80/20 ground beef extruded jerky in a dehydrator

[djman69465]

I am still waiting on the “last piece” to “complete” my sausage making station (Mixer attachment for my Grinder). But I cannot wait any longer for some homemade jerky so I am going to use some of my original methods to make some jerky this weekend.

But since I have further educated myself, mostly through the help of this awesome group of people. I need some clarification/suggestions, since I am using my old methods with new products/knowledge along with a few other variables.

Store bought, 80/20 Angus ground beef will be used and I will extruding it through the ol’ reliable Jerky shooter.

Here are my questions.

1. Other than curing salt, I now own meat binder and encapsulated citric acid powders. Do the same rules apply for 100% ground beef, without a casing? Should/could I add all 3 and go straight to the smoker? Do I need to “step up” temps regardless of what cure or binders I use for 100% beef extruded jerky?
2. Back in the day I used to predominantly use the dehydrator for whole venison jerky, until I read that a 160 degree internal was essential in killing Trichinella. Almost all residential dehydrators do not reach that temp. So I would smoke them @ 200 degrees, until 160 internal was achieved and then dehydrate until satisfied. Now this will be 100% ground beef, so is an internal of 160 degrees necessary, since its not wild game?
   3)If I were to use only the dehydrator to cook, how would this alter question #1? I have not come across information regarding meat binders, encapsulated citric acid and using a dehydrator? Which cooking device/prep method is preferred for extruded jerky sticks?

I realize I could just follow the directions off a boxed seasoning kit, use the smoker and be fine but I thought I would further educate myself by bothering you guys with a slew of questions! LOL -Thanks in advance

[Jonathon]

djman69465 1. Yes, you can go right to the smoker though I have never used encapsulated citric acid, Smoked Meat Stabilizer would be my recommendation. If you do use the Encapsulated Citric Acid make sure it stays at above 130° F for at least 1 hour, this will allow the encapsulation to fully melt. If you don’t do that you might get an odd texture.

2.GREAT question and one thing that confused me for about a year until I heard Brett explain it. When we cook a steak we aren’t coming anywhere near 160 IT, so why is that considered safe but ground beef needs to be cooked to 160? Well, the answer is that almost/all of the bacteria and microganisms are on the outside of the cut of beef, where it comes into contact with air or contaminated surfaces, very little if any lives inside the meat. So, by the time we are at 120° F internal temperature the outside is far, far above that. Now, once we grind that meat, we are taking all of the possibly contaminated areas and mixing that into the rest of the meat, meaning the rest needs to be cooked to 160°F as well.

It gets SLIGHTLY worse with jerky too as part of cooking it to 160° for safety is moisture. If you don’t have enough moisture in your meat when you get to 160° it won’t actually be able to kill what we are trying to kill. This is why recent USDA/FSIS regulations for commercial jerky have changed and now require a portion of the cook to either contain added humidity, or a fully enclosed cooking environment for a period of time.

Hope that helped!

[djman69465]

Jonathon Thanks for the education. I’m trying to learn as much as possible, especially from the science aspect as possible. Its a whole new level that I find very intriguing and I love learning about it from the forum! I love learning , but hate wasting meat.

[kyle]

djman69465 we use the word “community,” not the “f” word.

[djman69465]

kyle LOL ill try and watch the my “language”.

[Denny O]

djman69465 said in 80/20 ground beef extruded jerky in a dehydrator:

kyle LOL ill try and watch the my “language”.