This is my first time making jerky. I've all ready got the meat cut from the processing place and I just bought a dehydrator. I got some seasoning so all that's good but question I have is I don't want it like shoe leather I want kinda tough but not a lot. So how high should I put the temperature and how long should I cook it?
normally you don't have it any hotter than 130-140 degrees. as far as time, my batches tend to go 8 hours or so. sometimes longer depending on the thickness.
I like a little apple wood or hickory smoke on my jerky, so I put it in the smoker for 45 min to an hour at 180. I suspect it is "cooked" by the time I take it out and put it on the dehydrator, but it takes it 8-12 hours, depending on humidity, etc. to dry.
I use a smoker and usually takes 3 hours ... 1st hour 140, 2nd 150 and 3rd is set @ 170 ... I don't add the apple shavings until the 2nd hour ... does not come out like leather but I slice the meat about 1/4"
In a dehydrator it only goes to about 150. The amount of time it takes to dry it depends on thickness of meat slices ambient air temp. If you want it to not be tough (dry) then I would suggest to cook it fully in a smoker or oven to finish the product. The only way to prevent it from going bad is to dry it completely. If you want it more meaty then you need to bring the internal temp up to 155 so its fully cooked. So we have fully cooked Jerky or Dried Jerky. If you want to be able to leave it out on the shelf or in a paper bag it needs to be dried jerky, if you want it meaty then it would need to be refrigerated to keep from goin bad. Never store Jerky in a plastic bag it allows moisture to build and very soon you will have mold. I freezemy extra in plastic but whenever I remove it from the freezer it goes directly into a paper bag, same with summer sausage, sticks, or salami.
