I think it would only be logical to eat top round steaks in beef jerky form due to the incredibly low levels of fat and dry taste if you were to cook it. Would this make it harder to digest though?
it doesnt matter, just eat it
Anyone here make beef jerky? Is it worth buying the equipment?
Any recommendations on a dehydrator?
I bought some jerky today…haven’t tried the stuff in years. My biggest concern is the amount of sodium in one serving. I might start making it on my own and hopefully I can find a recipe that doesn’t require too much salt.
[quote]Digity wrote:
Anyone here make beef jerky? Is it worth buying the equipment?[/quote]
We have a dehydrator, and our homemade jerky is better than store-bought because we don’t dry it as much. Of course, it won’t keep as long with more moisture in it.
Ours is really bulky, and it really stinks up the place. We’ve made beef, elk, and venison which were all good, but I’d never even consider salmon because of the smell. In fact, I want to get a new convection oven with a dehydrate function and get rid of the dehydrator altogether.
Despite owning the dehydrator, we mostly buy the stuff at Costco anyway. It’s a bit of work to make jerky.
I never feel as full eating jerky as when I eat steak, even if I drink lots of water with the jerky.
Your jaw will probably get huge.
re: which type of dehydrator to get
The best kind on the market is supposedly by Excalibur. I bought one not too long ago and used it for the first time and is great but had one complaint.
I remember watching an episode of ‘Good Eats’ and the special was about Beef Jerky and how to make it. Well anyway they recommended that u actually dry it with a fan because the hot air from the dehydrator will actually cook the meat and make it way too hard and dry. By drying beef with a standard square fan, ur using a very low temperature (almost like dry cold) to carry out the drying. This in turn will make the meat much more tender. I’ve tried it that way many times but screwed up the process each time because of the placement of beef and the fan, etc. I am now almost certain that is the way to go.
Not trying to put down my Excalibur, but I wish I would’ve tried a little harder to figure out some way to dry my meat more efficiently with a fan. I think I will be copying my Excalibur’s design for drying meat but with a fan.
note: if u deside to get one, buy in on ebay
Found the recipe here:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,1977,FOOD_9936_31151,00.html
Hmmm…very interesting. I’ll probably give it a try.
Do you reuse the filters? Is it safe to use air-conditioning filters? It might contain toxic components in it.
[quote]Digity wrote:
Found the recipe here:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,1977,FOOD_9936_31151,00.html
Hmmm…very interesting. I’ll probably give it a try.
Do you reuse the filters? Is it safe to use air-conditioning filters? It might contain toxic components in it.[/quote]
DON’T USE AIR CONDITIONING FILTERS!!!
I’ve tried this recipe multiple multiple times with air conditioning fliters and each time, the meat stuck to them and I had to throw everything away. I’m really not sure why they chose filters. I guess it worked for them each time without the meat sticking to anything.
The reason why Excalibur food dehydrators are good is because of the fan placement:
(Regular Dehydrator)
air^^^Beef^^^ - Gets least air
air^^^Beef^^^
air^^^Beef^^^ - Gets most air
air^^^…FAN…^^^
(Excalibur Dehydrator)
air
…Beef
Fan___Beef___
…Beef
air
*With this setup, all teh layers of beef get equal distribution of air instead of the traditional way when only each layer gets increasingly lower levels of air
I’m thinking about building my own dehydrator with layers constructed like the Excalibur but providing my own fan. Thatll suck though, cuz thats a waste of 230 bucks…