Jerky

Here we depart from things directly going on with Fwigf to discuss preserving something I can't grow in my garden:

Meat.

The day I find a steak tree that'll change. But until then I must buy my meat from a store. But buying meat in bulk is cheaper long run so we need to discuss how to preserve it. Sure you could toss it in a freezer, but where's the fun in that? And what if (like me) you lack a freezer big enough?

That my darlings is where jerky comes in. Jerky is a pre-refrigeration method of preservation. We've got all kinds of accounts of smoked or dried meats from almost all cultures (to the best of my knowledge, someone correct me in the comments if I'm making things up). Jerky is dead simple to make, or complicated as hell depending on your preference. I am lazy, I prefer dead simple.

Jerky is created by long, slow, drying and cooking and low heat. This means the heat doesn't get intense enough to properly kill off pathogens lurking in your meat. So, a few safety precautions:

1. Use lean cuts. Fat takes longer to dry out than muscle.
2. Brine your meat. In addition to adding flavor an acidic brine helps kill nasties.
3. Make sure your dehydrating method of choice gets to and maintains a temperature of 155 degrees Fahrenheit.
4. Sanitize you work surfaces
5. Use either the pre-roasting or finishing method to be extra sure

Pre-roasting or pre-boiling the meat either in brine or water is the safest way to make sure your jerky is cooked all the way through and safe to eat. However it produces a crumbly/crunchy jerky. If that's your thing then by all means! Boil your meat in the brine for about 10 minutes, or roast it at 350 for about 15 minutes before putting it either in your dehydrator or oven at 155 degrees for 4-6 hours.

Me? I prefer chewy jerky. So I'm going with the finishing method. Which is basically roast it at 350 for 10 minutes after it's spent it's time in the dehydrator. My source for this information was a paper by the University of Wisconsin, link in the bibliography page.

So now that you know how you're going to cook your meat lets actually make brine!

Mia's Jerky Brine

You will need:

Apple cider vinegar
Brown sugar
salt
pepper
garlic powder
onion powder
smoked paprika

I put my meat strips into a quart sized freezer bag, covered them with the apple cider vinegar, then added the different spices to taste, then sealed the bag and smushed everything around and left it over night in the fridge. There are no measurements given because I'm a rebel that doesn't actually measure her spices, I just kind of eye ball it and call it good.

If you're pre-boiling you don't need to marinade over night, just boil in your brine.

The next day take your tasty brined strips of raw meat and layer them on the  trays in your dehydrator (after confirming it gets to and keeps 155 degrees), turn the thing on, and ignore it for 4-6 hours. I'm doing 6 to be safe.

If you didn't pre-boil then after 6 hours pop your jerky strips in the oven at 350 for 10 minutes. Let them cool, then keep them in an air tight container and they'll last for about 2 months. Unless you devour them all first.