Dry meat.

Discussion in 'Finding, Identifying, and Preparing Food' started by SirJoe, Jun 30, 2016.

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  1. SirJoe

    SirJoe Expert Member
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    One of the common methods of preserving meat in the past was drying it out. I have had biltong before and I really liked it. Is it easy to make?
    I think that it should be similar to making beef jerky.
     
  2. Corzhens

    Corzhens Master Survivalist
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    Dried meat is not that easy to make but not that hard either. From what I heard when my father-in-law was telling stories, he would cut the meat of the deer or wild boar in slices and apply salt before placing it on banana leaves for drying. The big problem in drying meat is the flies, they would land on the meat and lay eggs that later would be maggots. Be careful of that. As with the drying of the meat, it would take at least 3 days for the preservation process. It is also important that the meat stays dry during that period.

    And when you want to cook the dried meat, you have to soak it in pineapple juice or even orange juice to make it somewhat juicy. But you can eat the dried meat as it is although the texture may be too tough for your teeth.
     
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  3. joshposh

    joshposh Master Survivalist
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    I made another thread about this. It's lost in a sea of threads by now. Check out the picture. Fully enclosed to where flies and anything else won't be able to touch it. Forget about the banana branch.
    0fdae822e7056dc0d977a5433ad3739c.jpg
     
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  4. lonewolf

    lonewolf Societal Collapse Survivalist. Staff Member
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    I've got an old fashioned "meat safe" that looks a lot like that.
     
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  5. joshposh

    joshposh Master Survivalist
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    Adding salt to the meat pretty much locks out all of the excess moisture and bacteria. The meat will be edible for days when the curing process is over.
     
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  6. John Snort

    John Snort Well-Known Member
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    There are several ways you can dry meat but one I've heard of that works quite well though I've never tried it myself.

    Cut the meat into thin strips. You can then soak the meat in salty water for a night. The next day, hang them in the sun. Do it the next day and the next until the meat is dry. It takes a lot longer than other methods though.

    If you are camping then you could build some sort of rack over your camp fire, cut the meat into thin strips and lay it on the rack. The heat from the fire will dry the meat fast. The end product though would be smoked meat, which won't taste all that bad either.
     
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  7. SirJoe

    SirJoe Expert Member
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    I have heard that people use regular electric fruit dehydrators, I don't have one but if they aren't too expensive I would give it a try. That would solve the fly problem and it wouldn't take that long for it to be ready.
     
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  8. joshposh

    joshposh Master Survivalist
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    Yes, having a second rack to where the meat is slow cooked and smoked is another way to keep the meat adible for a longer period. The bottom and first rack is where you do your regular campfire cooking.
     
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