Meat Drying Experiment

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coote

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Apr 3, 2006
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We have a fairly small freezer, and I like to feed our dog game meat instead of expensive meat or processed food if possible.

A while back I figured that I should try to dry some goat meat which could be stored a room temperature for the dog instead of taking up valuable freezer space. So I rigged up a rack under the verandah in anticipation of getting another goat.

I got a goat about a week ago. It is winter here, and the weather has been fairly damp... so I thought I'd try drying a few strips of meat just to see what happened.

I've made biltong (jerky) in the past, but this time I did not treat the meat with anything. I just hung it over a stick in the shade.

It has dried beautifully in less than a week. It is a nice color and no mould is visible. Furthermore the dog enjoyed eating it, and she even chewed it for a while instead of doing her usual vacuum cleaner impression. This is a pleasing result and it has got me thinking about making biltong when I next get a deer. And I certainly hope to dry more meat for the dog. The dried meat will be good to take with us for dog rations if she ever accompanies us on a holiday anywhere.

DriedGoat_zpstoqeqw2e.jpg
 
That brings up a number of questions . Normally with a dehydrator meat must be heated to 145 F to kill off some nastys ! Fats easily become rancid so are normally removed . Any idea of themoisture content you get ?
There was only one TV program about hunting that showed what is done after the animal is taken. In this case an elephant was taken and the villigers were called to take the meat .A large group of men came ,and working all night cut up the entire elephant into strips !! That's a lot of biltong !! Programs should show that more often to dispell the myth that meat of animals taken by hunters is just disgarded. NO !It'sa very important food source !
 
That is a skill set that I wish I had, to make jerky that is. :)

I know that traditionally, lots of salmon gets treated by way of a smoke house. Fishermen only have a short window of opportunity to catch them during the start of the river runs.
 
No, sorry Mete, I don't know the moisture content of the dried meat.

When I've made biltong it goes from fresh (maximum moisture) to leathery (not much moisture and still chewable) then to rock hard (very little moisture and has to be broken up with a hammer).

You raise a good point about the high temperatures to kill potentially harmful organisms. Anybody drying meat for human consumption should do some research and use a process that they are comfortable with.

I would not dry pork as jerky or sausage because of the slight chance the pig may have been infected with Trichinella. Apparently this problem has been fairly rare in my country, whereas pigs in some places are likely be infected (as can bears and other animals).

I would generally be happy to just air-dry meat outdoors for my own consumption here in my own neighborhood. A couple of South Africans have also told me that they've been involved with making biltong by just hanging it in the open air. My first choices of meat for biltong would be venison or beef.

On this occasion the meat is intended as dog food. And I have no worries as to her safety. She is just as likely to chew at a dead, dried-up fish on the beach.... or on bits of an old dead pig carcass on the hillside that was the by-product of a hunt five weeks ago. And sometimes if she finds a dead animal with a high moisture and goo content, she likes to roll in it before getting into the car.
 
I wish I was good at making jerky too Tanglediver. The stuff I've made wasn't anything to rave about. Being me, I liked to do the whole thing 'primitively'.... whereas I may have enjoyed the product more if I'd stopped drying it before it got too hard, and then kept it in the fridge or freezer.

We have a few wild salmon down here, but I've never caught one. Salmon farming is a big thing though, and our local salt-water raised salmon is one of my favourite things to eat.

My fish-smoking efforts have been nicer to eat than my jerky.

I'd like to learn about making delicious jerky, preferably involving traditional methods.

I wonder what that elephant tastes like. I'd be reluctant to kill one though.
 
I think it is a universal dog problem Aikiguy. Sometimes Lizzy just rolls in a dried dead hedgehog or a duck turd, but the worst case scenario is a whole dead animal that is just starting to ooze oily soup. Lizzy knows that I'm not keen on her rolling in stinky stuff, and she jumps to her feet and tries to act normally when she knows she has been spotted. Fortunately she doesn't mind being washed, and she loves being dried with towel. The picture below shows a fairly common scene in our back yard:

washing%20Lizzy2_zpsmzm39vly.jpg
 
One of ours rolls in anything dead. . One day I couldn't figure out what it was. Turned out to be a dead ant. . Not sure why, then again I'm not a dog. .

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Gee that's a fairly small thing to roll in, but who are we to question a dog's needs. Or was that a spelling mistake.... did you mean to write aunt?
 
marinades based on alcohol or vinegar also kill parasites.
so does freezing -- if you can hold it cold enough for long enough.
(for example, -15 to -20C for 7 days is enough to kill trichinella and most fish parasites)
 
I'd love to be able to build an old ladder style A frame drying rack much like the Native American Indians used to smoke jerked beef or buffalo on and perfect the technique they used.... so many projects, so little time...

I'd love to be able to smoke about 40lbs of brisket to last several seasons...
 
I didn't know about that benefit of alcohol based marinade. I'm more familiar with vinegar. I've used it when preparing biltong, and we keep a spray bottle of white vinegar to use when cleaning the kitchen bench after I've cut up fish or meat. I can't be sure that it is a particularly effective disinfectant, but the bench is clean and odour-free after we've given it a vinegar spray and wipe.

Regarding that Indian smoked buffalo.... does anyone know how hard the finished product is? All the meat I've tried to preserve by drying has ended up rock-hard in a comparatively short time unless I limit the process and store the product in the freezer. Succulent is best, leathery is not too bad.... hard meat has to be shaved into thin flakes or pounded to break it up.
 
The hard stuff lasts FOREVER. Which would have been great back in the "old days" before freezers, refrigeration and/or home canning processes. Very light weight, lots of protein. Cut off a chunk, let your saliva moisten it while walking or canoeing. May not be the best tasting stuff, but it would work. Cutting slivers to boil as a soup along with greens picked along the trail. Boiled in winter along with dried vegetables, and you survived.
 
We've had a fella come by the shop every now and then selling portions of homemade beef jerky. He just buys ordinary cuts over the counter and renders it with different flavors, I've bought a few bags from him and I am always tempted to grill him with questions about how he makes it. He is a retired roofer and just sells his beef as a bit of a hobby. I was just enjoying some of his spicy flavored now, it's not tough at all. I've kept it in the fridge, but it never lasts long! :)
 
That poop-eating thing is one thing that really bothers me. If my dog is showing interest in eating the stuff, it is one of the few occasions that I really growl at her. I suppose it might be considered unreasonable of me to impose my values on a dog, but I just can't help myself.

I think dehydrating food is an excellent thing to do. This year I'm hoping to have a decent crop of tomatoes to dry. I did just a few last year as an experiment, and they were good. They were a welcome addition to the top of a pizza.

Now that the subject of consuming poop has been raised, I'd like to share a favorite saying I picked up when I lived in Australia. My example relates to this forum, but feel free to use it however you wish...

"Get rid of my Beckers??!!!! I'd rather eat a yard of my own s4!t"
 
coote said:
Regarding that Indian smoked buffalo.... does anyone know how hard the finished product is? All the meat I've tried to preserve by drying has ended up rock-hard in a comparatively short time unless I limit the process and store the product in the freezer. Succulent is best, leathery is not too bad.... hard meat has to be shaved into thin flakes or pounded to break it up.
Click to expand...

it needs to be hard enough to snap rather than bend to last for months without climate control measures.... any moisture at all left in the meat will render it a mouldy mess in short order without cooling......when it was that hard you pounded it between rocks to " powder it " then mixed it with rendered fat and sun dried berries to make Pemmican....which will sustain you indefinitely and has been known to keep for up to 50 years without need for refrigeration. What I'd LIKE to do is perfect this myself so I can buy the occasional brisket when they are on sale, dry it and make pemmican out of it to add to my Beans and Rice long term survival food supplies to both add flavor and extra protein and fats to the diet if it ever had to be gotten into and used in a survival situation... it would store as long as my dried goods and when used to supplement the beans and rice would make a diet you could survive indefinitely on...

I have enough beans and rice put back to last my small family 3 years if need be, assuming its eaten every day at a rate of about 2500 calories per person. I have a couple cases of freeze dried beef to supplement it currently, and while that option works, its expensive and less flavorful then the Pemmican would be....especially without the fats.... I'm thinking you make up the pemmican in bars about the size of a pack of cigarettes and just add 1 bar to the pot each day you make up the beans and rice. Making it up specifically to add to a pot of beans and rice, I'd like to tinker with adding dried Jalapeno peppers to the mix rather than the typical blueberries...the texture should be about the same, and it would do wonders for the flavor of the beans and rice...maybe also mix in some garlic and onion powder as its already dried and powdered and should last indefinitely as well.

Being able to supplement with fresh deer and wild hog which are both common and plentiful in my area, eat the wild game fresh but render the fat and smoke the bulk of the meat to store it if need be in case the electricity is off long term...a small family could not consume a wild hog before it went bad otherwise and most of the animal would just go to spoil and ruin....wasted.

I know its a one in a million shot to ever need the skills in the manor I'm thinking, but stranger things have happened and it costs me very little to be prepared.....

I keep a month of ready to eat can goods on hand, things that COULD be eaten cold right out of the can and keep you alive... beef stews, ravolies, thick and hearty soups and stews, chicken and dumplins, etc etc.... I figure if it all goes bad short term you need quick easy to eat meals that will keep you alive with minimal prep

Assuming whatever issues we are having last longer than a month without return to normal life and grocery shopping, that's when the beans and rice kick in and will carry us thru the next 3 years if need be....

Hunting and fishing will help supplement that and transition us to a long term self sustaining lifestyle thanks to the heirloom seed vaults I have put back... we CAN make it 3 years but realistically if it comes to that, the seeds will go in the ground on the next planting season and we will have fresh game, fresh vegtables and supplement that with the beans and rice effectively stretching that out almost indefinitely ..... having 3 separate seed vaults put back ensures that even if one year turns out bad and we can not harvest due to weather, we will survive and get another shot at it next spring. I have made sure to have enough quality hand tools on hand to be able to work a garden in the event that we can not get gas for the tiller and etc etc... shovels, hoes, rakes, spades, forks... very inexpensive investments that will be priceless if we ever need them, as well as a couple good felling axes, splitting axes, everything needed to heat the house and cook on a wood fire year round if need be and gas does not exist for the chainsaw.

In the meantime, I have planted several fruit trees in the back yard that produce more fresh fruit than we can currently consume during harvest times... apples, pears both last awhile in a dry cellar, peaches will be eaten fresh and excess canned, and tangerines for the much needed vitamin c...we also have several LARGE pecan trees on the property that produce more nut meat than we can pick up off the ground....

we live just like anyone else day to day.... I have less than 1000.00 in all my " life insurance " including my rain water collection system... but if the day ever comes that we are forced to live off the grid....we will be able to do so.

I won't go too deep into any of the other " life insurance " I have put back for a rainy day as I'm not sure it's appropriate for these forums and I may have already ventured too far off track... but for those interested a good " STARTING POINT " would be 5,000 rounds of 22LR, 1000 rounds of 12ga bird shot ( buy 1 of the 100round value boxes at the local discount store every time you get paid... they run about 20.00 and they stack up pretty quickly ), a good scoped hunting rifle with 1000 rounds, 1 AK/AR for each family member with 10 mags EACH and no less than 3000 rounds for EACH, and we each have a 9mm pistol with 5 mags EACH and 1000 rounds EACH.... I like to keep the SD rifles and pistols the same so they all use the same mags and parts can interchange to keep them running in the event one breaks... it becomes a parts gun for the others and so you have to break the exact same part several times before you are unable to use that item.....

remember.... 2 is 1, and 1 is none....
 
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Interesting stuff Hawgsnawt. Does your small family include young children? If so, they will hopefully be taking an interest in what you are doing. So many folks nowadays don't do much for themselves at all, and are fairly dependent on regular trips to the mall. I'm quite amazed when I hear that some people don't even cook much. So if children get to experience productive gardens and some earthy skills, I reckon the world will be better for it.

I'm very interested in being self-sufficient too. From time to time I have considered scenarios where I might have to use my skills for more than just the fun of it, but I hope that nobody is ever faced with that. While I feel I have what it takes to live with very little outside help, I don't think I'd relish the experience.

I'm wondering about that pemmican.... I know that very dry lean meat can last a long time.... but would the fat in the pemmican deteriorate in any way or go rancid? And if there is some rancidity, does that make the pemmican dangerous, or just unpleasant? I suppose I should ask Google that question.

Best wishes....
 
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