# Dehydrating Meat



## Sarabeth (Sep 14, 2008)

OK - I am intrigued by this. Mom of 4 gave me this website to check out http://www.backpackingchef.com/dehydrating-meat.html. Very neat. 

Has anyone tried to dehydrate the deli meats like is pictured? Good - bad? 

I have never made the hamburger rocks, but I think I will try this. 

I really like the idea of dehydrating strips of ham, but am curious if anyone else has done this. 

Thanks!


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## Nature_Lover (Feb 6, 2005)

I haven't done any pre-cooked lunch meats, but I do make a lot of jerkey, from venison, beef, turkey and chicken.

Even though the lunch meat is pre-cooked, I would go ahead and use the usda guidelines for heating to 160Âº before drying at 145.
Do not let it cool down between pre-cooking and drying.

That's a cool blog, however, if I were you, I would do more research, she says 145Âº, the government says 160Âº first to kill germs, then 140Âº to dry. 
She also says just blot off fat, I start with the leanest meat. Starting with more fat you run the risk of fat liquefying and coating moisture, thus preventing it from thoroughly dehydrating.

Can't be too safe where your family's health is concerned.

Here and here are the guidelines I use when drying meat.
(the second link is a 16 page pdf with charts of meat types, time to hold at different temps to kill different bacteria, its what I use every time I dry meat)

Here's another link for drying jerky.


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## BillHoo (Mar 16, 2005)

Everyone loves jerky!

A kid can polish off 6 pounds of meat in a few minutes as a snack when it's made into jerkey.


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## Ohio dreamer (Apr 6, 2006)

For reasons of fat content I never have done lunch meat (but we don't eat lunch meat normally, either - so store what you eat comes into play, too). The trick with hamburger rocks is you cook it then wash all the fat out before drying. Not sure how well that would work with lunch meat. I admit, though, I have never done jerky so I'm not sure if they are an equal comparison. But I know you are to trim off all the fat before making jerky....


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## Sarabeth (Sep 14, 2008)

Thanks, folks. I would not do 'lunch meat' per se...but sliced ham (off the bone, not pressed) or roast beef is more what I was thinking.


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## stanb999 (Jan 30, 2005)

Sarabeth said:


> http://www.backpackingchef.com/dehydrating-meat.html


Checked out the link.... Looks ok but definitely not an approved method. Doing this your not at all likely to get sick or die.

Have at it... Then tell us before you taste it. So we will know if it was safe. 


Really the only thing I'd do different is use a higher drying temp. With meat I always go as high as the drier will do. For mine that's 155F. It limits the time in the "danger" zone. to a very short period of time.


With roast beef you could just buy it raw and slice and jerky it. Tastes great.


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## praieri winds (Apr 16, 2010)

I made the hamburger rocks they worked out real nice e-mailed the manufactor of my dehydrator about doing deli meat and they suggested only drying turkey and chicken from there because of fat content said ham and roast beef had too much fat in them haven't tryed it yet tho have made beef jerky before and venison


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## texican (Oct 4, 2003)

Youngest sis makes hamburger jerky each year... it doesn't store well. Because it's eaten too fast...:happy:

Most grocery stores with an in house butcher will slice your meat as thin as you want.


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## Our Little Farm (Apr 26, 2010)

I make jerky and also hamburger rocks. Both turn out great.


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## didaho (Jan 22, 2008)

Thanks for the site info. Will have to try this


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## Goldie (Feb 18, 2009)

Texican, would you give out your sister's hamburger jerky recipe, or anyone else that has a good one, please share?
I have some grass fed hamburger and would love to try making jerky with it.

Thanks to all!


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## Ruby (May 10, 2002)

Anyone have any recipes to use the hamburger rocks in?


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## Oldcountryboy (Feb 23, 2008)

I went on a fishing trip, with several members from the church I attended at that time, to a heated dock. A lady brought a big bag of jerky for everyone to enjoy and it turned out to be Pastrami sandwich meat that she had dried in a dehydrator. She had bought a couple of pounds and had it cut thick and then she cut it into strips before dehydrating it. It was delicious. Expensive, but delicious.


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