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Jerky Information And How To's
If you are a smoking meat fanatic, as thousands of others are, you have found the right place for tips and techniques and other information on the preparation and the cooking of jerked meats and fish. As with the smoking of all meats there are a few things that you should always consider . When working with any foods, bacteria can be easily transferred from hands, utensils, food containers etc. so make sure your workplace is clean and neat. Just use good food handling practices as the first step to preparing any kind of food and cook to the proper internal temperatures to ensure a safe end result. Any meat or fish can be used regardless whether domesticated or wild. So this is a great way to use some of the meat from your latest hunting trip or the big one that {didn’t get away}, the last time you went fishing. Remove as much of the fat as possible and cut into small strips. This allows the meat to dry quickly and reach a safe cooking temperature rapidly. It is advised by the USDA to bring the temperature of beef to 160 degrees quickly and pork or poultry to 165 degrees before starting the drying process. This can be accomplished by steaming or roasting. Although it’s not required, many people like to marinate the meat overnight in a marinade that can be purchased at your local grocery store. You could also choose your favorite ingredients and develop your own special recipe. Either way there is a huge range of different tastes you can come up with if you put your imagination to work. After marinating, place the meat in your smoker and maintain a low temperature at 130 to 140 degrees. Low temperatures are key to the removing of moisture and drying of the meat which is necessary for it’s preservation. Now that we have some of the preliminary information out of the way, lets get down to the fun part. Go to our jerky recipe pages for more detailed procedures, ingredients and cooking times. So lets get Smoky!
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Making jerky is one of the first things that people do when they buy a meat smoker and the end result is a great snack to munch on. Whether you’re taking a hike or on a fishing venture with buddies, you can have a great treat without the worry of refrigeration.