Home Made Beef Jerky

[Lee Seidman]

I have been dehydrating Beef Jerky for quite some time to use as treats and our Doodles are crazy for it. I am happy to know that it is all natural, home made and not from China.

 

I would appreciate knowing what cut of meat others who home make beef Jerky use. I have tried several lean cuts but have no idea what cut makes the best Jerky > Please advise.

[Lee Seidman]

I hae used both top round and eye roundin the past. When Winn Dixie has meat sales I purchase a 10 lb piece and have them slice it. Something about buying the entire piece discounts the meat to $2.39 per pound. Still a lot less then the price of Chinese Jerky and much healthier. I simply slice it into 1/4 inch  x 1/2 inch strips  and dehydrate for around 8 hours. I usually do 2lbs at a time and freeze the rest. I use no seasoning and my guys love it. Once dehydrated I cut into 1" lengths to use as treats.

 

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Yes, but I'm guessing what you found on the internet is pertaining to making beef jerky for humans, not dogs. And what is their criteria for "most desirable" or "least desirable"?? Taste? Tenderness? Fat content? Dogs nutritional needs are different than humans'; they utilize fat much better than we do and need more of it in their diets than we do. Their taste buds aare not as sensitive as ours, and they don;t appreciate tenderness in meat as much as we do.

So you need to define what the "best" beef jerky means when you're making it for dogs. What we think is best might not be what a dog thinks is best. I'm guessing a dog is pretty happy to get any kind of beef jerky and doesn;t really care what cut of meat it's from. So unless you;re eating it, too, I'd go with whatever is cheapest.  

[Judy, Meg & Polly Wolly Doodle]

So glad to see this post out here on dehydrating treats.  We have two large excalibers, several apple, pear, peach trees and a vegetarian daughter who loves to get this stuff when ever we dehydrate.  I had read about the sweet potato treats and waiting for our son to harvest his sweet potatoes so I can take the extra for Meg.  I think I will make some treats to take to NC for my four-legged grandkids and when we get back I am going into serious dehydrator mode for Meg.  She is very food motivated for learning and I think she will be very excited by these. 

On the people end of dehydrating if you have not tried dehydrated watermelon, plan on it next season.  It is one of my daughters favorite foods.  Another one we like to do is season zucchini slices and dry them, use them instead of chips with your salsa.

[Sue & Lily Grace]

Sweet potato's dehydrated are one of Lily Grace's favorite treats. I have been slicing across the potato to make chips but now that she is getting bigger I am going to use the largest I can find and slice them the long way to make it easier for her to hold on to. I also did chicken liver (lived through the smell) but now I am a little afraid to feed them to her. I did not refrigerate after dehydrating. I have not seen any evidence of moisture, but still am not sure. Those of you that dehydrate meats do you store in the refrigerator?

[Sue, Murphy and Bella ()*o*()]

I do store the meats in the fridge. No reason or research to back it up, it just makes me feel better. I keep the sweet potatoes in a jar with a lid in the pantry.

[Sue, Murphy and Bella ()*o*()]

"Cannon Butt" effect.......haha. None here! But they only get about a 1" piece as their treat after breakfast and dinner. I call it their "cookie" and we do a few minutes of training for it. Sit, wait, lay down, shake.....nothing complicated. Just enough to make them "earn" it.
What brands of dehydrators did everyone get? Guess I should start a discussion in the food group to continue .

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

There's some info on the dehydrators themselves in those links I provided, and more in the TFG.

[Sue, Murphy and Bella ()*o*()]

Thanks Karen, I will re-read the discussions. Just doing my research now for a new one. My cheapo workes well, but takes a loooonnnnnggggg time and the trays are all falling apart. Cost more to replace trays than just upgrade to a better one.