Meat slices laid out on a dehydrator to be made into deer jerky

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Information technology'south pretty piece of cake to know when a fried egg is washed. Yous just eyeball information technology while it'south cooking until the yolk looks the way you want it, and you're good to become. When you're cooking a steak, notwithstanding, it's a chip more difficult. But y'all can use an instant-read thermometer or just cut into information technology to see how done it is. Neither of those options works when y'all're making jerky in a dehydrator, unfortunately, and then there's a bit more finesse involved in knowing when your jerky is done.

There's No Set Standard for "Washed"

Part of the problem with jerky is that there's no objective manner to know what "done" is. If you follow the instructions that came with your hasty maker, information technology should hit a food-safety temperature of 160 degrees Fahrenheit early in the drying process, and it volition stay at that temperature for hours as the moisture continues to evaporate from the beef. Even if you could merely test for a given temperature, the slices of hasty are so thin there's no really practical fashion to insert an instant-read thermometer.

Time isn't a reliable guide, either. The transmission for the Nesco dehydrator, for example, suggests that drying times can range from 4 to 15 hours. It depends on the meat you've chosen, how thickly it'south cut, whether you used a dry rub or a moisture marinade, the humidity of your climate, and many other factors.

The adept news is that "done" is a range when you make jerky, not a specific point, so you've got a lot of wiggle room. As long as the meat is dry out plenty to inhibit bacterial growth, information technology'll stay safe to eat. After that, it's largely a question of what texture you're looking for and how long y'all want to store the finished hasty. Drier jerky lasts longer, while moister jerky is tastier and easier to eat.

Bend and Chew to Test

To test for doneness, lift the lid from your jerky dehydrator and remove a piece. Prepare information technology bated on the counter to cool for five to x minutes, considering the jerky will exist more pliable when it's warm. Accept the piece of hasty and bend information technology gently to most a 90-degree angle. If any moisture squeezes out, it's definitely not done however and can become back into the dehydrator. If it cracks and breaks, you lot've left it too long, and it'south already by the bespeak of all-time flavor and texture. It'southward still perfectly edible, but non every bit good as information technology might have been.

Ideally, the hasty should be pliable like leather, and it should just fray and scissure slightly at the bending bespeak. If that'southward what you come across, your next stride is to take a bite. The jerky shouldn't crack or crunch, merely simply give way grudgingly betwixt your teeth. If it's tasty, no longer has a "fresh meat" feel, but doesn't crumble as it'south chewed either, y'all've gotten it right.

Jerky Training Basics

Getting to the perfect bespeak requires conscientious preparation, mostly centered around food safe. To brand sure your dehydrator trays and all your work surfaces are clean and sanitized, apply either a commercial sanitizing product or a solution of i tablespoon of bleach in 3 cups of h2o to clean everything. You can besides preheat your dehydrator to 145F or higher while you're getting everything else fix, which will kill any stray leaner that accept settled in it.

You'll as well need to launder your easily, knife and cutting board thoroughly, or in the case of the knife and cutting board, you lot tin can run them through the dishwasher on the high-heat setting. You can't do anything nigh whatever bacteria that come into your kitchen on the meat, merely you can brand sure you don't add any new ones.

Choosing and Slicing the Meat

When shopping for your meat, your best bets for making jerky are lean cuts with fine grain and minimal fat or connective tissue. Round roasts and eye of round are ideal, and they are normally cheap. Nonetheless, other cuts will likewise work equally long every bit they're lean. Trim away any large seams of fat, likewise every bit any connective tissue.

Slicing your meat evenly is crucial in having all your jerky dry out at the same rate, and it's hard to practice that without a commercial meat slicer. If you're slicing by hand at home, place the trimmed meat in your freezer until information technology's firm simply not hard-frozen. It'll hold its shape and exist easier to slice evenly with a sharp knife.

You're looking for slices no more 1/four-inch thick, and no less than i/8 inch. Anything over 1/4 inch is hard to dry, and nether one/8 inch will become over-dried and crunchy also easily. An easy rule is to go thicker for a chewier jerky, and thinner for i that'southward easier to swallow or if the meat itself is extra-tough. Yous might also opt to skip this step entirely, and just inquire your butcher to piece information technology for yous.

Marinating Beefiness Jerky

Marinating your hasty is a crucial step in the process. Y'all can use either a liquid marinade or a dry marinade – otherwise known equally a spice rub – depending on personal preference or what your recipe calls for. Either fashion, the goal is to add flavor to the beef. Y'all'll desire some combination of savory ingredients such as common salt and pepper, onion or garlic powder, soy sauce or liquid smoke; heat from chiles or hot sauce; and sugariness from sugar, honey or maybe a sweetness sauce such as teriyaki. Start with uncomplicated combinations, and then tweak the mixture from batch to batch. Keep notes, so you lot can remember what y'all liked or didn't.

Some beefiness hasty recipes phone call for a curing common salt, such as "Prague pulverization" or Morton's Tender Quick, as part of the marinade or rub. These help discourage bacteria, and brand your jerky more food condom. Alternatively, the USDA suggests boosting food safety by boiling the marinade beginning, and pouring information technology hot over the beefiness slices.

Leave your meat in the marinade for at to the lowest degree 4 hours or up to 24, or every bit directed in the recipe. Blot it dry out, if necessary, before you lot put it in the dehydrator.

Jerky From Ground Meats and Game

You can also brand jerky from basis beef, as many commercial producers practise. Use the leanest ground beef yous tin find, at least eighty percent and, ideally, 90 percent lean. You don't marinate ground meat; just work the spices into it during or afterwards grinding. Pipe the mixture onto your dehydrator trays from a jerky gun – basically a jumbo-sized cookie printing – or pat it out to 1/4-inch thickness on a sheet pan or jelly roll pan, and cut it into strips for drying.

Ground meats demand to be dehydrated at 165F rather than 160F, and the USDA suggests pre-cooking your meat to that temperature before dehydrating information technology.

One time yous've mastered beef, you might want to try venison jerky. Unfortunately, game animals oftentimes carry parasites or pathogens, and information technology'southward difficult to know how contaminated an fauna got during field-dressing. Freezing the meat for a month or and then before you lot brand jerky can impale off most potential pathogens. For additional food safety, you should also dry venison jerky at 165F, or add some insurance by using curing common salt or the humid-marinade technique.

After the Jerky Is Done

You lot're non quite done when the jerky comes out of your dehydrator. If you want to be actress-safe, you can give your finished hasty ten minutes in the oven at 250F to kill any especially stubborn bacteria. This is optional, merely not a bad idea if you're working with higher-risk poultry, game or basis meats.

Once your jerky is absurd, pack it loosely into closed bags or containers for a few days to "cure." The strips won't come up out of your dehydrator at exactly the same degree of dryness, so this allows the drier strips to absorb moisture from the moister ones and evens things upwards.

Seal the jerky as airtight every bit you tin make it in numberless or containers, because the less contact that oxygen has with your hasty, the longer information technology'll final. Vacuum-sealed bags are ideal. Really dry hasty can continue for a few weeks at room temperature, but yous're always better off to keep information technology in the fridge or freezer until it's needed. The jerky's flavor will concluding longer, and you're less probable to have issues with mold or spoilage.

References

Writer Bio

Fred Decker is a trained chef, old restaurateur and prolific freelance writer, with a special interest in all things related to food and diet. His work has appeared online on major sites including Livestrong.com, WorkingMother.com and the websites of the Houston Chronicle and San Francisco Chronicle; and offline in Canada's Foodservice & Hospitality magazine and his local daily newspaper. He was educated at Memorial Academy of Newfoundland and the Northern Alberta Constitute of Applied science.

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