Buying Dehydrator, Making jerky

[Mathias]

Originally Posted by NOP

I have been reading a lot of mixed reviews about different nesco ones, most sites dedicated to this sort of information seem to recommend them, however I found some reviews from people who were displeased. Do you know off hand which model you are using, this was the brand I was thinking of going with.

Here is mine...

NESCO® American Harvest - Buy Online!

It is high quality. I had one go to shit before this one. My uncle has a 14 tray stainless steel dehydrator and makes 84 ounces of jerky at a time before he processes it.

[Urban]

Alton brown says all dehydrators are inherently flawed because of the heating element. they cook your food rather than dehydrate it. And they're unitaskers. He uses a fan and some furnace filters (cellulose not fiberglass) essentially to air dry his jerky/fruits/whatever. takes a bit longer, but supposedly it produces a better texture and doesn't cook your food.

[XMoker]

Yeah, that's that link I posted up there. I must have watched 4 hours of that guy on youtube yesterday, thanks to the man below me. Picked up some great info.

[IDRISCKY]

Originally Posted by Urban

Alton brown says all dehydrators are inherently flawed because of the heating element. they cook your food rather than dehydrate it. And they're unitaskers. He uses a fan and some furnace filters (cellulose not fiberglass) essentially to air dry his jerky/fruits/whatever. takes a bit longer, but supposedly it produces a better texture and doesn't cook your food.

+1 for Alton method.

[Mathias]

Originally Posted by Urban

Alton brown says all dehydrators are inherently flawed because of the heating element. they cook your food rather than dehydrate it. And they're unitaskers. He uses a fan and some furnace filters (cellulose not fiberglass) essentially to air dry his jerky/fruits/whatever. takes a bit longer, but supposedly it produces a better texture and doesn't cook your food.

This is why it is critically important to keep the temperature at 95-104 degrees F to preserve all nutrients. The meat is still considered 'raw' when it is dried. It takes a minimum of 12 hours which is no big deal - I just leave mine on overnight. It is simply not worth it to raise the temperature in order to reduce drying time.

[Nezzer]

Yeah it takes a good 10-12 hours to do it right. I picked up a dehydrator from walmart and it's not too bad.

One piece of advice. It was better for me to do it when I was leaving the house for a long time. The smell of wonderful jerky will fill up your entire house. I tried doing it at night one time and I couldn't go to sleep. I just laid there smelling jerky and salivating.

[cookie123]

My dehydrator, on the jerky setting, takes about 7 hours max.....maybe I should stop listening to the dehydrator and put it to a lower temp.

[easternbloc7]

This is the greatest thread ever. I just wanted to be a part of it.

[Rhood]

You should take before & after pictures so we can see your results

[ringwerm]

I'm in the process of making some last night after reading this blog:

Son of Grok Blog Archive Recipe: The SoG Jerky Method

I bought 2 pounds of 1/4 inch thick top flank at my local meat store for 6.99/lb. I then cut the slabs into strips and soaked them in a simple marinade recommended here: soy sauce, teriyaki sauce and Montreal streak spice. I marinated the strips for 4.5 hours.

I then realized I didn't have any racks, so I just used the racks from my oven and put them on my kitchen counter with tin foil underneath. Next, I laid all the strips on the racks and set my fan up directly in front of the two racks. Before I left the house today I turned my heat down to 50 F. When I get home tonight at 11 pm they will have been drying for 17 hours and should be ready.

I'm personally sick of buying 3 oz. of jerky from the gas station for $6.50. I just made about 1.3 lbs (after drying) for $20 bucks, thats about half the gas station price. Plus there is less salt, and I get a certain satisfaction from making it.