Jerkey Question

[SteerCrazy]

Ok, I made some jerky on sunday and the packet of seasoning says to keep the jerky refrigerated. The mix came with a packet of cure but it cannot be left out room temp.

I made jerky from ground beef and made some jerky sticks using a jerky gun. What if I was to go camping for the weekend or I was going to be out without keeping the sticks chilled? Any reason why I cannot have the stuff out of cooler temps for more than 24 hours??

[DATsBBQ]

If you were to use strips of beef, cured the beef then dried you would be ok.

Curing by itself doesn't get rid of the beasties. Like summer sauage, you need to cook it 160*, even then you are suppose to refrigerate it.

Bet someone here has a better scientific answer.

[Papa Tom]

It depends on the moisture content, if dry enough no problem. The package mix maker is going to cover their butt by taking the safe route. I'll bet you will have no problems I know of home jerky makers that don't worry too much about refrigeration and they stay healthy. They do low heat dry theirs though.

[bigwheel]

Gotta agree with Papa as usual. Moisture content is the key. Real jerky is low temp dehydrated not cooked..with the dehydration being a natural and ancient preservative technique..makes the bugs die of thirst or something to that effect. Some of the "jerky" recipes I see slung around on some of these chat forums is simply smoke cooked meat which prob dont have much more perservative qualities than a hunk of smoked brisket which needs to be kept in the icebox. Longest I have kept real jerky is a year without refrigeration and it was still just fine. Only reason it lasted that long was I stuck it somewhere and forget where I put it. It usually get eat up purty fast.

bigwheel

[SteerCrazy]

this stuff was 'dehydrated' in the oven at 200* for almost 2 hours. I made 4lbs of it so what I will probably do is just take out what I plan to eat for the day and keep the rest in the cooler.