Jerky Question

ulika

How do you know when jerky is done?

I have made some jerky and cured it overnight. I have been slow drying/cooking it at 150 degrees for 3 hours now. I just tasted some and it seemed ok, but I don't really have anything to judge it against. Obviously I have had jerky before, but never right off the cooker. The jerky did still have some grease on it. I have seen some recipes that call for the jerky to go 3-4 hours and some they say go 12 hours. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
Ulika

www.ulikafoodblog.com

ulika

Well I guess I just needed to wait an hour. Now the jerky has dried up more and it tastes much more like "jerky".

Scotty's Inferno

A lot depends on what you intend to do with the jerky and how you prepared it beforehand. If you intend to refrigerate it, you can take it off much sooner than if you want it to be able to travel. The 2 main things that stop jerky from going bad when unrefigerated are salt and lack of moisture. So, the more salty your marinade or cure is and the drier your meat is, the longer it will go before spoiling.
If your meat had a lot of fat in it, it will be very difficult to "dry" without ruining the good stuff. However, it is normal for oils to leach out and sit on top of the jerky while drying. I just dab that stuff with a paper towel.
As for your current cook, jerky is generally done when you fold it and it starts to tear, but not break as when it's too dry.
The Naked whiz was kind enough to post how I like to do jerky on his website. Since then, I have stayed with eye of round, but experimented with the Hi Mountain dry cures. Very tasty! If it's still rubbery, it's not ready.

here's the link to my pictorial http://www.nakedwhiz.com/coldsmoking/coldsmokejerky.htm

Have fun, Scott