Long term counter storage

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Billyb123

Newbie
Original poster
Oct 14, 2017
1
0
Montana
Ok with the cool weather we are having I'm looking at making some jerky(elk). I want to be able to store it for a long period of time on the counter (neighbor will give me a quarter of the elk to make jerky and sausage for him) large batch. I have been reading on here and have come across some information saying I can use cure #2 and smoke low and slow and I should get a good product. Is there any reason I can't get the same results with cure #1? Any advice is appreciated as I'm completely new to jerky. I have a big chief smoker with the blanket.
 
Cure #1 is the proper choice for jerky... Cure #2 is designed for meats that are not cooked.....
Place the jerky in the brine and heat to 170 ish... cool to ~100-110 and add cure #1 to the brine at a rate of 1.13 grams per pound of meat + weight of the brine/cure mix or 1 tsp cure #1 per 5#'s of meat+brine.... smoke and dry the meat per normal... The cook to 170, kills pathogens cure #1 does not address...

The following are excerpts from Marianski's web site....

Jerky made from wild game
Pre-cook wild game to 165° F (74° C). Game meats are often infected with trichinae and other parasites. If the meat will not be cooked, it should be frozen according to the USDA rules. Freezing meat takes care of trichinae but will not eliminate bacteria from the meat. The majority of recipes on the Internet do not mention the fact that jerky should be pre-cooked in order to be microbiologically safe. Some of us will refuse to accept this fact and will not cook jerky. Well, there are extra precautions that might be implemented to increase the safety jerky made from wild game:


Why is Temperature Important When Making Jerky?
Illnesses due to Salmonella and E.coli 0157:H7 from home made jerky raise questions about the traditional drying methods for making beef and venison jerky. The USDA current recommendation for making jerky safely is to heat meat to 160° F, 72° C, before the dehydrating process. This step assures that any bacteria present will be destroyed by wet heat. Most dehydrator instructions do not include this step, and a dehydrator may not reach temperatures high enough to heat meat to 160° F. After heating to 160° F, maintaining a constant dehydrator temperature of 130 to 140° F, 54 - 60° C, during the drying process is important because:

  • The process must be enough to dry food before it spoils.
  • The process must remove enough water that microorganisms are unable to grow.
Why is it a Food Safety Concern to Dry Meat Without First Heating it to 160° F?

The danger in dehydrating meat and poultry without cooking it to a safe temperature first is that the appliance will not heat the meat to 160° F - a temperature at which bacteria are destroyed - before it dries. After drying, bacteria become much more heat resistant. Within a dehydrator or low-temperature oven, evaporating moisture absorbs most of the heat. Thus, the meat itself does not begin to rise in temperature until most of the moisture has evaporated. Therefore, when the dried meat temperature finally begins to rise, the bacteria have become more heat resistant and are more likely to survive. If these bacteria are pathogenic, they can cause food borne illness to those consuming the jerky.

http://www.meatsandsausages.com/drying-preservation/jerky/whole-meat-jerky

http://www.meatsandsausages.com/drying-preservation/jerky/ground-meat-jerky
 
BB123, I use cure #1 and then vac seal and refrigerate. I have some bags of jerky in the fridge from last Dec and they are just as tasty as the day they went in.I have never left any out on the counter so I can't help you on shelf storage times.
 
I don't use a cure, but perhaps I should. I won't bother giving my recipe, because there are dozens of good ones in this forum that are probably better. However, I thought I'd post the notes I've made over the years that give me the cooking times that I now follow.
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Marinade for 24 hours, overhauling a couple of times. Smoke at 140º-160º for one hour, then lower smoker to 120º and smoke for another hour. Finish in convection oven, set to lowest level (140º) for 4-10 hours, until reasonably dry.

Don’t slice too thin: at least 2nd setting on slicer, and probably more (3rd setting?). If sliced too thin, and then marinated overnight, it falls apart.​
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If you are worried about pathogens, then I would make sure to smoke at 160 degrees. Since the meat is already sliced thin, it will get to 160 in no time at all, certainly within an hour.

Two hours of smoke seems to be about right for me. There are so many great tastes in a good piece of jerky that I don't want smoke to be the only thing you taste.
 
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