Can I smoke meat over a campfire to make jerky?

[catman529]

I'm new here and this is my 2nd post but that's beside the point..lol

Anyway if me and/or the friend I will be hunting with in a couple weeks get lucky and come home with a deer, I doubt if I will be able to fit all the meat in the freezer. Plus I am at college but living at my parents house so I want to be considerate and not make them too unhappy by completely filling the freezer.

I'd love to try some jerky and I love the smell and flavor of hickory. I'm thinking I put the thin marinated strips of meat on a grill rack over a campfire of hot coals and hickory bark...with enough heat to kill disease in the meat and also smoke for flavor. I don't care for nitrites so I'll probably just fridge the jerky to keep it longer. Does this campfire method sound like a good idea? I can do it right in the backyard too. I take it the main thing is to heat the meat enough to kill bacteria if you want to remove the risk of disease. I don't want really dry meat so I'll use refrigeration to preserve it rather than drying it to a crisp or using nitrites.

 

[WestTn Huntin man]

Catman Thats how the indians did it. It is not recommened in moderen times.It is recommended that you fresze your meat for a month or 2 to kill any thing nasty in the meat before making jerky. You can google jerky and find some good recipes.Hickory smoke seasoning comes in a bottle.If you don't use nitrates you need to use plenty of salt. Soy sauce and worchestire sauce both have plenty of salt. I like to use Janes Krazy salt.You can make jerky in your oven at home.Set it on the lowest temp and put a spoon in the door to let the moisture out.
http://www.bowhunting.net/susieq/jerky.htm
http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Beef-Jerky

 

[nbforrest#3]

Put it in the oven at 200 degrees, put a spoon in the door
to make a little crack and cook for about 4 - 5 hours.

You can cook it over a fire but it takes a long time
and you cant do that much at a time.

 

[Wildcat]

Sorry but freezing does NOT kill any bacteria & parasites, it just inactivates them. Once thawed, , however, these microbes can again become active.

 

[catman529]

I think freezing kills parasites and cooking kills bacteria if I'm correct. Not sure though.

Anyhow if it takes too long to dry it over the fire then I'll just use the fire for smoke and the oven for drying. Why buy liquid smoke when there are hickory trees and a fire pit in our yard?

 

[Wildcat]

Nope, only cooking kills both.

 

[fishboy1]

Anyhow if it takes too long to dry it over the fire then I'll just use the fire for smoke and the oven for drying. Why buy liquid smoke when there are hickory trees and a fire pit in our yard?

Its going to be hard to control the temp over an open fire.
You will probably wind up grilling the meat rather than smoking it. Also you will likely only be able to do a small amount of meat at a time over the fire.

not that it cant be done but it will be a P I T A.

Ask around and see if anyone you know has a dehydrator they will let you borrow.

 

[catman529]

OK I'll probably just go with the oven dry method. But still I'll use the campfire for smoking the meat first. any advice on how long I should smoke it to get a good flavor but not too much smoke?

 

[iowavf]

Put it in the oven at 200 degrees, put a spoon in the door
to make a little crack and cook for about 4 - 5 hours.

You can cook it over a fire but it takes a long time
and you cant do that much at a time.

That's what I do and I like the High Mountain jerkey mix whichs comes in a lot of differant flavors and you can't mess it up. Mix the cure and seasoning together per directions, coat your meat and I like to leave it in a sealed bag in the fridge overnight. I place mine on some foil on a cookie sheet and after a couple hours I turn them over. No mess to clean up with the foil and keeps your oven clean.

 

[WestTn Huntin man]

Sorry but freezing does NOT kill any bacteria & parasites, it just inactivates them. Once thawed, , however, these microbes can again become active.

http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/publications/u ... jerky.html
Jerky is a lightweight, dried meat product that is a handy food for backpackers, campers and outdoor sports enthusiasts. It requires no refrigeration. Jerky can be made from almost any lean meat, including beef, pork, venison or smoked turkey breast. (Raw poultry is generally not recommended for use in making jerky because of the texture and flavor of the finished product.)

Raw meats can be contaminated with microorganisms that cause disease. These harmful bacteria can easily multiply of moist, high protein foods like meat and poultry and can cause illness if the products are not handled correctly. If pork or wild game is used to make jerky, the meat should be treated to kill the Trichinella parasite before it is sliced and marinated. This parasite causes the disease, trichinosis. To treat the meat, freeze a portion that is 6 inches or less thick at 5�F or below for at least 20 days. Freezing will not eliminate bacteria from the meat.

I don't just make things up. I figure someone with a PHD knows alot more about it than I know.

 

[WestTn Huntin man]

The liquid Hickory Smoke can be found at most Grocery stores. The directions are on the bottle. Just a capfull will flavor alot of meat it is very strong stuff.

 

[Wildcat]

Sorry but freezing does NOT kill any bacteria & parasites, it just inactivates them. Once thawed, , however, these microbes can again become active.

http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/publications/u ... jerky.html
Jerky is a lightweight, dried meat product that is a handy food for backpackers, campers and outdoor sports enthusiasts. It requires no refrigeration. Jerky can be made from almost any lean meat, including beef, pork, venison or smoked turkey breast. (Raw poultry is generally not recommended for use in making jerky because of the texture and flavor of the finished product.)

Raw meats can be contaminated with microorganisms that cause disease. These harmful bacteria can easily multiply of moist, high protein foods like meat and poultry and can cause illness if the products are not handled correctly. If pork or wild game is used to make jerky, the meat should be treated to kill the Trichinella parasite before it is sliced and marinated. This parasite causes the disease, trichinosis. To treat the meat, freeze a portion that is 6 inches or less thick at 5�F or below for at least 20 days. Freezing will not eliminate bacteria from the meat.

I don't just make things up. I figure someone with a PHD knows alot more about it than I know.

I never met you made anything up.

I have read articles about freezing meat to kill parasites before and they too were written by PHD's. But I also know that they keep parasites, bacteria, and other microorganisms in their labs in long term storage to study. Guess how they keep them for long periods of time??

They FREEZE them.

Now we have PHD's telling us that freezing them will kill them but the very same PHD's freeze them in their labs for storage.

Sorry but I just don't trust it.

 

[WestTn Huntin man]

I'm pretty sure it's frezseing at -5 and below that will kill the parasites. Compared to freezeing to preserve for study is done above 0*.
I make alot of jerky for Christmas gifts.I'm always leary about making someone sick. So I use the nitrates and freeze the meat. I would rather be safe than sorry.

 

[catman529]

how can you freeze meat to -5 degrees when it's mostly water and water can only reach 32 degrees? Add some salt and stuff and it's a little lower but still I don't see how your meat will reach below 0 degrees.

 

[The Ol Professor]

how can you freeze meat to -5 degrees when it's mostly water and water can only reach 32 degrees? Add some salt and stuff and it's a little lower but still I don't see how your meat will reach below 0 degrees.

When water freezes, it increases in volume about 9%. The ice then shrinks as the temperature decreases. The shrinkage is tiny, about 0.4% going from 30F to -50F.

I have a Ph.D. if that makes any difference

 

[woodchuckc]

how can you freeze meat to -5 degrees when it's mostly water and water can only reach 32 degrees? Add some salt and stuff and it's a little lower but still I don't see how your meat will reach below 0 degrees.

The water in the meat is frozen (that is, it is ice and not liquid water anymore). Ice and the meat are the same temperature as its surroundings.

I have a Ph.D. too :grin:

 

[woodchuckc]

Sorry but freezing does NOT kill any bacteria & parasites, it just inactivates them. Once thawed, , however, these microbes can again become active.

http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/publications/u ... jerky.html
Jerky is a lightweight, dried meat product that is a handy food for backpackers, campers and outdoor sports enthusiasts. It requires no refrigeration. Jerky can be made from almost any lean meat, including beef, pork, venison or smoked turkey breast. (Raw poultry is generally not recommended for use in making jerky because of the texture and flavor of the finished product.)

Raw meats can be contaminated with microorganisms that cause disease. These harmful bacteria can easily multiply of moist, high protein foods like meat and poultry and can cause illness if the products are not handled correctly. If pork or wild game is used to make jerky, the meat should be treated to kill the Trichinella parasite before it is sliced and marinated. This parasite causes the disease, trichinosis. To treat the meat, freeze a portion that is 6 inches or less thick at 5�F or below for at least 20 days. Freezing will not eliminate bacteria from the meat.

I don't just make things up. I figure someone with a PHD knows alot more about it than I know.

I never met you made anything up.

I have read articles about freezing meat to kill parasites before and they too were written by PHD's. But I also know that they keep parasites, bacteria, and other microorganisms in their labs in long term storage to study. Guess how they keep them for long periods of time??

They FREEZE them.

Now we have PHD's telling us that freezing them will kill them but the very same PHD's freeze them in their labs for storage.

Sorry but I just don't trust it.

Apples and oranges. Simple organisms like bacteria, single isolated cells and early stage embryos can be preserved in a living state by keeping them frozen at very low temperatures, between -80 C and liquid nitrogen temperatures. They are quick frozen by plunging them into liquid nitrogen or a dry ice / alcohol bath, which causes formation of amorphous ice instead of crystalline ice and allows them to survive the freezing and thawing process. Slow freezing to the typical home freezer temperature is not conducive to keeping the critters alive (some will survive, but not most).

 

[TAFKAP]

how can you freeze meat to -5 degrees when it's mostly water and water can only reach 32 degrees? Add some salt and stuff and it's a little lower but still I don't see how your meat will reach below 0 degrees.

It stops losing temperature until all the water is frozen....then the ice will lower its temperature.

 

[WestTn Huntin man]

http://www.fsis.usda.gov/Fact_Sheets/je ... /index.asp
http://www.free-venison-recipes.com/smo ... cipes.html
Here are some pretty good recipes. I just got a nice electric smoker at a estate sale for $20.I guess I'll be smokeing some on the porch .I recently helped cut down a peacan tree and have a pretty good stash of wood.