At 06:16 1998-03-22 -0800, Mary  wrote:
>What herbs do you use?

Herbs de Provance, thyme and similar. I used to use oregano but was told
that it impairs iron uptake. I also dry and grind celery stalks.
I think You can use anything You like - experiment.

>BTW, if I dry some venison jerky, would it last for a couple of days?

Shure

>My only problem with ground meat is sometimes it gets too brittle

What is important is that You shall not use the blender, or even
hand-stir to much. When mixing in olive oil and seasoning be very
cautious. I use an ordinary table knife criss-crossing the ground
meat in a bowl, to mix. If You grind yourself You have to use a real
meat-grinder or corresponding function of a food processor.
The olive oil makes for easier mixing.
If You mix too much "threads" are pulled out of the meat, I think it
is this that makes the result brittle or hard.
Also qiute a lot dried herb leaves makes the result more porous.

>too long? Hans, how many hours do you dry your ground meat?

Until it is completely dry, 8 - 14 hours.

>Can you buy ground venison? I have not seen it here.

Only as a minor part in mix with elk.

>Does drying the venison preserve it even without any salt

As venison is lean it should be no problem, I think

>Hans, do you have horsemeat over there?

We can get it only in some shops, exept from sliced, smoked (like ham)
wich is used for putting on sandwiches, wich can be found everywhwere.

>Can you get ground game over there in Europe?

In some shops specialised in game, and they ar sparse . It is very
cheap 35-45 kr/Kg (~ 2.5-3 $/lb) a third of the cost for elk steak.
This goes for Sweden. Maybee its similar in Norway and Finland where
there is also lots of wild elk, but not the rest of western Europe.

- Hans