jerky made the old way

[tercel89]

I got a bunch of deer meat and beef left in my freezer from last year. I have been real carefull not to eat it all up and now I have a huge supply and can enjoy it since hunting season is here. I always make jerky out of the shoulders and other tough cut of meat since I like it tough and chewy . I use a dehydrator but I was wondering if any of you guys cure it and dry it the old fashioned way by hanging it outdoors ? I make my own cure with salt and spices but I just would like to see if anyone dries it outdoors here in Tennessee . Would the regular salt and spiced be enough to fend off the bugs and flies while it dries ?

[Shorty]

I've heard of people putting it in a screened box to get good air flow but keep the bugs out, but it would have to dry fast enough or have enough salt to prevent bacterial growth.  Maybe if it was cold smoked first?  I saw Alton Brown had a way of doing it by putting strips in between air filters (the kind that won't leave filament in the meat) about 3 layers deep then bungee cording it to a box fan for about 24hrs. This way the meat is "cold" dried vs cooked (dehydrator).  Never tried this method, but I may depending on my harvest this year, but I would probably use food grade mesh instead of filters.

Edited October 5, 2017 by Shorty

[tercel89]

Alton Brown is one of my wife's and me favorite food chefs. I'll watch that thread. I was just trying to make it a different way or the old way . I know that out west it's really dry and hot which would be great but in Tennessee we only have humid weather.

[peejman]

57 minutes ago, tercel89 said:

Alton Brown is one of my wife's and me favorite food chefs. I'll watch that thread. I was just trying to make it a different way or the old way . I know that out west it's really dry and hot which would be great but in Tennessee we only have humid weather.

Exactly.... it's too humid here most of the year to hang dry it without crusting it over with salt. In which case the salt is dehydrating it, not the weather. If you've got a sunny place, set up a fan, and get dry weather for a couple weeks, it might work. 

[tercel89]

Just trying to do it more natural than my old dehydrator. But it'll do

[Shorty]

It's been a bit dry lately, you might be able to hang some strips to dry outside on a tripod setup or make a rack.  I would find a way to put screen around the meat though for the bugs and maybe a fan to speed up the process.  If you get some smoke on the meat with salt, you can minimize bacterial growth, but I don't know how that affects the drying out process.

https://goo.gl/images/VRZ1TF

[JAB]

I have made some pretty good jerky by first marinating and then smoking the meat on my offset smoker (with just about as little heat as I could manage while still getting smoke) for flavor and to begin the preservation/curing/drying process and then finishing it up in the electric dehydrator to get it as dry as I want it.  This is the same method as I used for making chipotles several years back when I had a bumper crop of jalapenos (and have also used it for other smoke, dried peppers.)  Being that I also sometimes like doing things the really old way, however, I would like (and eventually plan) to try something like the general method used in these, two videos (I am not generally a very successful hunter so mine will probably be made with beef.)  I have also seen videos where folks use larger, multi tier versions of the tripod that Mr. Canterbury is using in his video and in some of those they spread some canvas or other, heavy cloth over the tripod to make a 'teepee' type setup that, I imagine, would work much like the setup used in the third video linked.  I think the secret is (much like cooking with an offset smoker but probably to an even greater degree) to have coals and smoldering wood to create a lot of smoke while keeping actual flame to a minimum:

 

 

Edited October 10, 2017 by JAB

[gregintenn]

Google "biltong" and read a bit. It is an African method of curing meat outdoors. I'm not sure if it would work in our humid climate, but it is something I've always wanted to try.