Jerky...maybe...maybe not.

Since there isn't much going on at our house, I just thought I would post about our latest adventure/misadventure.

Cayla is studying the Civil War at school and had to do a report with a project, so she chose Civil War food and we decided to make some beef jerky (portable and easy to store) and ginger cakes (given to the injured by nurses as a comfort food).

Now, we could have just bought jerky at the store as kids have in years past (Cayla learned from the teacher after announcing our plans), but I thought it needed to be more "authentic." I got recipes and instructions off the internet, purchased a 5 pound roast (not something I feel I can generally afford to feed to my family), and 5 or 6 bottles of various ingredients that use the entire bottle. We sliced beef, mixed marinade, and put it all in the fridge to marinate for a couple of days.

Saturday was the much anticipated day of jerky drying. We bought extra cooling racks that stack so we could dry as much jerky as possible. Now, on the internet if you look up methods for drying in an electric oven you will find umpteen hundred different combinations from 200 degrees for 2 hours to 165 degrees for 6-7 hours. The one from the recipe we used also said the jerky, when done, should not be able to bend, but should be able to be pulled apart easily, though not snap. So, I went with 200 degrees and decided to cook it until this "test of doneness" was reached. After 2 hours, I tried a piece. It tasted yummy but could still be bent. At 3 hours, still bendable...4 hours still bendable....5 hours no longer bendable but more resembling charcoal than beef jerky. In retrosepct I wished I had pulled it out after 2 hours, but then you also have to worry about it being cooked enough that no one will get food poisening from it.

Fortunately, we couldn't do all our meat at once so we had hopes of more success with the second batch and decided that 3 hours would probably be perfect. After 3 hours, it was still bendable, still slightly damp with marinade, but looking very much like charcoal so we pulled it out. It seemed rather overdone despite the fact it still had damp marinade on it and at this point we didn't know if we had anything worthy of sending to school; however, the second batch was more promising. We decided to put a piece of bread (I read this could soften it up) with it in a bag and see what happened by Sunday night. By Sunday night, although still slightly sticky, it was much more palatable, quite good even, if you got a good piece, so we decided to send it to school and let the kids decide if they want to try it or not.

Jerky is definitely something you would have to perfect over time, getting the thickness of the slices just right, the temperature, and the drying time. However, with the cost involved, I don't think it's really practical. It is definitely not something I would ever suggest doing as a one-time project.

On a brighter note, the ginger cakes turned out scrumptious.