Precooking meat for making jerky

[thatguy]

We just bought a dehydrator (1 setting, 165 watt unit from harbor freight) and I want to make some meat (venison) jerky... I never really thought about it before, but the owners manual recommends that you need to precook to 160* any meat before you dehydrate it - and that makes sense, since this unit does not heat up enough.

For those that make jerky - how do you precook your meat and do you have a favorite marinade?? Would you precook the meat as a whole unit or cut it into strips and cook the strips?

a google search didnt really turn up much - it appears higher end dehydrators have a heat setting that will cook the meat as well as dehydrate it.. One thing i found suggested cutting the meat into strips and then cooking it for several minutes in a marinade to get it to 160*..

suggestions appreciated

Brian

 

[4720 OWNER]

Made a bunch of jerky with the Ameriharvest. Heat or salt can keep the bad stuff at bay. Used soy sc as the base and then added spices as necessary. Nummy!! I tend to get it a little dry but a spritz of water in a baggie and it softens up pretty well. About 12-24 hour to cook, depends on how damp and how thick the slices are. Good eating. I also keep the extra in the fridge or freezer.

 

[SPIKER]

What we used to do was cut off fat, then put( edit in put the fat into pan & fry down then add to) into marinade and boil for a little while to COOK down the juices and fat then put in the meat, you HAVE to cut away all the fat as lean as possible to make it last/good, use the fat as part of the marinade fry it first then use the grease from the fat as a base for the marinade... remember to bring fat & marinade to boil/simmer (edit in REMOVE from heat) & then put the strips in so that the strips are in it soaking overnight, then remove strips (edit in: remove excess moisture and any grease coating) dry them with clean paper towel and then start the dehydrator up... you're results may vary we only did a small amount as it smelled too good to not eat right away I have heard many ways to go about it. from simply cutting away all fat and cut into strips then salt & selected seasonings then dry in sun (way it was done back when) to the state of the art fancy cookers dehydrators.

best is to do SMALL batches and see how YOU like it best. don't worry and try to experiment as much as possible but use pen & paper when doing and keep the info handy with the batch so you remember HOW ya did what ya liked the best
Mark

 

[Mickey_Fx]

I've been making jerky for numerous yrs and have NEVER precooked the meat. By it's very nature, jerky is dried meat.

Last jerky I made was made from a small roast. Partially froze it and used a meat slicer to cut about 1/8 - 3/16 inch thick. No attempts to cut into strips like so many of the commercial jerky is. I made up my own marinade. equal amount of water and cooking oil, onion & garlic powder, a mixture of herb and spices (not unlike Mrs Dash), a little salt and pepper and a little liquid smoke. Let it sit in the frig for about 4 hrs, drained and placed in dehydrator. About 12 hrs later is was all done. Tasted pretty dang good.

 

[curly]

I've been making beef jerky with various dehydrators for about 20 years...I never run out cause if I start getting low I make another batch. I have never once pre-cooked it. The dehydrater always does it fine. After it's dried I vacuum pack it into small portions using a foodsaver. The way I make it (without a cure) it won't last forever sitting out, only about a week or so (I don't dry it totally). But once it's vacuum packed in the freezer it will last for years

See the recipe below.

Some folks prefer to use the cures, and if that's you, go to

WELCOME TO HI MOUNTAIN JERKY

They have a lot of good jerky info there. I just use a liquid marinade for mine simply because thats how I started and I've never tried one of the cures. I bought some cures from these folks once, but when I got home they were all over the yard (my dog) and I never tried it again.


Curly's Famous Beef Jerky


This recipe is for 20lbs of beef (I use round of eye). If you want less, adjust the recipe accordingly (if you're gonna go to the trouble of doing it, make a big batch)

18 oz World Harbor Maui Mountain Hawaiian Style Teriyaki Sauce
6 oz Hickory Flavored Liquid Smoke
10 oz Lite Soy Sauce
18 oz Stubbs Beef Marinade (345 gm is about 12 oz so it takes 1 1/2 bottles)
8 oz Worcestershire Sauce
6 oz Tabasco Pepper Sauce (if you want real heat try Dave's insanity sauce, but go easy on it though, that stuff can kill ya)

Trim all noticeable fat from beef, cut up into pieces the size of an average man's little finger. (if you are not an average man, find one and look at his little finger).

This all fits nicely into 4 one-gallon ziplock bags. Put meat in, pour equal amounts of thoroughly mixed marinade into baggies. Squeeze them good until the marinade is completely covering the meat and all of the air is out of the baggies. Stick them into the refrigerator for 12-24 hours.

Dehydrate and enjoy. Dehydration time varies depending on the dehydrator. To test, take a piece out and let it cool, then taste it.

I dehydrate on an Excalibur 9-tray for 6hrs 20mins

 

[scgargoyle]

I've never pre-cooked the meat either. In the old days, jerky was simply dried in the sun, and still is in dry areas. There is usually lots of salt, which is a preservative. If it's gonna be around more than a week, I freeze it, but it's never been around that long!

 

[thatguy]

I just checked and the dehydrator got up to over 140* , im thinking it is a mfg CYA statement..

Brian

 

[gsganzer]

I always make my venison jerky on a Brinkman H2O smoker. I use a charcoal "Chimney starter" and a full chimney works perfectly for each batch of jerky.

I marinate my venison in a mix of Soy sauce, teriyaki, worcestershire, black pepper and red pepper. No recipe, just mix to taste.

 

[Ray2310]

I too have made jerky for 20 plus years in a dehydrator and never have pre cooked the meat.

 

[kossetx]

I've also never cooked the meat. I usually smoke it over a very small wood fire for 12 hours before dehydrating it. Smoke is also a curing agent like salt.