Well here it goes. First jerky smoke.

[Darrin]

Couldn't find any decent London broil so I got some round roasts. Looked like ti would be easy cutting with the grain.

http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p279/janndar/Beef%20Jerky/IMGP1134.jpg

Sliced by hand into 1/4" - 3/8" stips the best I could without a slicer.

http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p279/janndar/Beef%20Jerky/IMGP1137.jpg

Used
4Tbs Tender quick
2 tsp onion powder
2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 C Soy Sauce
2/3 C Worcestershire sauce
4 TBS Splenda

http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p279/janndar/Beef%20Jerky/IMGP1136.jpg

Put them in a gallon ziploc bag in the fridge all night. Pulled them out this morning.

http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p279/janndar/Beef%20Jerky/IMGP1138.jpg

Spread on the rack ready for the smoker. Have 3 racks full. Will post more pics shortly. :cool:

http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p279/janndar/Beef%20Jerky/IMGP1140.jpg

[DDave]

Sliced by hand into 1/4" - 3/8" stips the best I could without a slicer.

Looks like pretty good slicing to me.:thumb:

Lookin' good. Keep us posted.

Dave

[two-eyes-up]

Can't hardly wait for results

[Slanted88]

Rock On!....Looks good!

[Darrin]

3 hours in. Should I flip them over or just leave them alone?

http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p279/janndar/Beef%20Jerky/IMGP1141.jpg

[curious aardvark]

leave it alone - and I hate to tell you this but you really should have sliced ACROSS the grain.
Well, you slice with the grain to get really chewy jerky and across the grain to get more tender eating jerky.

Reason being the long muscle fibres are tough, cut with them and you retain that toughness in the cooked meat. Cut across the grain and you only have very short segments of muscle tissue - so the final product is much more tender to eat.

Other that that and the unnecessary use of cure, it all looks excellent.

If jerky is being hot smoked the smoke will fully cure it anyway - and I know that because of richtee's sticky in the info thread: laugh, I nearly fell off my chair:bounce:

[Texas-Hunter]

I agree with CA... no need to flip them

[Darrin]

Well this is the first try so I consider it a learning experience. I do like jerky kinda tough, so I can't eat it as fast. :bounce:

I guess I should have cut 1 with and 1 against so I could compare. As for the cure. Oh well, better safe than spewing? I know I probably didn't need to, but I put it in there anyway.

[curious aardvark]

Wood contains large amounts of nitrogen (N). During burning the nitrogen in the logs combines with oxygen (O) in the air to form nitrogen dioxide (NO2). Nitrogen dioxide is highly water-soluble. The pink ring is created when NO2 is absorbed into the moist meat surface and reacts to form nitrous acid. The nitrous acid then diffuses inward creating a pink ring via the classic meat curing reaction of sodium nitrite

Given that the smoke ring on jerky is pretty much all the way through - you don't need to add nitrite to the seasoning 'cos the smoker will effectively do it for you :-)

[Darrin]

I only used 1 small chunk as I did not want to over smoke. A few people said that jerky absorbs a lot of the smoke flavor and I did not want to ruin $20 worth of meat. So I'm not sure if there would have been enough smoke to cure or not. :noidea:

[DDave]

Wood contains large amounts of nitrogen (N). During burning the nitrogen in the logs combines with oxygen (O) in the air to form nitrogen dioxide (NO2). Nitrogen dioxide is highly water-soluble. The pink ring is created when NO2 is absorbed into the moist meat surface and reacts to form nitrous acid. The nitrous acid then diffuses inward creating a pink ring via the classic meat curing reaction of sodium nitrite

Given that the smoke ring on jerky is pretty much all the way through - you don't need to add nitrite to the seasoning 'cos the smoker will effectively do it for you :-)

But Rich's post (http://www.smoked-meat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=298) also goes on to say . . .

The end result is a "smoke ring" that has the pink color of cured meat.

Soo . . . is it really cured . . .or does it just look like it is?

Because I also found the quote below from this article (http://www.birdflumanual.com/resources/Food_Preservation/files/meatSmokeNCureFAQ.pdf).

[What other factors affect the growth of bacteria?]
When meat is smoked, the environment is robbed of most if its oxygen. If this is combined with temperatures in the danger zone, the growth of the bacteria that causes botulism is increased.

Most of the folks here who don't cure their jerky also say that the jerky doesn't stay around long enough to go bad. Have any of you folks that don't cure jerky saved it for a few weeks at room temperature and then eaten it?

Not trying to start an argument, just looking for clarification.:lol:

Dave

[curious aardvark]

Soo . . . is it really cured . . .or does it just look like it is?
Yes it really is cured. Same chemical, same process - all that's different is where the chemical comes from.
And - throw in: salt, drying the meat and cooking the meat - and jerky's so safe you could leave it on the floor of your truck for a month and still eat it (maybe dust it off a bit first ;-)

[DDave]

Yes it really is cured. Same chemical, same process - all that's different is where the chemical comes from.
And - throw in: salt, drying the meat and cooking the meat - and jerky's so safe you could leave it on the floor of your truck for a month and still eat it (maybe dust it off a bit first ;-)

But you're not cooking the meat if you're drying it at 140°.

So are you saying you don't need cure if you "cook" it to a safe internal temp while smoking at, say 165° or higher, or are you saying you don't need cure regardless of what temp you use to dry it.

Because the temp you use to prepare it I would think is an important detail.

Dave

On Edit: Sorry to hijack your thread, Darrin.

How's the jerky coming by the way?

[Darrin]

On Edit: Sorry to hijack your thread, Darrin.

How's the jerky coming by the way?

It's not a hijack. I'm just as interested as you.

Jerky is still in the MES. I've got it at 110*. It's still soft, but has dried out quite a bit. I'm not really sure how to tell when it is done. :noidea: Tastes good though! :thumb:

About 5 hours into

http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p279/janndar/Beef%20Jerky/IMGP1142.jpg

[daboys]

Looking good Darrin. I have always used a cure with my jerky. You're right, better safe then sorry.

[DDave]

Same chemical, same process - all that's different is where the chemical comes from.

Okay, I did a little searching into this and here is what I found.

From Rich's post (http://www.smoked-meat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=298):
"The pink ring is created when NO2 is absorbed into the moist meat surface and reacts to form nitrous acid. The nitrous acid then diffuses inward creating a pink ring via the classic meat curing reaction of sodium nitrite."

From http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Nitrous_acid:
"Nitrous acid (molecular formula HNO2) is a weak acid known only in solution and in the form of nitrite salts."

From http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Nitrite
"In inorganic chemistry, a nitrite is a salt of nitrous acid."

Unless I am misunderstanding this relationship, it appears that CA has a valid point. But then, I am not a chemist nor an authority on meat curing.

For the record, I will continue to use cure and will recommend it to anyone who asks, because I think that the cure is a pretty cheap insurance against :puke: or worse.

Where are ya, Rich? We need you to weigh in on this. :cool:

Dave

[Darrin]

Well I have 2 big bags of Tender Quick so might as well use it. Does it change the flavor of jerky much? Is there a reason not to put it in?

[DDave]

Well I have 2 big bags of Tender Quick so might as well use it. Does it change the flavor of jerky much? Is there a reason not to put it in?

That is a good question. I will be purchasing some of my own here pretty soon. Want to try Rich's marinade (with cure http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg21/DrowzyDave/Icons/wink.gif) instead of the Hi Mountain dry cure.

Not to :deadhorse: but if it typically takes a regular cure like Tenderquick 24 hours to do it's thing, then how can the nitrous acid in the smoke do it in only 3 or 4 hours???? And if it is being done in an electric smoker as Darrin is doing, or a gasser, neither of which typically produce a smoke ring as intense as a charcoal or stick burner, how much nitrous acid is actually created??

I think just saying you don't need to cure it if you smoke it without giving more details such as temp and time is somwehat misleading. And I also think that saying you don't need to cure it because you never have and you've never gotten sick is also misleading if you don't also state how you store it or how quickly you eat it. I know for me, the longest it has stayed in the house is 3 days. Although I am trying to solve my capacity issue so maybe the next batch will last a bit longer. http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg21/DrowzyDave/Icons/wink.gif

Just my two cents worth.

Dave

[Darrin]

Well almost 8 hours and it's still drying out. Still a little soft though.

http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p279/janndar/Beef%20Jerky/IMGP1143.jpg

[Fishawn]

Looks great, personally I pull mine of the MES at the point of being "a little bit soft".

[DaveNH]

Darrin the jerky looks really good. Something I want to try also so keeping my eyes glued to your post :thumb:.

I'm also very interested in what CA is saying, does smoke alone cure it? One of the things keeping me from jerky is the sodium. So I'd like to hear Richtee's take on this one too :cool:

Oh ya..points for the cool jerky smoke :hail:

[Texas-Hunter]

Looks like your running a bit longer than you should.. You may want to bump it up from 110*.. maybe take it to 125* Pull when its leathery..

[Darrin]

Pulled it of at about 8.5 hours.

http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p279/janndar/Beef%20Jerky/IMGP1146.jpg

My daughter loves it, but had a little difficult time tearing bites off, so I took our heavy duty kitchen scissors and cut hers into bite sized pieces. After popping a couple of those in my mouth and seeing how convenient it was to eat that way I decided to cut it all up into bite sized pieces. Before cutting each piece I used a paper towel to get any rendered fat off of them. Turned out very good.

http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p279/janndar/Beef%20Jerky/IMGP1148.jpg

[Texas-Hunter]

For your first test drive on jerky... I give you..:thumb:points


It really does look good... The next batch I would take your temps up a bit, so you can cut down on your smoke time.. and like a few others have said.. Cut against the grain

[DaveNH]

Nice Darrin...man you got me wanting to try this bad :drooling:.

[Gunslinger]

Looks great, personally I pull mine of the MES at the point of being "a little bit soft".
I do too. And that's the main reason I cure.
I noticed that the word "cooked" kept coming up. 110° is in no way shape or form, cooking. And it's not an "American" thing. It's a speed and convenience thing. We're busy on this side of the world.
This cure argument is getting ridiculous. Cure if you want and don't if you don't. Good grief!
I'm not like the rest of you guys, that fire up your smokers on a moments notice. When I fire mine up it's a big smoke. 100 lbs of jerky, or 125 lbs of snack sticks, like I did this weekend. I raise my own beef and pork and kill a ton of deer, so it's available. I cure because no matter how hard they try, the kids can't polish off that much in a day or 2. I've had jerky sitting on the counter for months in a mason jar with nothing more than a lid sitting on top.
You guys that use TQ, I think it makes it too salty. Prague #1 has very little effect on saltiness because it takes very little to do the job. It also enhances the flavor of meat.
The fact is, if you buy jerky, it's cured. If it's good enough for Jack Links, it's good enough for me.
My thinking is we need to stop looking at all the BS on the net, and look at what the USDA says. That's what our tax dollars pay for, take advantage of it.

[Gunslinger]

Your jerky looks great!!!!

[DDave]

My thinking is we need to stop looking at all the BS on the net, and look at what the USDA says. That's what our tax dollars pay for, take advantage of it.

Well said. points

And, good looking jerky, Darrin. points

Dave

[Slanted88]

Finished product looks good to me!

[BigRedQ]

Darrin,


All said and done. your jerky looks excellent. points for being patient, for opening yourself up, and well Hell for doing such a nice job on yer beef. WTG

[Kingudaroad]

Lookin great. It is better to pull it a little soft as it will continue to dry in the cupboard. (Unless it gets eaten before).

From this website on a study about meat curing...
http://www.ag.ndsu.edu/pubs/yf/foods/fn580w.htm


Food Safety Issues

Over the centuries drying has been considered one of the ways to keep meats available for consumption. With the advent of refrigeration drying declined as a means of preservation. More recently there has been a renewed interest in dried meat products but with less salt, cure, and flavorings. With these changes we have seen a number of cases of foodborne illness linked to jerky.

In February 1995, 93 people in New Mexico were diagnosed with salmonellosis. The plant's processing procedure consisted of drying partially frozen beef strips three hours at 140 oF then holding at 115 oF for 19 hours.

In November 1995, 11 people in Oregon were infected with E. coli O157:H7 in homemade venison jerky. This jerky had reportedly been dried at 125 oF to 135 oF for 12 to 18 hours.

These illnesses have raised concern about the safety of traditional drying methods for making jerky at home. Homemade jerky may contain bacteria that can cause severe illness and in some cases even death. The USDA currently recommends that meat be heated to 160 oF before the dehydrating process in order to destroy pathogenic microorganisms.

[Darrin]

Good info. I think I'll keep putting it in. I have not seen anyone post a reason NOT to put a cure in. I know a few said it is not needed, but when a whole bag of the stuff is only a few dollars I don't see a reason not to put a cure in it.

[Gunslinger]

According to this website http://www.extension.umn.edu/distribution/nutrition/DJ0974.html

Cure toxicity as as follows.

The following information on nitrite toxicity is from "GRAS (Generally Recognized as Safe) Food Ingredients: Nitrates and Nitrites (Including Nitrosamines)," 1972. This report was prepared for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) by Battele-Columbus Laboratories and Department of Commerce, Springfield, VA 22151.

According to this source, the fatal dose of potassium nitrate for adult humans is in the range of 30 to 35 grams consumed as a single dose; the fatal dose of sodium nitrite is in the range of 22 to 23 milligrams per kilogram of body weight. Lower doses of sodium or potassium nitrate or sodium nitrite have caused acute methemoglobinemia (when hemoglobin loses its ability to carry oxygen), particularly in infants, resulting from conversion of nitrate to nitrite after consumption. There is no confirmable evidence in the literature on the carcinogenicity (cancer-causing capacity) of nitrate as such.

It has been reported that people normally consume more nitrates from their vegetable intake than from the cured meat products they eat. Spinach, beets, radishes, celery, and cabbages are among the vegetables that generally contain very high concentrations of nitrates (J. Food Sci., 52:1632). The nitrate content of vegetables is affected by maturity, soil conditions, fertilizer, variety, etc. It has been estimated that 10 percent of the human exposure to nitrite in the digestive tract comes from cured meats and 90 percent comes from vegetables and other sources. Nitrates can be reduced to nitrites by certain microorganisms present in foods and in the gastrointestinal tract. This has resulted in nitrite toxicity in infants fed vegetables with a high nitrate level. No evidence currently exists implicating nitrite itself as a carcinogen.

To obtain 22 milligrams of sodium nitrite per kilogram of body weight (a lethal dose), a 154-pound adult would have to consume, at once, 18.57 pounds of cured meat product containing 200 ppm sodium nitrite (because nitrite is rapidly converted to nitric oxide during the curing process, the 18.57 pound figure should be tripled at least). Even if a person could eat that amount of cured meat, salt, not nitrite, probably would be the toxic factor.

Notice that the reporting agency is a creditable source. Also notice the part about veggies, and how much cured meat it would take to hurt you. Click the above link to read the entire document.

[Darrin]

Good info there Tom. :thumb:

[thepoolguy]

Good job Darrin................they look good, and some good responses from the other folks too!

[Capt Dan]

Great job on your first jerky Darrin!:thumb:

[grothe]

Looks good Darrin...great job points