Ken
05-24-2008, 06:33 PM
Like many of you, I've been making jerky for years. I've fixed up beef jerky, venison jerky, salmon jerky, and tuna jerky. I've experimented with countless marinades and spices, and have used both dehydrators and low heat oven methods. I've tried vacuum sealing, zip-lock bags, plastic containers, jars, garlic salt packing, and refrigeration to preserve the end product.
The results have been mixed.
My best results (taste wise) was with beef jerky with a marinade of low sodium soy sauce, whiskey, garlic, onion, pepper, and brown sugar. Venison jerkey using this marinade came in 2nd. place. For salmon and tuna I've used regular soy sauce (sodium levels be damned) and it never came out as good as the pre-packaged foil-wrapped smoked salmon you can get almost anywhere.
(An ex-girlfriend told me that one of the things she missed about me most was my cooking and especially my beef jerky.:o I state this only to boast :D about how tasty my jerky is - this is NOT an invitation for comments about any of my other abilities, because she said she missed those too.:D)
The low heat oven method seemed to work better for me than the dehydrator, which I think was loaned out never to be seen again.
Not surprisingly, the stuff lasted longest when vacuum sealed and stored in the refrigerator, but that batch was only intended for home midnight snacks anyway, and refrigeration does defeat some of the purpose of making jerky in the first place.
Salting the final product, especially the fish, extended shelf life, but the jerky had to be rinsed off (sometimes soaked) before it was fit for human consumption.
Food safety has always been a concern no matter which method I've used. Even if it looked, smelled, and tasted fine, I've never eaten salmon or tuna jerky that was over three weeks old, venison at about six weeks, and beef about three months.
Being kinda' new to the forum, I'm not sure if this link has ever been posted here (probably has, and if so, sorry about that - but I searched a bit and couldn't find it) but it does give some good food safety tips for making jerky:
http://www.fsis.usda.gov/Fact_Sheets/jerky_and_food_safety/index.asp
The results have been mixed.
My best results (taste wise) was with beef jerky with a marinade of low sodium soy sauce, whiskey, garlic, onion, pepper, and brown sugar. Venison jerkey using this marinade came in 2nd. place. For salmon and tuna I've used regular soy sauce (sodium levels be damned) and it never came out as good as the pre-packaged foil-wrapped smoked salmon you can get almost anywhere.
(An ex-girlfriend told me that one of the things she missed about me most was my cooking and especially my beef jerky.:o I state this only to boast :D about how tasty my jerky is - this is NOT an invitation for comments about any of my other abilities, because she said she missed those too.:D)
The low heat oven method seemed to work better for me than the dehydrator, which I think was loaned out never to be seen again.
Not surprisingly, the stuff lasted longest when vacuum sealed and stored in the refrigerator, but that batch was only intended for home midnight snacks anyway, and refrigeration does defeat some of the purpose of making jerky in the first place.
Salting the final product, especially the fish, extended shelf life, but the jerky had to be rinsed off (sometimes soaked) before it was fit for human consumption.
Food safety has always been a concern no matter which method I've used. Even if it looked, smelled, and tasted fine, I've never eaten salmon or tuna jerky that was over three weeks old, venison at about six weeks, and beef about three months.
Being kinda' new to the forum, I'm not sure if this link has ever been posted here (probably has, and if so, sorry about that - but I searched a bit and couldn't find it) but it does give some good food safety tips for making jerky:
http://www.fsis.usda.gov/Fact_Sheets/jerky_and_food_safety/index.asp