Putting Food By - Janet Greene [186]
Dry test. Brittle, as a green stick: it won’t snap clean, as a dry stick does. Be sure to test it after it cools, because it’s pliable when still warm, even though enough moisture is out of it.
Unsalted Jerky
This does not mean unseasoned—there’s a bit of salt for flavor—but the meat is not salted heavily to draw out moisture or to act mildly as a preservative.
Lay cut strips on a cutting board, and with a blunt-rimmed saucer or a meat mallet, pound the following seasonings (or your own variations thereof) into both sides of the meat: salt, pepper, garlic powder, your favorite herb. Use not more than 1 teaspoon salt for each 1 pound of fresh meat, and the other seasonings according to your taste.
Arrange seasoned strips ½ inch apart on wire racks treated with nonstick cooking spray. Put them in a 150 F/66 C dehydrator or oven, and immediately turn the heat back to 120 F/49 C. Spread aluminum foil on the bottom of the oven to catch drippings. If your oven is not vented, leave its door ajar at the first stop position. After 5 or 6 hours turn the strips over; continue drying at the same temperature for 4 hours more, when you check for dryness. When dry enough, jerky is shriveled and black, and is brittle when cooled.
Wrap the sticks of jerky in moisture/vapor-proof material, put the packages in a stout container with a close-fitting lid, and store below 40 F/4 C in the refrigerator (or freeze it). Reconstitute by simmering in water to cover.
Salted Jerky
Dry this in the sun; or, if you’re emulating the frontiersmen, hang them 4 feet above a very slow, non-smoking fire that’s not much more than a bed of coals.
Prepare a brine of 2½ cups of pickling salt for 3 quarts of water, and in it soak the cut strips of meat for 1 or 2 days in the refrigerator. Remove and wipe dry.
OVER COALS
Before you’re ready to begin drying the salted meat, start a fire of hardwood and let it burn down to coals. Feed the fire with small hardwood so carefully that juice does not ooze out from the excess heat, or the meat starts to cook.
Depending on conditions, drying could take 24 hours. Test for dryness; package and store in refrigerator or freezer.
IN OPEN-AIR
A method used on old-time hunting trips deep into the High Plains. Choose a time when you’ll have good—but not roasting—sun, dry air day and night, and a gentle breeze. Hang the salted strips from a drying frame such as described above (of course with no fire), and leave them there until they become brittle-dry.
A Basic Procedure for Drying Fish
Drying fish at home is not something to be undertaken lightly. The fish must undergo a long dry-salting period before it is put out to dry; and, since home-drying is best done outdoors in the shade, the procedure requires a trustworthy breeze, fairly low humidity, and critter-proof holding tubs and racks.
Dry any lean fish (cod of course is the classic). Coat all surfaces of each fish with pure pickling salt, using 1 pound of salt for 2 pounds of fish, and stack the opened fish flesh-side up on a slatted wooden rack outdoors. Don’t make the stacks more than 12 layers deep, with the top layer skin-side up. Leave them stacked for 1 to 2 weeks, depending on the height of fish and the dryness of the air. Brine made by the salt and fish juices will drain away. Move the pile inside each night and weight it down to press out more brine.
Scrub the fish again to remove the salt, and put it on wooden frames outdoors to complete the necessary removal of moisture from its tissue. Hang or spread the fish on cross-pieces in an open shed with good ventilation; direct sun on the fish can start it to sunburn (cook) at only 75 F/24 C. Bring fish in at night, re-piling to ensure even drying; re-spread on the racks more often with skin-side up.
To store, cut in manageable chunks if the fish are large; wrap in moisture/vapor-proof plastic; pack in tight wooden boxes, and store in a dry, cool place 32–40 F (Zero–4 C).
Dry rest. No imprint is left when the fleshy