Jerky

Jerky is lean meat or poultry dried until it is light and shelf-stable: a pound of meat ends up weighing about four ounces. It is made from beef, pork, venison or smoked turkey breast, cut into thin strips, marinated or cured, heated and then dried. Commercially packaged jerky keeps 12 months, home-dried jerky 1–2 months. ¹²⁴

From Egypt to charque. Jerky has been known since at least ancient Egypt: people dried meat from animals too big to eat at once, such as bear, buffalo or whales. North American Indians mixed ground dried meat with dried fruit or suet to make pemmican, biltong is dried meat or game eaten in many African countries, and the English word jerky comes from the Spanish «charque». ¹

Why drying preserves. Drying is the oldest and most common way to keep food: canning is less than 200 years old. Removing moisture stops enzymes, whether from bacteria, moulds or the meat itself, from reaching and acting on the food, and salt binds water so microbes cannot use it. Sun drying is not recommended for meat, because it lacks a steady heat source and exposes strips to animals, insects, dust and bacteria. ¹²

Why heat comes first. Illnesses from Salmonella and E. coli O157:H7 in homemade beef and venison jerky led the USDA Meat and Poultry Hotline to advise heating meat to 160 °F (71 °C) and poultry to 165 °F (74 °C) before drying, then holding the dehydrator at a steady 130–140 °F. In a dehydrator or low oven, evaporating moisture absorbs most of the heat, so the meat barely warms until it is nearly dry; by then the bacteria have grown more heat-resistant and are more likely to survive. ¹²

What the studies found. Research from the University of Georgia and Colorado State University, published in the Journal of Food Protection in 2004, found that marinating alone did not significantly reduce pathogens, that ground beef jerky was the riskiest, and that pathogenic E. coli in venison survived up to 10 hours of drying at up to 145 °F. A 1998 study showed that a curing mix of salt and sodium nitrite destroyed more E. coli, and most of all when the meat was also heated before drying. ¹

The home method. Partly freeze the meat, slice it no thicker than ¼ inch, with the grain for chewy jerky or across it for a tender one, and trim off all fat, which turns rancid quickly. Marinate 1–2 hours or overnight in the fridge, then boil the strips in the marinade for 5 minutes, or heat the dried strips 10 minutes at 275 °F. Dry at 140 °F for 10–24 hours, until a test piece cracks but does not break when bent. ⁴

Game and mince. Pork and wild game must first be frozen, in pieces 6 inches thick or less, at 0 °F or below for at least 30 days to kill the trichinella parasite; freezing does not kill bacteria. Venison can be heavily contaminated with faecal bacteria and deer carcasses are often held unchilled, so meat touched by gut contents should only be cooked thoroughly. Pathogens are harder to eliminate in ground meat than in whole strips, and raw poultry is generally not advised for home jerky because of its texture. ¹⁴

Commercial jerky and labels. Commercial jerky is made in federally inspected plants and may be cured or uncured, smoked or unsmoked, air or oven dried. «Beef Jerky» is one piece of beef, «Chunked and Formed» is moulded chunks, «Ground and Formed» or «Chopped and Formed» is mince, binders must enter the name, as in «Beef and Soy Protein Concentrate Jerky», and «Jerky Sausage» is stuffed into casings. USDA data give chopped and formed beef jerky 410 kcal, 33.2 g protein, 25.6 g fat, 11 g carbohydrate and 1780 mg sodium per 100 g. ¹²³

Why it matters to you. Jerky packs a lot of protein into a light bag, but also a lot of salt. Sealed commercial jerky keeps 12 months; for homemade, NCHFP advises two weeks at room temperature and the fridge or freezer for longer. Other dried meats work differently: see Pastırma, Jamón and Cured meats & charcuterie. ²⁴ WHO classes processed meat, including salted, cured and dried meat, as carcinogenic to humans, with risk rising with the amount eaten. ⁵