I was tooling around food storage sites and found this interesting page on storing beef without refrigeration. Essentially, you're drying cooked ground beef in a pretty straightforward three-step process and then storing it in preheated sealed glass jars, or plastic bags within food grade plastic storage buckets.
Here's the link to "Hamburger Rocks"....
CORRECTION: SINCE POSTING THIS A FEW DAYS AGO, A COUPLE COMMENTORS RAISED SERIOUS CONCERNS ABOUT THE SAFETY OF THIS PRESERVATION METHOD. SINCE I HAVE NOT TRIED THIS MYSELF, I'D ERR ON THE SIDE OF CAUTION AND SELECT ANOTHER METHOD. I'M POSTING THIS RETRACTION DUE TO THE LENGTH OF TIME THIS POST HAS BEEN LEFT UP...PLEASE DO NOT USE THIS METHOD BASED ON MY MENTION OF IT, SINCE I AM NOW UNSURE OF ITS SAFETY.
10 comments:
Great article! Would sealed vacuum bags (like Food Saver) be a good way to store these rocks? Seems like it.
They mentioned on their site that however you decide to store it, make sure vermin or pests can't get into them (rats, mice, etc...) They suggested individual plasic bags (I'd assume the vacuum sort, too) be stored inside larger hard sealed containers
What a remarkable recipe! I never thought about dehydrating it! I used to make my own jerky, and I loved it; I ate it as fast as I made it!
GREAT article! Thank you!
I love jerky. Josh will be hunting this year and I plan on making deer jerky. Yum.
Thank you so much for your comments on the site. You know, computers are so important in our home -- it is frightening to think that something we find such a blessing could end up being such a nightmare.
Speaking of computers, i am trying very hard to finance my site expenses. I gambled a bit in hopes that my site would "catch on" and the ad space would pay for the site costs. Not so. My numbers have fallen. The advice of the blogging genius people -- have children. Bloggers who write about their children have higher stats. Isn't that horrible? I was shocked. I may never post the faces of the children we adopt just because I saw that written. Goodness.
Blessings!
Lacy
Interesting idea. I never thought of drying beef (other than jerky). I'm planning to get some beef from my 'source' at the local farmer's market this weekend. Maybe I'll have to try this.
Thanks for stopping by at my place. Judy
Dang, I looked for something but couldn't find it. Same idea but its a blogger who lives entirely off-grid because she has to... she and her husband are in their 60s and do what they can to survive. She makes hamburger rocks.
OK, relevant, but didn't make much sense. Just mumbling out loud I guess.
Thanks for the link to a more thorough recipe than what she wrote.
For what it's worth, now that I've rambled on like a moron.
http://theviewfromtreesongs.blogspot.com/
I would think twice about this. I notice they also have a picture of canned butter.
National Center for Home Food Preservation warns that butteris a low acid food. "In conclusion, with no testing having been conducted to validate these methods, we would NOT recommend or endorse them as a safe home-canning process, let alone for storing butter at room temperature for an extended period."http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/questions/FAQ_canning.html#33
Nola, I don't have much experience dehydrating, and have never tried drying meats. This one sounded easy :)
Thanks, Lacy! The venison jerky sounds good :) I hope things pick up on your blog...it certainly shows the hard work you've put into it :)
Thank you, Judy! I look forward to spending more time on your site as I have the availability :)
Meadowlark, thanks for the link! lol and what would life be like if we couldn't ramble on?? I just saw this on that site and havent tried it myself, but it looked interesting...I'll report back after trying :)
Eva, are your concerns with just the butter or with the dried beef? I thought the dried cooked beef was along the same lines as jerky and would be fine (as described on their site) whether stored in airtight sterile jars or plastic...I didn't post the butter recipe, and I'm not sure about it, frankly, for the same reasons you've raised. How would you recommend storing jerky, dried beef, if not the way they suggested? Thanks for raising any concerns! :)
Hmmm, as to storage I think the key word is sterile then air tight. If they aren't sterile and then you seal them air tight or airless and tight to prevent air getting in then there might be problems. Anaerobic bacteria like botulism could have a field day. I'm not sure this would happen, particularly if the beef were sufficiently salted-the salt being a preservative. Since the meat is preserved before it is stored the anaerobic bit may not be an issue. I'm not sure. The reason I'm writing this is because a number of years ago a botulism outbreak was a problem in some Native Alaskan communities. The cause was ziploc bags! The bags were a convenient way to make a traditional food called "Stink Eggs." It involved a cold fermentation process. The ziploc bags created an anaerobic environment that allowed for botulism that the traditional storage containers generally didn't cause. In this case the processing was done in the ziplocs and it may not be comparable. But be sure it is safe to store dried food that lacks a strong preservative in airless containers.
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