Sun Drying meat....possible?

[BarredBuff]

How do you sun dry meat?? Can you do it without getting sick?

 

[Emerald]

I am not sure it would be possible where you live, but in the dry western states like Nevada and New Mexico and parts of Texas they make something called Carne Seca which is just spiced sun dried strips of meat, mostly beef.
Now if you make a nice solar dehydrator and set it up the heat in there would certainly get hot enuf to dry meats for you.
Look up Appalachian dehydrator and you will find that it looks like the solar heater boxes attached to a bigger box to hold the food.

 

[Wildsky]

In South Africa they make whats called BILTONG, its much like jerky but thicker strips of meat.

There are plans on line for a drying box, basically a cardboard box with a fan - Biltong can be dried without the fan, just hung, but I'm not sure about it being in the sun, people do it indoors in a dry coolish room.



(its delish by the way!)

http://www.biltongbox.com/biltong.html

 

[tortoise]

I was thinking of trying dehydrating in a pre-heated solar oven. I HATE running the electricity for HOURS to dehydrate and the noise of the fan drives us a little crazy.

 

[Farmfresh]

One thing about jerking or drying any meat is to apply a marinade. The marinade usually contains salt (canning salt or pure salt not iodized) and sometimes alcohol or vinegar as well. The meat is usually soaked in the marinade for several hours before starting the drying process.

The marinade helps to preserve the meat as well as adding flavor.

When preparing meat to dry cut the meat strips thin and remove gristle and as much of the fat as possible. The fat usually goes rancid first.

You want the meat to be between 145 and 165 degrees Fahrenheit during the drying process.

 

[patandchickens]

How do you sun dry meat?? Can you do it without getting sick?

Can you?

Yes.

WILL you?

Maybe, and probably not *all* the time.

(Particularly in your climate)

This is largely why smoking was invented, btw


Pat

 

[FarmerChick]

if you really want to dry meats then google the correct way to do this

of course in the olden times drying meat was super common

would I dry meats now? probably not, but I have made deer jerky etc. but as a normal food for us to eat, nah I don't bother