still working on this . I should be dehydrating soon.I like JB's recipe cuz its very close to my own. I might smoke it after all if the nitrite looks too funky to add.One niece likes smoke flavor the other likes it w/o smoke. I will experiment on both ways.

[Anonymous]

The problem with going to the Mex store are the ciccharones(fried pork rinds). Those are assicting.They are also extremely fattening. I get one almost everytime.The store where I go make their own. mmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

Rac - For me it is the pastries called "Concha", but they are only good if they are fresh (hard to find here). Have you ever seen em make Chicharron? My wife is from Mexico City, I watch em make it in the markets down there. BIG vat-o-boiling oil, wet cardboard box of pig skins sitting under it. Pick the skin up with fireplace tongs, drop it in the oil, let it bubble up a bit, pull it out and hang it up for sale. I've tried it, not bad tasting, but after seeing how they make it - Ugh.. (IMHO) But it is a fun word to say in your best Cheech Marin (badges, we don't need no stinking badges!) voice. Cheech-'A'-rrrone!

Now that I've hijacked your thread (sorry) - speaking of Mexican stores - Do you know of a good one? My wife and I are always on the lookout.

[BassDood]

I like Jaksonbrown's recipe...I'll have to try that. Other than just marinading my beef in whatever concoction of marinade I come up with (and they all seem to be good). I like to use Hi Mountain Jerky Cures. They have several different types and I have not gone wrong with any of them. Follow the instructions and you will not be disappointed. I dehydrate mine, and as far as worrying about bacteria and spoilage...it never stays around long enough to worry about....it's gone in two days or less. Problem solved.

[racfish]

Hey Gringo. I go to two Tiendas I like. In Renton there is one called Victorias. and the other is in Monroe. Both these stores are great Carneciras. My favorite store is in Yakima. Its called Fiesta Foods which is a Safeway sized Tienda. Fresh meat market,fresh bakery,(conchas are there) .They also bake their own tortillas . Excellent. I guess Ive seen alot of different food preperations and if I didnt eat what I thought was unhealthy then I would never have learned or eaten so many exotic foods. In Chinese restaurants or even Pho places if you see the kitchens youd swear youd never eat there again. I overlook most of the health issues. When traveling I take Lomotil.Its an anti diarea pill used in traveling. Itll quell disentary quickly.LOL I have had my stomach pumped twice in my life. Once from eating a rotting pork dish in Vancouver and the other was here after eating bad seafood. Both times were here not abroad.Ever watch people clean out intestines or tripe? Not a pretty site. But the end results are fantastic.The only time I even buy checcarons is when I leave my Weight Watchers and I'm down at least 3 lbs. Other then that I leave them be. What I really like are the Ice cream bars from Mexico,especially the vanilla with Membrillo.Now that is some killing food trip food.I like the candys with hot chilli peppers or guahillo peppers. Those are a killa too. Good eating to all. Comer Con Ganas.

[Jaksonbrown]

Go get yourself a Lil' Chief Smoker/dehydrator. They are inexpensive and freeking rock! I have done fish, chicken, turkeys, ribs, and of course made jerky out of beef, duck, and goose. It keeps the box at a perfect even temp that keeps the bacteria off. I have never had any issues with it ever. Everyone raves about my jerky. Its da bomb! Trust me on this... it is the only way to go. They also include a recipe book, which is where my recipe comes from.

Here is a link.

http://www.smokehouseproducts.com/prod_ ... 0-000-0000

[racfish]

Thanks JB.. Great info....

[Bodofish]

Thanks for the recipe. The ingredient I'm looking for is Sodium Nitrite. It stops the meat from spoiling while drying it at such a low heat.I found some finally at a chemical warehouse that I used in my Mad Scientist days. Hehehe

RAC, I'd have to go with Gman on this one. The Nitrate is a salt and doesn't do anything for stopping bacterial growth. All it is used for is preserving the color. When curing salmon roe we would use a very small amount like a couple teaspoons in 75 gallons of 100% brine. So unless you want to get out the mirror and a razor blade and carat scale I'd say don't bother.

As far as brine... I just use Yoshida's and a good helping of cock sauce (Siracha?) let is set over night then pat it dry.

A friend that makes it all the time, he has an old oven he uses, just hangs the meat all over the racks pre heats to 200 turns it off and then leaves a 60 or 100 bulb in the socket for heat. Takes a couple days to finish but man is it good

[racfish]

Im gonna skip the Nitrite after all. Im brining this weekend then dehydrating after a lil bit of smoking. I cant use Yoshidas cuz most males in my family got Diabetes.Im going for my lil chief cure that Ive used in the past. I try not to buy products that have High Fructose Corn Syrup in them. I dont mind corn syrup. Just not the chemically engineered one.(mirror and razor?) LOL Bodo you crack me up.. I remember those days like it was yesterday. When really it was last week.Hahaha

[Bodofish]

I don't have to be strick as I was with the sugar so the amount of sugar it imparts is very minimal when offset by the protein from the beef. As you well know, it's not just the amount of sugars but the balance with protein that makes it controllable.

[racfish]

My beef is in the marinade.I used the Jackson brown recipe with a couple different twists. I didnt have a good red wine so I used my homemade blackberry wine instead. Its sweeter so I cut back a tad in the sugars. 2nd I used Sriracha instead of Tabasco.Yea with type two its not so bad. I do eat some regular sugars at times. As long as I walk and workout the sugars stay in control.It'll marinade 24 hours then into the smoker then finnish with the dehydrator. I'll let you know how it turns out. Next week at the Sportsman show I'll bring some with me.(If its good).

[Bodofish]

My beef is in the marinade.I used the Jackson brown recipe with a couple different twists. I didnt have a good red wine so I used my homemade blackberry wine instead. Its sweeter so I cut back a tad in the sugars. 2nd I used Sriracha instead of Tabasco.Yea with type two its not so bad. I do eat some regular sugars at times. As long as I walk and workout the sugars stay in control.It'll marinade 24 hours then into the smoker then finnish with the dehydrator. I'll let you know how it turns out. Next week at the Sportsman show I'll bring some with me.(If its good).

I'm taking that to mean if there's any left.........

[racfish]

Well the first batch is done. I need to make some adjustments.First of all I used Kosher Beef. Kosher beef is salted and rinsed 3 times before it can be labled kosher.I have some family members who only eat kosher so I made Beef Jerky for them. Too salty and a lil over dried.Next time I will not use no added salt just the soy sauce for the salt. Also being a new dehydrator it drys at a faster rate.My first 1/2 of this batch is on its way to New York.I'll see what the family critics say.Looks great,I tasted a piece and flavor was nice (other then salty to me) But then I dont use alot of salt in my diet.So everything like that is really salty to me.I'll try again in a couple weeks.Hopefully by next years sportsman show I might have a booth,if all goes well and I find my commercial kitchen to rent.