Posted: 11/10/2010 7:11:38 AM EDT
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How long will it last if you get the store made bags packed with 02 absorbers?
If you make your own, how long would it last: On the shelf in a ziplock or foil etc.? stored in the freezer? Vacuum sealed? |
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Mine does best when it is frozen or stored in a large jar with a loose lid. I vacuum sealed some shortly after making it and it molded on me. DOn't think I got it dry enough. If I were going to vacuum seal some now, I would let it air for a few more days after prep, then try.
Doc |
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Tag.
I've long been interested in this topic. Beef jerky is good stuff, however I feel that if you got to jump through too many hoops to get it preserved properly, one may as well just pressure-can some beef and be done with it. Back in the day, meat was salted and dried to help preserve it. Jerky was kept hanging, or carried wrapped in cloth. That was the most it ever needed to endure. either way, the air was always allowed to flow around it. The minute we shut off the air supply, the pathogens dormant in the meat begin to multiply. All that airtight packaging does is create a nice warm sauna for the cooties to grow. When I was a kid growing up in Maine, my dad was a lobsterman. He'd split a cod or a hake and soak it in 100% brine, then hang it on the clothesline to dry in the breeze and the sun. When it dried, strips pulled off and eaten. SO GOOD! Anyway, I was thinking that jerky which is vacuum-sealed and tossed in the freezer would be pretty good for a couple years at least. If anyone has gone this kind of distance, please post! 
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I think what you are looking for is called pemmican! I have a 16 page Adobe PDF on how to make it if anyone wants it (Just send an IM to me)
Your beef jerky should last a long time in the freezer and you don’t have to salt the hell out of it. Last time I was in Iraq I sent myself a gift package before I left 10lbs of beef jerky that I made in about 6 months this beef jerky for the oldest one had set in the freezer for 6 months before it took a 10 day trip to Iraq then was in my foot locker for another 7 months. All it was placed in was a zip lock bag during this time and it never tasted bad that whole time I had it. If you do the ground beef jerky you will get a lot of oil off them I think they taste like $hit also. When you make your jerky DO NOT USE ANY OIL!! Or anything with oil in it or your jerky will go bad quicker. If you like salt then use salt brine. As I don’t like salt I did 75/25 sugar/salt brine. I learned to only use dry rubs if I jerky the beef in the dehydrator every time I try to do a wet marinade with the beef I can never taste it. Other might have better luck then me. I mostly smoke my Jerky adds flavor and if you don’t use to much smoke keeps your marinades flavor. I have been making Jerky for about 15 years now have made some of the best tasting jerky that I’d take over any steak dinner to making some jerky so nasty not even a dog would eat it. Wanted to add this not sure if it works or not but a old timer told me that if you take a mason jar heat it in the stove at around 250 or 300 degs for 15 to 20 mins that heat kills off everything then you take your jerky place it in the jar and add one CO2 packets and if you keep it in a dark cool place it should last you 10+ years. Not sure if it works but this guy says he been doing it that was with the co2 packets for some time and before that he used water bath and presser cooker to get the air out of the jars. |
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I've been making jerky for quite a while but it never lasts very long because people keep taking it as soon as its made. so I can't answer your question. I am serious too. If it is in the freezer and vaccuum seeled, my gf takes it to work and gives it away to her workforce. I can say though, that a ziploced bag of it lasts about a month in my desk drawer at work. I try to keep about 1 lb on hand for myself and I trim all fat from it because fat is the jerky killer. Make it lean lean lean and it lasts longer. We won't have freezers or vaccum seelers in SHTF. |
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Quoted:
I just now tore open a 9 ounce bag of OBERTO original beef jerky. Best Buy pull date August 2009. ...... tastes okay....... dog likes it too. don't recall what brand I opened two weeks ago while pheasant hunting, but it was from July 2009 my brother and I are still alive, so no adverse effects that i'm aware of. I still have another bag of the same stuff - maybe i'll wait until next year to try it. |
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Since we're talking about jerky, does anyone care to share their favorite recipe?
My favorite recipe right now is simply dusting the strips of beef with my custom jerky rub, and letting them sit in fridge overnight before drying, just to let the spices meld. Kibby's Jerky Rub 1 cup salt 1/2 cup black pepper 1/4 cup ground chipotle powder 1/4 cup onion powder Season the meat and dry. YUM! This recipe is great if you're like me, and don't believe real jerky should be sweetened. The rub ingedients can also easily be adjusted for anyone who likes more or less spice, maybe habanero, or even bhut jolokia if you are totally insane. |
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Some of the last batch I made is still in a zip lock bag in the fridge. I eat some now and then. It was made 8-23-10.
It was a little overdried, but still tasty. I soaked it overnight in a vinegar and spice solution. No sugar for me either. I may try the dry rub next time. That seems like a lot of salt though. How much meat does that cover? |
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Our rough recipe for it:
Worcestire sauce (largest ingredient by volume; Sam's has big bottles of the stuff for very cheap, or you can make your own) Vinegar - just a bit Teriyaki sauce (adds some good flavor) A1 Steak Sauce Seasoned Salt (just a bit) Garlic Salt (just a bit) This is our basic ingredient list. Amounts vary according to how much you're making. We just eyeball it, and occasionally we'll throw in something else like fajita seasoning or LaRue's dry rub... But with the basic recipe I've had people sample it and then ask me if they could buy some. Very simple, too. Mix this up in a 1 gallon bag, cut the meat and throw it in there, mash/rub it a bit, let it sit overnight. Dehydrate the next day for anywhere from 4-8 hours depending on your dehydrator and how dry you want it. Good stuff. |
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I make mine with a base of worsteshire and soy suace (a lot of salt I know). I use spices and hot sauce too but the recipe always changes. Change as you will. I marinade for 24hr or so and dry it in my oven on its lowest setting for about 12 hours. I have a smoker too, but oddly I've never done jerky in it. Venison makes some of the best jerky IMO btw. It is lean out of the gate. |
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Jerky recipe
If you want your jerky really tender this is the best way and the longer you let it soak the more tender it gets. Add 1-2 TBS of Vinegar to every pound of meat cover with water and let sit in the refrigerator for 24 hours the longer the better. DO NOT add to much Vinegar unless you like the taste of vinegar. This works with chicken, beef and pork. I let mine soak for about 5 days in the vinegar and if you want you can do a salt or sugar brine along with the vinegar. After day 5 I take the meat out of the brine wash it off in cold water. Then take it and place in marinade of McCormick Montreal Steak Seasoning if you can find the sauce that even better. Add Worchester, garlic powder. If you use the seasoning add enough water to cover meat if you use the sauce just add a bottle of water or enough to cover the meat. Again I let it sit in the refrigerator for another 5 days. The take it out jerk and pull on the meat and smoke it using mesquite. Never lasts that long in my home as both my boy love it and so does my wife and daughter but this is the recipe I used in my Iraq jerky. |
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last batch i made i just used a dry rub of LaRue Dillo Dust and fresh ground black pepper. it turned out ok, it was pretty tasty but the meat was of a lower quality and i didn't presoak it in marinade of any type or let the rub set in very long before drying. my laziness and haste aside it still was plenty edible...
i' certainly have to agree with those saying that plenty of time in the marinade and properly aged extra lean beef is the key to good jerky... here's some lousy cell phone taken dehydrating pics: L to R: chicken, beef, apple, pineapple, banana, and more apples and pineapple for the drying... 
apples and pineapple cut up and ready to start drying... 
close up of the pienapple, beef and chicken jerky... 
i really like the utz brand "pub mix" sold at most retail grocery stores. not only is the "pub mix" damned tasty but the containers once washed out are great for holding home dried goods(beware they are not air tight though, keep the moisture in the room down and they'll be ok for a while however)... K. |
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i've personally never hade real great luck using an oven.
i don;t blame this on the heat soure though. the biggest drawback imho in using an over is being stuck using baking sheets to dry the meat on. as the meat dries the moisture evaporates, but the fat / oil in the meat collects. in a dehydrator it an drip off / down and you don't end up with the greasy mess i usually got on baking sheets. usuing much leaner meat would help with this(i'd stay away from ground beef, and use the leanest meat you could find if using baking sheets). turnign the meat from time to time an wiping any oil off of th ebaking sheet would help out also... as for temp. the lowest setting in your oven should work quite nicely(many are around 150 degrees). as for time, lots of variables there. temp, quantity / volume, thickness(get the thickness of your peices as uniform as possible), elevation, hell relative humidity in your kithen probably comes into play, spin drift(wait no, can skip this one on jerky  ). the "seeing white fibers" thing is likely about as good a test as any.
just remember that the more moisture in the jerky the more tender and less chewy but tastier it will be, but shorter it will keep. i dry it less if i know it'll be all passe out and eaten up in a couple days. if i'm putting it up to keep for a while i dry it damed near completely out. it's not as tasty and a lot harder to chew but it lasts longer... my chicken jerky is kind of done the same way but to a much greater extreme do to the possible threat of salmonella. i cut it in thin long strips and marinate the hell out of it in a home made jamaican jerk marinade for at least 3-5 days. i never cook it, it's raw the whole time. but i dry it in the dehydrator until it's so brittle it will nearly shatter like crystal if you drop it(dry out and kill all the cooties, they can't live in a low enough PH espicially without any moisture). when you chew it it breaks up quite easily and the texture quickly becomes actully pretty reminisant of the beef jerky that comes in the snuff type cans... K. |