Beef jerky is a great, nutritious, portable snack that is favorite treat,
whether at school, on the go, camping, hiking
doing just about anything! Jerky consists of a few simple ingredients including meats like beef, chicken or turkey and seasoning mixtures that include
salt, peppers, spices, marinades and other flavoring liquids. Jerky is easily made with a food dehydrator which drys the meat via the dehydrator’s heat and air flow.
Jerky can be made from many
different meats. Common jerky meats include beef cuts, like flank or round steak, and pork, chicken and turkey. When making jerky in a dehydrator, it is important to use leaner cuts of meat. Too much meat fat can prolong the drying process and cause jerky
to become rancid during storage.
A jerky gun appliance can make jerky making very easy. A jerky gun is a kitchen appliance used to extrude raw ground meat into thin flat strips or round sticks that are suitable for dehydrating into jerky. Jerky guns are made to hold ground meat. Most of the meat put into a jerky gun is beef like
ground
round or lean or extra lean
ground beef. Ground
pork, chicken or turkey can also be used.
Follow these easy steps to make jerky with a jerky gun and a food dehydrator:
- Mix one prepackaged spice seasoning mix per one pound of ground meat. Or alternatively use your own mixture of salt, pepper and other spices to season to your tastes.
- Thoroughly mix the ground meat and spices together.
- Fill the jerky gun’s tube with the ground meat. Jerky guns typically hold between one half to one and a half pounds of meat.
- Press the jerky gun’s handle or trigger to extrude the meat onto the food dehydrator’s drying trays. A jerky gun typically has a number of different sized nozzles that can extrude jerky strips with varying thickness.
- Dehydrate the meat between 145 to 150 degrees Fahrenheit. Test the jerky to see if it is done. The jerky should be flexible and not brittle. Jerky is done when a test piece cracks on the edges but does not break when it is bent.
Published 7/10/2010 12:00:00 AM
Tags: Jerky Gun, Jerky