Re: marinating beef

How about bring in the marinade to a boil turn off the heat. Then toss that opps meat in. It might give it a little boost in the taste department.

Vicky

OK, I admit it, I'm a blonde! > > I started some beef jerky, which you're supposed to marinate the beef > over night, then put in the dehydrator. Now I've read that beef should > be cooked first to 160 degrees (F) before putting in the dehydrator, so > normally I marinate, cook/nuke, then dehydrate. Today, I fixed the > marinate then started to nuke the beef... doh! > > Am I ok to still marinate the beef even after it's been cooked? > > TIA for help for the cooking impaired. :-)~ > > ~Glenn >
Reply to
cooksalot
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Speaking of "oops", after reading your reply, I think I didn't explain myself well enough. After fixing the marinade, I put the uncooked beef into the marinade, then the whole thing in the nuker (microwave--sorry, whiteman speak with colloquial tongue).

And by-the-by, I've put the sucker in there for 10-15 minutes this time, and I just couldn't seem to get the beef to 160; seemed to top out at

140. I know that microwaving has been used for sterilizing, so after that length of time, I'm assuming any bugs are d-e-d, dead (there I go again--Rocky Horror Picture Show reference--can you imagine me with someone from out of the country? Who's first language is not English? Neither could he! Hahaha. My wife and I have entertained friends from Mexico and, man, the blank stares I get sometimes, hehe.)

So, my main question is: Is it ok to marinate meat _after_ you cook it?

Thanks :) Glenn

PS: Going out of town for the next couple days, so have already marinated the cooked beef and dehydrated--just wanting to know if I'm doing something that I really shouldn't.. unhealthy, or un-anything.

cooksalot wrote:

Reply to
bagsmode

I was surprised by the strong suggestion by the USDA to heat the meat to 160F. We've made jerky for years with raw meat. On the other hand, that doesn't mean it's safe, it just means we've been lucky. OTOH, my wife prefers we use roasted beef to make the jerky...

160F is a high enough a temperature that you risk cooking the meat, and changing it's texture.

Obviously, I haven't done this. But there are several things you want to do. You want to have the marinade flavor the meat. You want to have the meat heated to the appropriate temperature. So.. here's what I'd do.

I'd start by slicing the meat and trimming off the excess fat. The meat would go into a ziplock baggie which I'd fill with marinade, seal, and put in the fridge. Every hour or so, I'd massage the meat to make sure the meat was well exposed to the marinade. Once I thought the meat had been marinaded long enough, I'd drain the marinade into a sauce pan, heat it to boiling, and then put the strips of meat - a few at a time - into the boiling marinade. From there, the meat would go onto the drying rack to be dried.

Of course, I'd be careful that the meat stayed above 140F while it was drying to insure that more creepy crawlies didn't get on the meat.

Slicing first helps the marinade work faster, and makes it easy to heat the meat to 160F.

Good luck, Mike

Reply to
Mike Avery

You don't need to get the beef up to 160 just make sure the marinade gets high enough so that the surface of the meat is heated enough. Don't worry about heating it through the whole piece of meat. The center can still be raw. E.coli sits on the surface of the meat that is why. This is why ground beef is such an issue, cause it gets mixed in.

Reply to
cooksalot

Nah it won't kill you. May taste different though. Let us know for knowledge sake.

Vicky

Reply to
cooksalot

Actually, the USDA strongly recommends getting up to 160. All the way through. And then not letting it get below 140 until it's dried out. I'm not sure I like the idea..... to me jerky should be raw, not cooked. And 160 is well done.

Look at

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for more information.Mike

Reply to
Mike Avery

I'll have to say that, while still good, the beef seemed more coated with the marinade than soaked through. I could definitely taste more of the spices from the mixture on the surface, so having the beef cooked first seemed to prevent the marinade from soaking in very much.

This was my original concern actually. I wasn't sure if the marinade, which is heavily salt based to preserve the meat, would be prevented from soaking into the beef severely enough to cause a health hazard. I mostly keep this stuff refrigerated, however, part of the reason that I made this batch is that my wife and I were going out of town. It's good to have solid protein like beef jerky around for her, and beef jerky doesn't require to be refrigerated as long as it's not over a week.

Thanks, Glenn

Reply to
bagsmode

Yeah, this is where I originally got the 160 temp. I'll have to say that the meat has a more solid texture than chewy, like store bought jerky does.

Another poster suggested something more along the lines of your post, that I just need to get the surface to 160, not the meat all the way through, as the bacteria sits on the top of the beef. Since there are ways and products to make jerky with ground beef, that's probably why the USDA makes sure to have people cook to 160 throughly--alittle CYA (other poster stated that with ground beef the bacteria gets mixed into the beaf).

Thanks for your replies :)

~Glenn

Reply to
bagsmode

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