Beef and Venison jerky

[EGGARY]

Re: Beef and Venison jerky

This might be a stupid question but the picture of the 2 pieces of charcoal between the metal rig, does that create a lot of heat temperature-wise ? On the Big Green Eggers Forum, they talk about Smoked Cheese and the low temps to smoke cheese. I was wondering would the same thing be done for Smoked Salmon/Lox ?

I am curious to know how much charcoal would be used for various cooks.

Thanks.

Gary

[teddysurf]

Re: Beef and Venison jerky

The photo I posted was used for smoking cheese. The temp with that approach was not a problem, at least not from the high side; I did have trouble keeping the coal going. My previous approach used 2 vertical wires as was posted by others, and I that approach led to temps that were on the edge of being too high as the cheese deformed quite a bit. However, I preferred that issue to not having enough heat to establish good smoke.

[Syzygies]

Re: Beef and Venison jerky

Well, for my yearly batch of hot sauce, using a sauerkraut-style fermentation, I use a $100 pH meter and add enough champagne vinegar to bring down the starting pH well below botulism-supporting levels. (It doesn't take much, gotta love log scales.) There are instances of home sauerkraut botulism, and that's not a "canning" situation.

I'd agree with Doc that botulism is highly unlikely here, but it's not impossible. One has to set up protocols to account for people doing some things wrong.

There were these guys back in 1945 who knew a great deal, and were very sure that testing an atom bomb wouldn't incinerate the planet. It worked out that they were right. I remind myself of this story whenever I think I know something. When things go wrong, the reason why is always surprising, and tends not to contradict what one already "knew".

I wonder if the small amount of acidity required to inhibit botulism would taste good in jerky? Does it occur naturally in some recipes?

[Firemonkey]

Re: Beef and Venison jerky

My previous approach used 2 vertical wires as was posted by others' date=' and I that approach led to temps that were on the edge of being too high as the cheese deformed quite a bit. However, I preferred that issue to not having enough heat to establish good smoke. [/quote']

If two stacks was too hot, just go with one vertical.

I wonder if the small amount of acidity required to inhibit botulism would taste good in jerky? Does it occur naturally in some recipes?

I dont have the instrumentation required to test this, but my favorite recipe is one of Alton's. Modified by using the lower sodium soy sauce and omitting the liquid smoke. But I am curious to know if the Worcestershire is acidic enough to do the job. Next time you have your meter out, maybe you could mix 1T Worcestershire and 1T soy sauce and see what it says?

2/3 cup Worcestershire sauce

2/3 cup reduced sodium soy sauce

1 tablespoon honey

2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper

2 teaspoons onion powder

1 teaspoon red pepper flakes