Dehydrator?

The Nesco is what I bought from Walmart. I'm fairly happy with it although I have noted that it generally takes a little more time for things to dry than what they say. Also, despite their wonderful vortex or open flow system or whatever it is, I still have to rotate the racks once or twice to ensure an even dry.
 
Oh yeah Nesco! :D

Here is my Nesco with deer jerky.

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Altogether I think I spent 60 bucks including tax. I bought it last year from London Drugs when it was on sale. I bought 2 or 4 additional trays, but the cost was included in the total cost I mentioned above.
 
We have a genuine Ktel :)
Cheap as blazes when you pick it up at a yard sale. I think it was 50 cents.
Works like a charm.
We are long range canoeists, and having a dehydrator saves weight big time.
Dehydrated stews and soups come out almost as good as fresh. Excellent.
 
I bought my Nesco dehydrator at Sears. It was only available in the Sears catalogue. You are able to have up to 12 trays wich great when drying lots of meat. The additional tray's can be ordered when ordering the dehydrator.

The sears Model is slightly different than the one available at walmart.I beleive they recommend a maximum of 7 tray's for the one sold at Walmart. It is a few extra $$$ for the model sold at Sears but was well worth it for me.
 
I have a dehydrator at home and have made jerky a few times without problems. I haven't made any in way too long, so I thought I would read up on it on the Internet. Upon further reading, they suggest heating the meat to over 140 degrees. I am not sure about most dehydrators, but I am not sure if mine gets that warm. Probably does. I have never had any problems, but they were talking about reducing ecoli and such.

Does anyone have any info or tips in using a dehydrator to make jerky. The spices I use have curing salts, which the article i read says it is major in reducing bacteria.

Any info or advice would be greatly appreciated. I can't wait to make another batch.
 
I built my own out of a under counter freezer
I pulled out all the guts coils' condenser, and such
but I kept the defrost element as the heater
And used a remote thermostat
It works like gang busters:)
here is some pics
I installed the stainless steel shelf brackets and used grates out of old fridges cut down to fit
I also have SS rods that I hang fish on to dry:)

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I used old 110V computer fans for circulation
 
Yes, you'd better heat the jerky in your oven at 70 celsius degrees to eliminate ecoli and such. Having said that I've never had any problem eating jerky right out of the dehydrator though, but a little more caution is always better.

To prep the meat for jerky, you need to defrost the meat out of the freezer to the point that the knife can just slice through nicely and the meat has to have a little moisture inside. The knife has to be really sharp. Always slice the meat as thin a possible and walk the knife along the fibre.

I always use a lot of seasoning salt, a little soya sauce, cooking wine, syrup and liquid smoke to season the meat for at least two days before I put meat in dehydrator. Six hours in the dehydrator is just enough to make good jerky. Jerky tastes better after it cools down, so just hold your drizzle for another hour or two before you jump on it! :D
 
Levi,

Mattpiloto made oven jerky from his first deer using worchester, soy, and peppers. Simple but man it was awesome. I will see if I can get him to post his full recipe. I use Hi Mountain Jerky spice and it is failsafe and yummy. Plus it is easy to mix flavors. I use 3/4 hickory with a 1/4 inferno. A friend mixes Mandarin Teriyaki Blend with Cracked Pepper N Garlic. Okay I am hungry now.


rollingrock,

If I were to heat in oven before dehydrating, how long would you heat meat in the oven?

Since it's already in there, would it be simpler to do the entire batch in the oven, rather than moving meat to the dehydrator.

It may be worthwhile to do both, to ensure that a guy doesn't actually cook the meat too long, rather than drying.

What are your thoughts?

Bootz
 
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The recipe I used:

about 1/2 cup each of soy sauce, worchesterchire sauce and white vinegar, about 1/4 cup malt vinegar, and 1/4 cup brown sugar, some garlic powder, some dabs of your favourite hot sauce, about 2 tablespoons of crushed peppercorns. Mix it all up, it's enough for about 2 lbs or so of meat, marinade for at least 24 hours, use whatever method of jerking you prefer (oven, dehydrator, whatever). I still thinks it's missing a little something though...maybe a few more peppercorns?
 
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