Dehydrator Jerky - you were warned :-)

[curious aardvark]

Well currently sans smoker and the dehydrator was just sitting there - what you gonna do ?
Well I did use smoked ingredients - so that's gotta count right ?

Beef and venison ground jerky

1 lb 13oz (it was what I had) lean flank steak
1 lb lean stewing venison
1/2 tsp cure salt (figured I'd cure for the dried weight and see what happened)
2 tsp coriander seeds
2 tsp garlic powder
1.2 tsp smoked ginger
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp seasalt
1tsp CBP
I - literal - handful of oats

Chopped the meat (pretty much still frozen) into chunks.
Mixed all the spices up in a mortar and pestle.
Added spices and oats to meat and mixed well.
Ground with the coarse plate - wanted some texture in the jerky so decided to use the coarse plate. Worked really well, the meat bound together much better than I thought it would - so probably use a coarse grind in future for burgers and fatties as well and maybe even some sausages.

Left mix in fridge overnight to cure a bit and bind.
Did both really well.
Smelt great.
Flattened it into two sheets about 1/3 inch thick and marked out into strips with my specialist jerky marking tool (read: cheap plastic palette knife).

Gave it 8 hours in the dehydrator at max temp: 155
In the pics you can see initially I started it on the reusable baking sheet. Removed that after 1 hour and was direct on the mesh for the remainder.

Came out great. One comment - needed honey.
Think the ginger added a little too much to the savoury side and I was heavy on the garlic. A tablespoon of honey would have just tempered that to the right degree of sweetness.
Oh yeah I used a pair of scissors to cut along the marked grooves - turned out to be much easier than using a knife :-)

As for (and I'm sure someone will bring this up lol) using half the max amount of cure salt. Look at the close up - it's all well cured. Like I said I was thinking - why season jerky for it's wet weight when at the end it's lost much of the water.
This lot went from nearly 3 lb wet weight to 1 1/2 lb dry weight (but succulent and chewey). So I seasoned for the dry weight not the wet weight as I would have done for sausage, burger etc.

I added cure salt because I was using wild venison and the cure flavour's growing on me :-)
If I'd used the honey I might not have bothered with the cure - but given the low amount of salt I addedand the lack of any other antibacterial agents, probaby would have used cure anyway. 8 hours being warm is a long time :-)

Left the bowl full of cut jerky in the kitchen over night - pushed well back on the counter.
Just as well as the dog had her legs up on the surface in the morning, but couldn't quite reach the bowl lol
Yep I was lucky, next time it'll go on top of the freezer to cool down lol

[Richtee]

As for (and I'm sure someone will bring this up lol) using half the max amount of cure salt. Look at the close up - it's all well cured. Like I said I was thinking - why season jerky for it's wet weight when at the end it's lost much of the water.

Someone?

You cure for the wet weight because that's the amount of meat that needs curing. In the smoking/drying process, much of the cure added is actually converted to nitric oxide, and leaves the meat.

For you, sir... I'm sure you will understand this better than I
http://meat.tamu.edu/curing.html

[Texas-Hunter]

OK I understand using oats in sausage as a filler and binder... But in Jerky?? Not sure why you would add them....

[ganny76]

Looks great CA. Never used a dehydrator for jerky. If it can come out looking like that, then I may need to get one.

[curious aardvark]

OK I understand using oats in sausage as a filler and binder... But in Jerky?? Not sure why you would add them....

Same reason - not as a filler but as a binding agent.
Plus oats are a super food. Lowers cholesterol, probably all sorts of other stuff.
I get a kick out of making sausages and jerky etc that actually lowers cholesterol or is at least cholesterol neutral.

Anway it's a sort of signature thing lol Rich cures stuff I add oats :-)

As for the cure - actually no it wasn't you specifically I was thnking of rich. Been plenty of 'cure not cure jerky' threads recently. I generally come down on the 'not cure' side - so thought I ought to explain why I done what I did :-)

One thing that crops up time and again is that the amounts given for cure salt by the manufacturers are the maximum allowable amounts you can use.
Going through the chemistry of it it's fairly obvious (and from my own experiments) that a really tiny amount is all that's required.
Now I've succesfully cured pork using nothing but sea salt with trace amounts of nitrate - too small to be listed seperately - just took longer. The cure salt I use is sort of like cure #2 in that it has nitrate as well as nitrite.
Figured I had enough nitrite to hold it till it was cooked/dried and the nitrate would hold any future buggies at bay.
You can see from the pic it's fully cured - results pretty much speak for themselves in this case.

In other words - it worked, I'll do it again :-)

[Richtee]

Just for the record... I usually back off recommended cure amounts 10-15%.

[Gunslinger]

I just can't seem to wrap my head around this ground meat jerky thing.
A guy I work with made some ground venison jerky with his dehydrator. Well I tried it. It was like eating liquid smoke and salt (not the fault of the jerky) and the texture was horrible. I guess that one experience jaded my opinion of this type of jerky.

[Richtee]

) and the texture was horrible. I guess that one experience jaded my opinion of this type of jerky.

Like buying that chopped/pressed stuff in the plastic you can't get off it in the stores

[jakeseddon]

hi ca, why do you use ground meat to make jerky? is it to get the flavourings inside or so you can use cheaper meat cuts? maybe a stupid question but just wandering.

[curious aardvark]

that and it's a much softer eating jerky. So you find people who won't touch biltong or solid jerky will eat ground jerky.
Of course that might be a good reason for not making it :-)