Is it safe to make beef jerky in my Excaliber dehydrator. The recommended temperature is 145 degrees (the highest setting) From what I have read, meat should be cooked at 170 degrees to kill any Ecoli. Thanks for your help.

-- Shauna (SKAL55@JUNO.COM), September 19, 2001

Answers

I say it's safe. Someone else is likely to say it's not, or they will say cook the meat first, then dry it.

I'm a raw meat eater. I say just dry it at whatever temperature and you'll be fine.

-- Rick#7 (rick7@postmark.net), September 19, 2001.

I have made jerky in my dehydrator since the mid seventies. Never a problem. Just make sure that the meat is of high quality, is sliced no more 1/8" thick and has not fat on it. You do not want anything that would turn rancid.

Besides, the jerky is so good that it never lasts long.

-- Cordy (ckaylegian@aol.com), September 19, 2001.

If you cook your meat before drying it your jerky will have a very dry (and to my thought) and unlikeable texture. I've dried a lot of meat, never had a problem.

-- Mary R. (cntryfolk@ime.net), September 19, 2001.

I dry alot of jerky in my dehydrator..the round tabletop Ronco kind...and have no problem. Not just beef, but venison, antelope, caribou etc....no problem..like cordy said: slice it thin and take off ALL the fat. Makes it taste better anyway!! Good luck!!

-- Jenny Pipes (Auntjenny6@aol.com), September 19, 2001.

I've made jerky for years without pre-cooking. Never had a problem. Be sure to remove any visible fat to prevent the jerky from going rancid although, it never stays around here long enough for that.

Wishing you enough.

-- Trevilians (aka Dianne in Mass) (Trevilians@mediaone.net), September 19, 2001.

The spices, sugar, soy sauce, wine, etc. help to preserve it. As previous posters have stated, the thinner the better. We slice ours while it is still partially frozen.

-- GT (nospam@nospam.com), September 19, 2001.

I agree with the others. Don't worry about it. If you have a good jerky recipe it will not last very long at all. I have a ronco dehydrator that doesn't seem to get very warm at all, but it does a real good job. Before we got the ronco, we use to do ours in the range oven and set the temperature at the lowest it would work. It done a good job also. Been making jerky for 20 yrs. and ain't died yet. (Always let the wife eat a piece first to see what happens)

-- r.h. in okla. (rhays@sstelco.com), September 20, 2001.

I make jerky all the time from 9% fat hamburger, ground chicken or turney. I have an American Harvest Jerky Works Kit which makes round or flat strips, and dehydrate it in an Excalibur dehydrator at l45 degrees. It turns out great every time.

-- Duffy (hazelm@tenforward.com), September 20, 2001.

Just a comment on the e-coli. E-coli is usually only spread in meat that is ground up. It gets contaminated initially on the outer surface and then gets turned into the inner surface of say a hamburger that is cooked rare so the inside is not cooked enough and you get the E-Coli. People don't get e-coli from an under cooked steak because the center of the steak isn't exposed to the bacteria in the first place. So, I would suspect that if you make your jerky from pieces of meat as opposed to ground meat and you are careful about ensuring that your cutting and drying surfaces have been thoroughly cleaned before you prepare the meat, I would think you would not be running a risk of getting e-coli even if you didn't cook te meat before drying. I would not use ground meat to make jerky, though.

-- Colleen (pyramidgreatdanes@erols.com), September 20, 2001.