Jerky- What temp?

[TasunkaWitko]

Dave - good question!

Speaking of slices from whole meat - properly handled as you decribe - my take is that 140-145 will take care of it. Any "nasties" would be on the dry, salty, cured surface. In the case of ground meat, the "surfaces" are everywhere, inside and outside (due to the grinding and mixing).

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that ground-meat jerky that a) might have pathogens somewhere on the inside and b) might be improperly handled or prepared (not enough salt and/or cure - or not dried enough) might have a potential to maybe have pathogens. Cooking the jerky would eliminate this ever-decreasing danger and act as a failsafe against even the stupidest jerky-maker who is utterly incapable of following the simplest steps, assuming he has a plan for shoving a probe into an eighth of an inch of dry, hard meat.

I think we all need to keep in mind that jerky is and always has been a FOOD PRESERVATION TECHNIQUE, whether in the kitchen or 200 years ago on the plains in an Indian camp - or in a laboratory. The fact that we are here to talk about it is proof that it worked just fine, hundreds of years before mankind ever heard the dreaded words E coli. Do it with a modicum of common sense, and it really is "Darwin-tested-and-approved," and nothing to dwell over.

[Richtee]

and it really is "Darwin-tested-and-approved," and nothing to dwell over.

To add to this thought... truly some "survival of the fittest" also comes into play. I'd lay odds I could eat some pretty buggy stuff and be fine... while someone growing up eating sterilized food outta a lab would have issues.

Remember pregnancy and illnesses play a factor as well....

[TasunkaWitko]

I'd lay odds I could eat some pretty buggy stuff and be fine... while someone growing up eating sterilized food outta a lab would have issues.

I've thought about that, too. I read somewhere that kids oughtta be allowed to "eat some dirt" now and then (not literally, but...you know....). As the world gets more sterilised and "bubble-like," are we setting ourselves up for problems?

[Fishawn]

To add to this thought... truly some "survival of the fittest" also comes into play. I'd lay odds I could eat some pretty buggy stuff and be fine... while someone growing up eating sterilized food outta a lab would have issues.

Remember pregnancy and illnesses play a factor as well....

Mr. Beam will take care of anything else

[curious aardvark]

I personally would not go higher than 140, and usually make it much lower than that. 120 should be fine.

This assumes that the jerky is cured, which it should be, if using Hi-Mountain. Non-cured jerky, I personally would do the same, but that's another discussion.

All dehydrators that I am aware of do not go higher than 140, so anywhere in that range will be fine. Airflow, to me, is much more important than temperature. Keep in mind that with jerky, you want to DRY the meat, not COOK it.

Repeat: You want to dry jerky, NOT cook it.

I've been making jerky every hunting season for more than 30 years, so take the above advice for what its worth....

what tas said.
My excalibur does go to 155 - but I tend to do jerky at about 135 for around 8 hours.

The problem is that there are many different methods ensuring sterility and bacterial safe practices.
Curing your jerky is the most idiot proof way and regardless of what anyone says out ancestors always used salt with nitrate. They just weren't aware of it.

They also used a lot more salt than we tend to - 2 reasons, 1: if you ran out of salt, your salted dried meat was a good source. Lots of salt also stops bacteria and helps dry the very thinly sliced meat out.

Biltong, doesn't traditionally use specific cure salts. But it does use vinegar to sterilise the meat before drying. And then uses a rub with salt in it. But it's thick pieces of meat dried in ideal bacterial growing conditions, that doesn't grow bacteria.

Our ancestors did, for the most part, know what they were doing - they just didn't know WHY it worked.
We do :-)