I made hamburger jerky last night...

[Apple]

and it is delicious

I really should make it more often, but my son usually eats most of it before I get much.

I had some years ago, when I worked at a lumber store, that a coworker had made.  It was made with some kind of beer marinade and was awesome.  I may need to look around and experiment.

[❤ mollymouser ❤]

Is it in little small pieces, like hamburger meat?

[Deleted]

That what I say when I overcook meat. You mean on purpose?

[andi9899]

Jan 19, 2015 17:49:26 GMT -5 Apple said:

and it is delicious

I really should make it more often, but my son usually eats most of it before I get much.

I had some years ago, when I worked at a lumber store, that a coworker had made.  It was made with some kind of beer marinade and was awesome.  I may need to look around and experiment.

Recipe?

[Apple]

I used the seasonings/marinade in this recipe:

nchfp.uga.edu/how/dry/jerky.html

Jerky Marinade

1 1/2 - 2 pounds of lean meat (beef, pork or venison)
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1/4 teaspoon each of black pepper and garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon hickory smoke-flavored salt  (I didn't have smoke-flavored salt, so used just under 1 tsp liquid smoke)

Combine all ingredients. Place strips of meat in a shallow pan and cover with marinade. Cover and refrigerate 1-2 hours or overnight (we did 2 hours). Products marinated for several hours may be more salty than some people prefer. If you choose to heat the meat prior to drying to decrease the risk of foodborne illness, do so at the end of the marination time. To heat, bring strips and marinade to a boil and boil for 5 minutes before draining and drying. If strips are more than ¼ inch thick, the length of time may need to be increased. If possible, check the temperature of several strips with a metal stem-type thermometer to determine that 160ºF has been reached. (I explained how we did it below-- we couldn't heat it in the oven at the beginning since we did the ground beef).

Drying the Meat

Remove meat strips from the marinade and drain on clean, absorbent towels. Arrange strips on dehydrator trays or cake racks placed on baking sheets for oven drying. Place the slices close together, but not touching or overlapping. Place the racks in a dehydrator or oven preheated to 140ºF. Dry until a test piece cracks but does not break when it is bent (10 to 24 hours for samples not heated in marinade). Samples heated in marinade will dry faster. Begin checking samples after 3 hours. Once drying is completed, pat off any beads of oil with clean, absorbent towels and cool. Remove strips from the racks. Cool. Package in glass jars or heavy plastic food storage bags. Vacuum packaging is also a good option.

If the strips were not heated in marinade prior to drying, they can be heated in an oven after drying as an added safety measure. Place strips on a baking sheet, close together, but not touching or overlapping. For strips originally cut 1/4 inch thick or less, heat 10 minutes in an oven preheated to 275ºF. (Thicker strips may require longer heating to reach 160ºF.)

Making Jerky from Ground Meat

Jerky can be made from ground meat using special presses to form or shape the product. Disease-causing microorganisms are more difficult to eliminate in ground meat than in whole meat strips. (If ground meat is used, follow the general tips for safe handling of meat and poultry, above.) Be sure to follow the dehydrator manufacturer’s directions when heating the product at the end of drying time. Again, an internal temperature of 160ºF is necessary to eliminate disease-causing bacteria such as E. coli O157:H7, if present.

Storing the Jerky

Properly dried jerky will keep at room temperature two weeks in a sealed container. For best results, to increase shelf life and maintain best flavor and quality, refrigerate or freeze jerky.

******

I used 2 pounds of ground beef (really lean-- normally you'd want 93%, but this is home grown beef so even more lean than that).  If I do it again, I'll add a little more seasoning to give it more flavor.  I just went ahead and mixed it all together with the ground beef, then put in in the fridge for about two hours.  Put it on the dehydrator using a jerky gun, and about an hour and a half into the drying time, put it on a cookie sheet in the oven at 275 degrees for 10 minutes to make sure the internal temp was up high enough to kill anything).  Then I put it back in the dehydrator to finish drying for a few more hours (took a total of 4 or 5 this time).  I like to do the oven heating in the middle of the time rather than at the end because I can better judge the final result.  I waited until the end once, and the time in the oven really dried out and over did the jerky.  It was still good, just a little too "crunchy".

We wanted one that avoided sugar, but there are a lot of other recipes out there.