On Mon, 9 Apr 2001, Louise Anderson wrote:

> At 03:00 PM 04/08/2001 -0700, you wrote:
> >Does anyone know of a commercial jerky I could buy that is not too toxic? (
> >no MSG,ETC)  I'd like to have some on hand to give to Larry's friends.
> >Thanks, Mary
>
> Mary,
>
> I looked and looked for some and couldn't find any.
>
> However, it is incredibly easy to make. Just ask your butcher to slice a
> piece of steak (I use London Broil) into 1/4 or 1/8 inch thick strips.

I occasionally find myself stuck looking for some protein, and so
I've checked out the commercial jerky.  There is one brand that
has only one gram of sugar per serving, with 15g of protein.
That's not too bad, considering that most of them have 6 to 8
grams of sugar in a comparable serving.  But I can't remember the
brand name now; I'll have to look for it again.

But I agree that it is easy to make, and using ground meat can be
very easy as well, if you get one of those extruder guns.

There are some commercial spice blends that don't have MSG or
flour mixed in, and I usually use them.  I also use the cheap Mr.
Coffee dehydrator.  These machines tend to be a bit too hot, but
that problem is easily solved by placing one or two plastic
rulers across the top rack and putting the lid on them.  This
creates more ventilation for the warm air to escape, which
effectively lowers the temperature of the whole unit and slows
the drying time.  It is, of course, less energy-efficient this
way but it does work.

Todd Moody
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