Category : A Collection of Games for DOS and Windows
Archive   : JERKY.ZIP
Filename : JERKY.REC

Area: Net, Msg #42, 18:05:02 22 Dec 90
From: Uucp
To: Dave Aronson
Subject: Re: Surviving and Enjoying an Extended Outdoor Event (long)

From uunet!intelhf!agora!trifid
From: uunet!agora!trifid (Edward Fitzgerald)
To: [email protected]
Date: 17 Dec 90 21:01:43 PST (Mon)



I am sending you this recipe with a serious caveat: it was refused for public-
ation due to not having any nitrates as a preservative. The publisher was
afraid that someone might get food-poisoning from it. That said, I will tell
you that this recipe has been in my family for at least a hundred years (no
telling how much longer, that side of the family went through illiterate
stretches on the frontier) and there is no record of any of US getting sick
from it...and I have used it myself, many times, and many times eaten venison
my grandfather had prepared that way. (Personally, I think the lack of nitrates
is a PLUS...)

This is in parts, as it is an OLD recipe...

Very simple:
1 part coarse salt (but table salt will do)
6 parts brown sugar

fairly lean meat, cut in the direction of the grain, usually along the natural
lines of muscles...keep the pieces under 2 inches in diameter

Mix the salt and sugar in a large bowl. Put in several "strands" of meat, and
roll in mixture well. Lay on cheezecloth on a rack. Repeat until meat or mix is
used up.

This will immediately start to draw fluids out of the meat. In fact, the mix
will be pretty gooey by the time you've used it all. The meat will drip a LOT!
I put it in a cold oven (to keep pets and flies away) and quickly learned that
you have to put a pan under it, and check to make sure the pan hasn't gotten
full! Or boy! what a mess! If outdoors, also put cheezecloth over the rack.
Grandpa sometimes simply threaded the meat on strings and hung it up to dry
over papers...lots of papers.

When it has stopped draining, it can be stored. Grandpa stored it in a paper
bag hung from the ceiling over his woodstove. I never saw any mold on it, but I
would assume that, like sausage, you could cut off any mold. It MUST be stored
in a DRY place! To eat, slice across the grain in 1/8 inch or thinner slices.
This is usually a little moister than the commercial stuff, and the brine-mix
can be altered a little for individual taste. However, all that sugar does NOT
make it sweet, or at least no sweeter than suger-cured bacon. And don't use
iodized salt, or any salt with additives...

And if you ever wondered why jerky is so expensive, well, the shrinkage is just
amazing...but the result is very nice.

Needless to say, I disclaim any implied or other guarantee as to safety of this
recipe, as I do not have a laboratory at my disposal to test the product of
this
process. The only thing I can say is that I eat it myself without harm (so
far).

Elaine NicMaoilan, sometimes cook, allatime bottle-washer....:)

(Oh yes, include Fitzgerald in that disclaimer too, he's never even eaten the
stuff!)
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