Hello all

I want to make some beef jerkey from some ground beef. I know i can use
tenderquick as it has all the necessary thingies in it, but how much do i
use to say a pound or more. Buying the ones from American harvest gets
expensive and want to try and make some of my own flavores. Thanks

Shereign Weiser wrote:

> I want to make some beef jerkey from some ground beef. I know i can use
> tenderquick as it has all the necessary thingies in it, but how much do i
> use to say a pound or more. Buying the ones from American harvest gets
> expensive and want to try and make some of my own flavores. Thanks


The first question you have to ask yourself is "why are you making jerky"?

If the answer is you have a lot of beef and you need to make something that
will last a long time without refrigeration then you do things very
differently than if you are making jerky because you want to eat it.


The second question is how will you dry it? Although jerky is traditionaly
made by hanging it out to dry, or smoking it over a low fire, modern
thinking is that it needs to be heated to about 160F. Either to Pasturize
it (for about an hour at 160F) or the entire time it is dried.

For example, you can do it in your oven if you can set it for 160F.
Mix the meat and spices evenly, take a baking pan or cookie sheet
and spray with PAM (or use a teflon coated pan). lay the meat out in
strips about an inch wide, 6 inches long and 1/4 of an inch thick.

Place in a 160F oven with the door open slightly until dry. Dry until it
bends with difficulty. Remove from the oven allow to cool for a hour and
keep in the freezer.

If you already have a dryer, use that, but try to keep the heat at
160F.


There are zillions of recpies on the web for jerky. A good start is
soy sauce, garlic, liquid smoke, salt and pepper. Play around with the
seasoning (keep notes) until it tastes "right". As it dries it will
get saltier.


If you want long term room temperature storage, then you will have to
use nitrates/nitrites, more salt and dry it more. Personally I would
rather have something I can easily chew, with less salt and no
nitrates/nitrites, etc, than something that will keep without refrigeration.


Long term storage is not an issue for me, a pound of meat, made into
jerky won't last two weeks in my freezer unless I tell no one I made
it and hide it. :-)


Geoff.



--
Geoffrey S. Mendelson, Jerusalem, Israel N3OWJ/4X1GM
IL Voice: (07)-7424-1667 U.S. Voice: 1-215-821-1838
Visit my 'blog at http://geoffstechno.livejournal.com/

Shereign Weiser wrote:
> Hello all
>
> I want to make some beef jerkey from some ground beef. I know i can use
> tenderquick as it has all the necessary thingies in it, but how much do i
> use to say a pound or more. Buying the ones from American harvest gets
> expensive and want to try and make some of my own flavores. Thanks
>
>


Why do you want to use ground beef? Buy a beef rump roast and slice it
up and you'll have a much nicer (and safer imho) final product. Beef
round steak also works pretty good, cut into strips, if you find round
steak on sale.

I use 1 tsp salt and 1 tsp brown sugar and about 1/2 tsp fresh ground
black pepper for each pound of trimmed and sliced meat. Sometimes I add
a little cayenne pepper. Mix well and refrigerate overnight for the salt
to begin penetrating the meat. Then dry it in your smoker or dehydrator.
Don't let it get too hot; at least until it is mostly dried out -- you
don't want the meat to drip.

If you want to experiment with different seasonings, some interesting
ones to try adding a liquid smoke (obviously), nutmeg, ground
coriander, cinnamon, ginger, or allspice. But try it with just salt,
brown sugar, and pepper first. HTH

Bob

"zxcvbob" > wrote in message
...
> Shereign Weiser wrote:
>> Hello all
>>
>> I want to make some beef jerkey from some ground beef. I know i can use
>> tenderquick as it has all the necessary thingies in it, but how much do i
>> use to say a pound or more. Buying the ones from American harvest gets
>> expensive and want to try and make some of my own flavores. Thanks
>
>
> Why do you want to use ground beef? Buy a beef rump roast and slice it up
> and you'll have a much nicer (and safer imho) final product. Beef round
> steak also works pretty good, cut into strips, if you find round steak on
> sale. (clipped) . Don't let it get too hot; at least until it is mostly
> dried out -- you don't want the meat to drip.
>
> If you want to experiment with different seasonings, some interesting ones
> to try adding a liquid smoke (obviously), nutmeg, ground coriander,
> cinnamon, ginger, or allspice. But try it with just salt, brown sugar,
> and pepper first. HTH
> Bob

I have never used the commercial preparations. I looked at the ingredient
list...
I use round steak, cut about 3/8" thick. I found that an electric knife
was not easier. Plonk into the Salvation Army box. What is easier is a razor
sharp knife. If you go buy the DH a power sharpener grinder dealy, he will
sharpen your knives and like it. Umm Power Tools!
My favorite seasonings are 1 tsp pickling salt (small grain dissolves
quickly), 1/2 tsp chipotle powder, clove or two of garlic finely minced, 1
tbls. of Worcestershire sauce per pound. And one tsp salt more for the
batch. Mix into about 1/2 c. water per lb. Soak covered overnight in fridge
in big deep bowl, stirring/tossing often. Dry at 145-155F. I got directions
somewhere for pasteurizing in the oven after for a specific number of
minutes. I'll dig it out. I don't bother.
I found if I sealed the very dry jerky into mason jars with the Tilia, it
kept for over a year with no loss of taste. And I didn't die. Storing the
stuff in anything else let to mold sooner or later (brown paper lunch bags
were best). Unless you store in freezer. Fridgerator will slow this down
considerably, but I didn't want to take up fridge space.
Do you like the texture of hamburger or just the ease in shaping, etc.?
And what % of lean do you use?
Edrena

Steve Wertz schrieb:
> Ground beef Jerky is an oxymoron.

Full ACK, use solid meat strips. As for the seasoning, i developed a quite
tasty mixture over the last two years, recipe is he
http://www.fuenfrocken.com/jerky/jerky.html

have fun,
Markus