So a recent post with a video intrigued me. They showed how to make shelf safe snack sticks and jerky the same way manufacturers do. The key is to quickly bring the internal temperature to FDA approved 160F to kill off any pathogens then dehydrate the product at the lower temps. So I thought I might give this a try so here we go...
Started with 5lbs ground beef, jerky gun, and some Backwoods snack stick mix...
Then dissolve the mix in 5oz of water. This helps the mix distribute evenly with the ground beef. I actually only use 3/4 of the seasoning mix because it is a bit too salty for my taste using the entire package...
Add the mix to the beef. Time to get dirty with some hand mixing...
It is important to mix well to get even distribution of cure...
Pow! Onto the Bradley rack with a frog mat...
Now I had pre-heated the Bradley to 325F before putting in the racks...
The temp immediately dropped of course. Open door and cold racks....
The temp probe was inserted into one stick on the bottom rack. The PID was programmed to run at 325F until the stick reaches an IT of 160F. Once that stick reaches 160F IT the Bradley will drop cabinet temp to 170F and kick on the fan. There is 2 hours of Pecan smoke being applied for the first 2 hours.
Stay tuned....
