Greetings All,
My wife and I just bought a bag of pork jerky made by Jack Links. It
was the first time that I saw pork jerky. I was wondering if anyone had
a recipe to make some. My oven has a dehydration setting, and since my
wife isn't a beef eater, I'd like to make some pork jerky for her. I
googled, without much success. Some people say that it isn't wise to use
pork though, any thoughts? Many thanks in advance, Mark

"Mark" > wrote in message
. net...
> Greetings All,
> My wife and I just bought a bag of pork jerky made by Jack Links. It was
> the first time that I saw pork jerky. I was wondering if anyone had a
> recipe to make some. My oven has a dehydration setting, and since my wife
> isn't a beef eater, I'd like to make some pork jerky for her. I googled,
> without much success. Some people say that it isn't wise to use pork
> though, any thoughts? Many thanks in advance, Mark

I do not know why not? Pork has been cured in some form or another for a
while now as I understand. Don't think in the traditional terms of Impulse
Rack American Snack food jerky, think of a quality Charcuterie. Prosciutto,
Jamon, pancetta,sopressata, coppa, capocollo, guaniciale.... Lots of pork
being used there.

A 10-12 lb pork loin will cost a dollar, two ninety eight a lb. on sale, a
box of Morton's quick cure, a few special spices, a litle space in the
fridge, some attention to detail and then a good smoke, let em age a bit.
It does not get any better. I make a few varations of this throughout the
year: peppercorn, garlic, a paprika and an ancho chile. Some I punch holes
in it and stuff garlic in it before smoking. A cold plate of thin sliced
Lomo, marinated or pickled goodies, cheese, chewy bread, Olive Oil, and/or
key limes with a good beer or wine....

http://www.igourmet.com/reviews/pwr/...Campofrio.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lomo_(food)

"Mark" > wrote in message
. net...
> Greetings All,
> My wife and I just bought a bag of pork jerky made by Jack Links. It was
> the first time that I saw pork jerky. I was wondering if anyone had a
> recipe to make some. My oven has a dehydration setting, and since my wife
> isn't a beef eater, I'd like to make some pork jerky for her. I googled,
> without much success. Some people say that it isn't wise to use pork
> though, any thoughts? Many thanks in advance, Mark

I think one of the problems may be that pork is usually cut with a layer of
fat which might go rancid if just dehydrating. You might want to think of
brining a leaner cut, then smoking strips to a dehydrated state. I'm no
expert on meat curing tho. But this may point you the direction you need to
take.
Edrena

Mark wrote:
>
> Greetings All,
> My wife and I just bought a bag of pork jerky made by Jack Links. It
> was the first time that I saw pork jerky. I was wondering if anyone had
> a recipe to make some. My oven has a dehydration setting, and since my
> wife isn't a beef eater, I'd like to make some pork jerky for her. I
> googled, without much success. Some people say that it isn't wise to use
> pork though, any thoughts? Many thanks in advance, Mark

People have been drying pork for a long time. No worse than drying fish
or beef or lamb.

Here is a Chinese form of pork jerky:

Tasty Dried Meat Squares (from one of the Wei Chuan cookbooks)

2 2/3 lbs fresh ham or pork loin cut into paper thin slices.

1 1/2 tsp salt
4 tbs sugar
1/8 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp 5-spice powder
1/8 tsp licorice powder (optional)
2 tbs soy sauce
1 tbs rice wine
1/8 tsp red food coloring (optional)
1 tsp MSG

Soak pork slices in the spice mixture for 24 hours. Press soaked meat
slices in a lightly oiled bamboo basket. Let dry for 24 hours [could
probably use a food dehydrator set on low].

Cut the meat into into 12 squares and grill for 1 1/2 minutes each side
or bake at 400 F until brown.

Any Chinese supermarket will have this commercially prepared; good
stuff!

Steve Wertz wrote:
>
> Slicing a pork loin paper thin and then cutting into 12 squares
> seems like it'd be awful difficult to grill such small pieces.

You could put them on bamboo skewers.
Though, of course, it would be easier
to grill the slices and then cut the
squares. If you did it that way,
you still might want to use skewers.

Steve Wertz wrote:
>
> On Fri, 03 Aug 2007 19:48:19 -0600, Arri London wrote:
>
> > Tasty Dried Meat Squares (from one of the Wei Chuan cookbooks)
> >
> > 2 2/3 lbs fresh ham or pork loin cut into paper thin slices.
> >
> > 1 1/2 tsp salt
> > 4 tbs sugar
> > 1/8 tsp cinnamon
> > 1/8 tsp 5-spice powder
> > 1/8 tsp licorice powder (optional)
> > 2 tbs soy sauce
> > 1 tbs rice wine
> > 1/8 tsp red food coloring (optional)
> > 1 tsp MSG
> >
> > Soak pork slices in the spice mixture for 24 hours. Press soaked meat
> > slices in a lightly oiled bamboo basket. Let dry for 24 hours [could
> > probably use a food dehydrator set on low].
> >
> > Cut the meat into into 12 squares and grill for 1 1/2 minutes each side
> > or bake at 400 F until brown.
> >
> > Any Chinese supermarket will have this commercially prepared; good
> > stuff!
>
> I'm having trouble trying to determine what this would be in the
> Asian markets ("Meat Squares"?) It almost seems like it would
> make pork fu if it were shredded, but grilled and cut into
> squares doesn't fit.
>
> Slicing a pork loin paper thin and then cutting into 12 squares
> seems like it'd be awful difficult to grill such small pieces.
>
> -sw

It isn't pork fu which is as you say the shredded version. I believe the
Cantonese name is 'long yoke'. The book gives the recipe in Chinese and
expectedly the first two characters are 'zhu rou' which means pork. I
can't work out the stroke number for the third character though, so my
dictionary isn't much help LOL. When I find out what the third character
I will post it here.

The thin slices are overlapped on the bamboo strainer. Once dried they
form a single sheet. That's what gets cut into the squares. Smaller
strainer equals fewer pieces to cut it into.

Arri London wrote:
>
> Steve Wertz wrote:
> >
> > On Fri, 03 Aug 2007 19:48:19 -0600, Arri London wrote:
> >
> > > Tasty Dried Meat Squares (from one of the Wei Chuan cookbooks)
> > >
> > > 2 2/3 lbs fresh ham or pork loin cut into paper thin slices.
> > >
> > > 1 1/2 tsp salt
> > > 4 tbs sugar
> > > 1/8 tsp cinnamon
> > > 1/8 tsp 5-spice powder
> > > 1/8 tsp licorice powder (optional)
> > > 2 tbs soy sauce
> > > 1 tbs rice wine
> > > 1/8 tsp red food coloring (optional)
> > > 1 tsp MSG
> > >
> > > Soak pork slices in the spice mixture for 24 hours. Press soaked meat
> > > slices in a lightly oiled bamboo basket. Let dry for 24 hours [could
> > > probably use a food dehydrator set on low].
> > >
> > > Cut the meat into into 12 squares and grill for 1 1/2 minutes each side
> > > or bake at 400 F until brown.
> > >
> > > Any Chinese supermarket will have this commercially prepared; good
> > > stuff!
> >
> > I'm having trouble trying to determine what this would be in the
> > Asian markets ("Meat Squares"?) It almost seems like it would
> > make pork fu if it were shredded, but grilled and cut into
> > squares doesn't fit.
> >
> > Slicing a pork loin paper thin and then cutting into 12 squares
> > seems like it'd be awful difficult to grill such small pieces.
> >
> > -sw
>
> It isn't pork fu which is as you say the shredded version. I believe the
> Cantonese name is 'long yoke'. The book gives the recipe in Chinese and
> expectedly the first two characters are 'zhu rou' which means pork. I
> can't work out the stroke number for the third character though, so my
> dictionary isn't much help LOL. When I find out what the third character
> I will post it here.

Sorry had to sign off due to impending thunderstorm! The third character
in the Chinese name for the recipe is 'gan' meaning dried. So the full
name is 'zhu rou gan' or 'pork meat dried', often shortened to 'rou
gan'..
>
> The thin slices are overlapped on the bamboo strainer. Once dried they
> form a single sheet. That's what gets cut into the squares. Smaller
> strainer equals fewer pieces to cut it into.

Steve Wertz wrote:
>
> On Sun, 05 Aug 2007 08:23:06 -0600, Arri London wrote:
>
> > Sorry had to sign off due to impending thunderstorm! The third character
> > in the Chinese name for the recipe is 'gan' meaning dried. So the full
> > name is 'zhu rou gan' or 'pork meat dried', often shortened to 'rou
> > gan'..
>
> OK. I see some translations on the web "sliced meat barbecue"
> and "dried beef", and the zhu does appear to be pork.

Yes zhu is pork. The recipe on the next page is for making the beef
equivalent, with 5-spice powder. Do you want that recipe?
>
> "Chinese Dried Meat". AKA jerky. Learn something new every day.
> I'll check the packages more closely. Most of the stuff I see is
> labeled primarily in Vietnamese.
>
> Here's the package I bought a couple weeks ago; the Chinese
> writing is a little washed out and the package is long gone.
> This is the Vietnamese-style curried beef jerky (bought from a
> Vietnamese banh mi shop in Austin).
>
> http://i14.tinypic.com/4rbs6y0.jpg
>
> Thanks for the info. I just couldn't picture the small squares.
> Now I understand it's the same stuff I'm probably already buying
> :-)
>
> -sw

It would be similar but the Vietnamese seasoning is likely to be a
little different. Apparently they also make pork liver jerky...