USDA Guidelines

• Jerky and similar dried meat products should be dried in a dehydrator or an oven at a temperature of 140 to 145 degrees until a small piece bends but does not break. When it does this, the jerky has had about 25 to 30 percent of its moisture removed, the amount the US Department of Agriculture recommends for dried meat products; jerky should contain about 70 to 75 percent of the moisture found in the meat it is made from. Drying can take from 10 to 24 hours. Avoid drying your jerky in the sun and open air because it is difficult to maintain the USDA-recommended 140- to 145-degree temperature under these conditions.

Home Jerky Making

• Commercial food processors have access to complicated and expensive equipment such as hygrometers that measure jerky's moisture content. For home jerky making, use the bend-not-break rule to determine this. Put the ends of a piece of jerky between your thumb and forefinger and bend it. If it resists the pressure of your fingers but bends slightly, your jerky is dry enough. If it shatters into shards or powder, you have overdried it.

Food Safety

• Food-borne pathogens like to hang out on the surfaces of meat and can present a health risk if it is not processed and stored properly. Use only lean muscle from a healthy animal when you are making jerky at home. Fatty or heavily fat-marbled cuts take longer to dry, dry unevenly and can become rancid quickly after drying. Wash and sanitize all work surfaces and the utensils. Follow the temperature guidelines and use the bending test to make sure your jerky is dry enough. When the jerky has cooled completely after being taken from the oven or dehydrator, put it in a clean glass or food-safe plastic container and place it in the refrigerator. It will keep for two weeks. Put it in the freezer for longer storage.

Safety Precautions

• Keep the meat cold until you are ready to make jerky, and thaw frozen meat in the refrigerator, not on the kitchen counter or in a microwave. Partially frozen meat is easy to slice evenly. Meat should be sliced about 1/4 inch thick. Put the dried jerky on a baking sheet and heat it in the oven at 275 degrees for 10 minutes or until its internal temperature reaches 160 degrees to pasteurize, or kill or reduce the number of microbes, in the jerky. Different foods require different pasteurization temperatures; the USDA recommends heating dried meats and cooking raw meats to an internal temperatures of 160 degrees.