A few months ago I made my first batch of traditional beef jerky on my pellet grill at 180 F. It turned out really good. 
However, while I had read Meathead's admonition on cold smoking, I didn't clue in that cold smoking is basically anything sub-200 F, and not just really low temps like 130-170 F.
For better or for worse, I am a relatively low-risk individual, so I swore off doing jerky myself. But wow that was such a fun cook.
So today I've been idling reading some journals and searching university meat science department web sites for a safe, or at least safer, way of making jerky at home.
I've stumbled upon something that is really interesting. Of course, the primary problem with cold (or less-hot, at least) smoking jerky is that your meat slices may not get up to 160 F long enough to kill pathogens and also it is really hard to temp something that thin, as awesome as a Thermapen is.
What these sites suggest is cook the jerky (beef to 160 F) -- either through steaming, roasting, or boiling in a marinade -- prior to dehydrating it!
Here is an (excellent) article, reviewed in 2022, by the University of North Dakota on this method: https://www.ndsu.edu/agriculture/ext...dern-processes
If you scroll down to the Jerky Marinade section, you'll see that instead of letting the meat brine overnight in a refrigerator and then placed on a smoker, it is boiled/cooked in the marinade and then placed on a 140 -150 F smoker until it is appropriately dried.
Has anyone tried such a method? Is the end product still....good?
However, while I had read Meathead's admonition on cold smoking, I didn't clue in that cold smoking is basically anything sub-200 F, and not just really low temps like 130-170 F.For better or for worse, I am a relatively low-risk individual, so I swore off doing jerky myself. But wow that was such a fun cook.
So today I've been idling reading some journals and searching university meat science department web sites for a safe, or at least safer, way of making jerky at home.
I've stumbled upon something that is really interesting. Of course, the primary problem with cold (or less-hot, at least) smoking jerky is that your meat slices may not get up to 160 F long enough to kill pathogens and also it is really hard to temp something that thin, as awesome as a Thermapen is.
What these sites suggest is cook the jerky (beef to 160 F) -- either through steaming, roasting, or boiling in a marinade -- prior to dehydrating it!
Here is an (excellent) article, reviewed in 2022, by the University of North Dakota on this method: https://www.ndsu.edu/agriculture/ext...dern-processes
If you scroll down to the Jerky Marinade section, you'll see that instead of letting the meat brine overnight in a refrigerator and then placed on a smoker, it is boiled/cooked in the marinade and then placed on a 140 -150 F smoker until it is appropriately dried.
Has anyone tried such a method? Is the end product still....good?
We cook the meat at 200 F and then lower the temp, just as the articles above suggest.
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