Makin' Jerky 1.0

Drying meat has been around for a very long time. It is probably one of the earliest ways ancient man was able to store meat without spoiling. It also makes a great travel food as it is relatively light compared to the original thing. And it makes a great snack! Unfortunately Beef Jerky is expensive. Its possible to make good jerky at home. There are a number of methods.

1. Commercial Dehydrator - a good dehydrator will set you back a few hundred dollars.
2. Homemade dehydrator - can make your own for a few bucks
a- Fan method
b- box method
c-oven method

Contrary to popular belief Jerky is made by drying via air traveling over meat and evaporating the moisture, not heat. in fact as long as you have wind, heat is unnecessary. where heat does come into play is when it creates an air current between heated and unheated air. this is how wind is formed, FYI

Then there is the question of the marinade. Theoretically, True Paleo Jerky was just dried meat. cut thin and allowed to hang in the breeze until mummified.

pretty much all the current Jerky marinades include soy sauce and Worcestershire sauces, technically not very Paleo. So I decided to experiment.

I found a schematic for making a home dehydrator for around $10

http://www.rawpaleodiet.com/uploads...nstructions.pdf

Here is my version:



Hanging meat strips.

I dried it in my basement using a 150 watt bulb. I only used fresh ground pepper and garlic powder. It took about 24 hrs.

The meat tasted like crap. Next time I will definitely marinade.