Beef Jerky

[HCT]

Can someone give me th instruction to makeing a proper jerky? I have been using the Excalibur dehydrator and it seens to come out great. But I recently read an article that the beef has to reach 165 degrees to kill all the bacteria. True or not?
Also, anyone have some super recipes for the jerky. Which is better, the store brand or the home make brine. Thanks




I Share my life with 6 labradors. Who could ask for more?

[MWS]

My simple jerky recipe uses a combo of smoking and dehydrating. I marinade the beef (1/4" slices) in a homemade teryaki sauce overnight. I then remove the meat from the marinade and add fresh cracked pepper to the meat. In the Bradley, I smoke the meat for two hours (145F) using hickory, then remove and place it in the food dehydrator and continue for a couple of more hours. Best beef jerky I've ever had. Sorry I can't be more detailed at this time, but the kids are screaming at me to take them for a walk to the lake. Sounds like a good idea.

<i><font color="green"><b>Mike </i></font id="green"></b>

<i><font color="black">"Men like to barbecue, men will cook if danger is involved".</i></font id="black">
 -John Wayne

[jaeger]

Mickey,
I have never made jerky in a dehydrator but I have sampled some that was. I have made jerky in the Bradley and other smokehouses and IMHO smoked and cooked taste much better. As far as temps, I am a firm believer in using heat especially for wild game.
I prefer a dry seasoning/cure for jerky such as High Mountain. This seasoning is available at a lot of grocery stores and sporting good stores, available online also.
When I smoke/cook jerky I generally don't use a thermometer unless I'm making a thicker strip type such as Turkey Jerky. I usually start the jerky in a preheated smoker and cook for about 1 - 1 1/2 hours at which point I rotate the racks top to bottom, front to back. (I use enough pucks for at least 2 hours of smoke from the start.) After a half hour <u><font size="3">or so </font id="size3"></u> I start to remove pieces that look done. The rest of the pieces I rearrange on the racks and rotate again as needed. Usually I finish in 3 - 3 1/2 hours total. I usually have the heat around 200 F to start and turned up all the way when I start rotating racks. (With the damper half open to allow moisture to escape.)
The reason I keep the temp cranked up all the way is that after the first rotation  I open the door about every half hour to move pieces around, take pieces off and rotate racks around as desired.



<font size="4"><b>Doug</b></font id="size4">