BBQ Smoking Taboos

DON’T’S:

* Please don’t confuse it with Grilling – This is one of those rookie things that always separate “hard-core” barbecue enthusiasts from the uneducated public. Remember, grilling is a quick, hot fling you have with a steak, hamburger, or hot dog……..while barbecue describes the day(s)-long relationship you have with a rack of ribs, a pork shoulder, a beef brisket, etc. Much more finesse is required for barbecue, as well as a whole lotta time

* Lighter Fluid – Unless you enjoy the taste of petroleum distillates (i.e. gasoline, kerosene, paint thinner), don’t even try it. Your food is going to have a long time to get acquainted with your fuel source, and we don’t want “smoke” to be replaced by “fumes”.

* Self-lighting briquettes – these little “lazy guy” lumps are basically lighter fluid sponges….see above.

* Liquid Smoke – This stuff is made by burning “green” wood and liquefying the resulting smoke. If properly cooking barbecue over wood coals, WHY WOULD YOU EVEN CONSIDER IT? The only place I’ve seen it used, where it “might” make sense, is in “barbecue” sauce, but even that is debatable. Everywhere else, including jerky, is fraudulent. It’s like opening up a can of Spaghetti-O’s and calling it Fine Italian Pasta.

* Ovens – At NO TIME should an oven be considered as part of the barbecuing procedure. Therefore, it is IMPOSSIBLE to make “barbecued” ribs in the oven. You can make some great “oven-cooked” ribs, but please don’t call them barbecued.

* Boiling Ribs – the ultimate taboo…..Most of the taboos listed above have one or two exceptions that will keep you from getting hung, but this one……NEVER EVER EVER EVER should a rib of ANY type come into contact with boiling water unless you’re making soup. If you need to boil them to make them tender, hang it up and order take-out.

* Crock Pot w/Barbecue Sauce – Ugh, a cross between the oven taboo and the boiling ribs taboo…..need I say more? Throw some foil in the mix and you’ve just insulted the entire barbecuing community.

* Best Cooker – asking a man what the best barbecue rig is, is akin to asking him who the best ball team is. Everyone has an opinion, and everyone else disagrees. Be very wary when asking for this opinion topic, as it could easily get out of hand…..and if you use the word “ceramic” or “egg” in your question…..you better DUCK!

* Favorite Meat – very regionally sensitive discussion. Various parts of the nation have their own version of barbecue, which involves different cuts of meat from different animals. Generally speaking: east is pork ribs, southeast is pork shoulders and whole hogs, south is beef and brisket.

* Wet or Dry – “sauced” or “on the side”. Very much like meat, this preference is displayed along regional lines, with the eastern folks liking the sweet and/or vinegary sauces, and the Texans liking the spicy tomato or DRY situations.

* Lump or Briquettes – Here’s one near and dear to my heart. When I started this hobby, I had a Brinkman Offset, a pile of hickory logs, and a bag of a certain brand of charcoal briquettes (hint: they may be the “king” of charcoal briquettes). Some fine fine cooks tell me that they don’t notice anything different between fuels, but others say that there is a nasty, bitter, acrid, chemically smell/taste they find when using certain “royal” and “kingly” briquettes…..and I’m inclined to agree.

* Cooking with flaming logs or glowing coals – right off the bat, I’ll say that BOTH are right….but one is much harder and, for me, much more expensive. The traditional “purists” insist that the original barbecueing pitmasters would burn their wood all the way down to coals before adding food to the pit. Then, they would add glowing coals to the pit as the cook progressed, preburned in another area. But, when cooking with flaming wood, you must be careful to have just the right fire going or you’ll ruin your food with bitter creosoted smoke. (small hot fire with almost invisible smoke) When using preburned coals, you don’t run that risk…but you waste a lot of wood and spend a lot of time preburning and shoveling.

* Soaked or Dry – small discussion item, but both sides of the camp on this one. When using wood chunks or chips in the smaller cookers, most folks will soak the wood in water to prolong the smoldering and keep the wood from bursting into flames. The downside is that some people can smell/taste a difference in the quality of smoke produced from a soggy piece of wood. I’ve done both, and in some situations NEED to do one or the other, depending on the cooker I’m using.

* Sauces – tomato, vinegar, or mustard – this goes back to that “regional” thing again. I hate stereotypes, so forgive me if I’m doing this, but historically, different regions of the country “tend” toward the various flavors. Again, this is a discussion item. For these “regional” types though, I find the discussions less hostile and more constructive…..listen to what folks like and decide for yourself.

* Foil or No Foil – OK, here’s a hot one. Back to the traditional guys, foil was never used “back in the day”, so obviously it doesn’t belong here and now….right? Well, that’s the argument, along with the problem of food “steaming” while in foil. Again, like we said in the taboo section, you can get away with foil if you’re done cooking and keeping the food warm but be prepared for a “discussion” if you wrap the food in foil while cooking.

* Gas and Electric? – see alt.food.cakes……………all I’ll say here is that traditional barbecue does not involve alternative forms of heat. You can make food that is close, but it won’t be the same as cooking with wood and charcoal. If you’re that lazy, order take-out.

About the Author

The Good-One Smoker/Grill is endorsed by Chris Marks, 8 time Grand Champion of the American Royal Cookoff Contest. The website also has information on how to become a Good-One Smoker/Grill dealer, barbecues and smokers product information, and BBq grilling tips.

You have had a successful season and now you are faced with a pleasant problem. How do you preserve all the meat you have harvested? The most common method is to freeze it. However, drying, smoking and canning are also tasty alternatives.
When freezing venison, be sure to trim fat as it will become rancid more quickly, giving the meat a “gamey” flavor. Prepare cuts for cooking, then wrap tightly in plastic wrap before wrapping in moisture and vapor-proof freezer paper. Seal and date the packages in sizes to meet the needs of your family. Large cuts can be individually wrapped, as can steaks or chops. If you place more than one in a package, separate them with a double layer of paper to make separation for cooking easier. If you have some of the meat ground for burgers, spaghetti sauce, or sloppy joes, pack in family-sized servings for freezing.
A fun and economical way to preserve venison is by making jerky. Jerky made with lean meat is low in cholesterol, low in fat, full of protein and high in energy. It is a convenient way to take a snack camping, biking, hiking or for use in packed lunches for school or work.
Slice the meat ¼” thick with the grain and cut into strips of the desired length allowing for shrinkage. Weigh the meat after cutting so you use exactly the right amount of seasoning. Lay the strips on an even surface, pat dry, and apply seasonings. It is best to store strips, stacked and pressed tightly together, in the refrigerator for 24 hours. You are then ready to cook your jerky in the over, smoker, or dehydrator.
Another excellent method of preparation for venison is sausage. Again, all the fat must be trimmed. Grind the meat, mixing in 2 parts of fat port or beef for every 3 parts of venison. Add salt and spices to taste. Experiment with various spices – nutmeg, coriander, pepper, anise, celery salt, cayenne pepper, onion powder, sage, or garlic powder – until you find a combination you like. After you add the spices, grind the mixture again. The ground sausage can be formed into patties, meatballs, or stuffed into casings. Cook to 165 degrees before eating.
Venison can also be canned, however, because it is a low-acid food, it must be processed in a pressure canner. It can be packed either raw (cold packed) or cooked (hot packed), and while cold packed is faster, hot packed allows you to fit more meat into the jar, remove more air from the jar, and have less liquid loss, all of which contributes to better quality.
So, to ensure a successful hunt, check out some of our current deals on digital trail cameras, bag you deer, and try some of these methods for preserving your venison. Whether you freeze, smoke, can, or make jerky, you can relive some of the hunting experience every time you take a bite. Enjoy!

About the Author

owner of escoutingcamera.com

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The Onyx Oven by the BBQGuru

The engineering and cooking teams at The BBQ Guru have been working hard on the design and function of the new Onyx Oven. We wanted a cooker that was extremely efficient and rugged, yet lightweight and versatile. After building a couple prototypes and cooking on them week after week at BBQ competitions around the country, we have perfected and we present to you, The Onyx Oven!

The Onyx Oven is an extremely versatile cooking machine. No matter what it is you want to cook outdoors, it can be achieved with the Onyx.

- Cold smoking cheese, fish etc.
- Jerky drying
- Slow cooked barbecue (pulled pork, brisket, ribs etc.)
- Bread/pizza baking
- Baking casseroles, beans, stews and desserts
- Roasting meats and vegetables
- Grilling steaks, burgers, brats and more
Onyx Oven Barbeque Smoker

The Onyx Oven’s insulated, double wall construction makes it very fuel efficient giving you long burn times with very low charcoal consumption.
It is made for use with a stainless steel catering pan to be used as a removable water/drip pan, this allows you to use the Onyx as a water smoker, a dry smoker, a grill or even a roasting or warming oven.

It holds three 13″x22″ shelves with a perfect capacity for backyard barbeque enthusiasts and competition BBQ’ers. There are three (3) shelf positions that hold full catering pans as well.

(This is a very convenient feature that comes in handy at almost any event).

Other features of the Onyx Oven are:

Dimensions: 32”H x 27”W x 18” D

- Three 13×22″ stainless shelves (4576 cu.in. of cooking space)

Use with water pan or cook direct

Holds approx.
- 6 Pork butts or
- 6 Racks of St. Louis spare ribs or

- 9 Racks of Baby Backs
- 6 Small brisket flats or
- 2 Whole packer briskets or
- 16 Chicken halves or
- 64 Chicken thighs

- High Temperature powder coated finish

- Sturdy light weight construction (weighs approx. 83 lbs.)

- Heavy-duty latch system of cooking chamber door and firebox door

- Air tight doors

- Holds about 12 lbs of charcoal

- Heavy Duty Hinges

- Adjustable top damper

For more info about the Onyx Oven and to see all of our Quality Built BBQ Smokers, Grills, Accessories and Temperature Controls please be sure to visit our website or give us a call!

About the Author

The BBQ Guruâ,,¢ is manufactured by Therm-Omega-Tech, Inc., an industry leader in industrial temperature control. TOT was founded in 1982 by Shotgun Fred Pirkle.

Our BBQ Products and Smoker Temperature Controls website address is http://www.thebbqguru.com

If you have any questions contact us at vileta@honeycreekoutdoors.com

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This presentation centers around the handling, preparing, and processing of food in your food dehydrator where the key issue of food safety is emphasized. While there are some risks the steps discussed herein will minimize, or eliminate, those threats to the products coming from food dehydrators.

Keep it clean from start to finish is the theme. All of the products selected for drying contain some amount of moisture. Bacteria, mold, and yeast are ever present in the air, soil, and objects around us and thrive to produce spoilage in foods that remain moist without refrigeration or some sort of processing.

To begin the Keep It Clean theme, start with the equipment used for preparing and drying the food, be sure it is washed even after taken out of the cupboard. The use of gloves works fine as long as one remembers not to contaminate the gloves by answering the phone or opening the door, with them on, then returning to preparing food.

Fruits and vegetables can be scrubbed quite vigorously before slicing, grinding, or juicing. These products contain enzymes, that cause them to ripen. Drying slows the enzyme activity but on vegetables some activity may continue to work. Fruits can turn brown from oxidation during the drying process. Enzyme activity and oxidation can be curtailed by pre-treating the produce with heat or sulfur dioxide.

Special attention needs to paid for meats or fish. These items need to be washed thoroughly, taking whatever time is necessary to trim fat, gristle, and connective tissue away. Fat particularly can get rancid even after drying and lead to mold. Some authors on the subject advocate cooking fish, or shellfish before the drying process, it does add an extra step but remember one purpose for drying is to make food light weight allowing for a greater variety of menu in those back packs.

As mentioned in one of my previous articles, “Enhanced Performance From Your Food Dehydrator”, uniformity in thickness when cutting meat for your food dehydrator is key to obtaining the results one would want from all food dehydrators. A food slicer makes uniform cuts perfect, but a good sharp knife with meat partially frozen can do a decent job.

Food grinders in preparing meat jerky, beef or wild game, has several advantages. The meat gets broken up with the grinder so that it can be placed in a jerky gun. The jerky gun can than makes uniform sized strips of jerky that will dry perfectly in the food dehydrator. Additionally, when using the food grinder to prepare jerky you can add ingredients to the meat whether it be your favorite spices, or seasoning, or even mixtures of different meats to enhance the flavor to your liking.

Temperatures of 145 degrees F for 45 minutes will effectively kill microorganisms. With meat this means the internal temperature of the meat must reach that temperature with the temperature being sustained for the period of time necessary to be effective.

Modern day food dehydrators with today’s technology are capable of a wide variety of temperature control and will maintain effective kill temperatures throughout any drying cycle. However, it would only be prudent to cross check the temperature setting of your food dehydrator with another thermometer when you first make a purchase.

In summary, think, Keep It Clean, when you start preparing your products for your food dehydrator. You will enjoy your results, for good food nutrition, good food storage, and good taste. Do not rush the process, but make it a family event, one that the kids will remember for years to come.

About the Author

Author Tom Stelmak has lived in Montana most of his life. Has dried food out of doors, in the kitchen oven, and now with state of the art, food dehydrators. The time has come to share those experiences, and invite others with food dehydrator interests to share their secrets, and look at some of the finest food dehydrators, juicers, food slicers, food grinders, vacuum sealers and associated products with more tips at: http://www.drynaturalfoods.com

If you think that the only food that you can dehydrate is meat, then you are missing the boat. The only rule for dehydrating foods is there is no rule. If you can eat it, you can dehydrate it and make it even more delicious. Any food that you can think of, from sweet to savory and beyond, can be perfectly and delicately dehydrated, its flavor and natural goodness concentrated into a smaller nugget of what it once was.

The Sweet Stuff

Everyone knows that pineapples, apples, cherries, berries and other fruits are filled with natural sugars called fructose, giving them their sweet flavor. But, did you know that when you pop any of these into any of the dehydrator that fructose, the natural sweetness becomes concentrated into an ultra delicious, chewy treat that is a great alternative to candy? Banana chips are also delicious, going from the soft, sometimes mushy texture to a crispy, crunchy treat that will have you stuffing them in by the double handfuls.

The Savory Stuff

Okay, so you know that you can pop some marinated strips of meat into the dehydrator and make jerky, but there is no limit to the types of meats that you can do, the kind of marinades that you can use or the flavors that you add in. There are kits that you can use, but you can also experiment with combinations until you stumble on magic. You can use the same flavors to dry vegetables, making them into something more unique. Think about it, you buy dehydrated potatoes all of the time. You can make them yourself with the right dehydrator.

Shocking Uses for a Dehydrator

Did you know that you can dehydrate your own herbs? Now you have no excuse not to plant a small herb garden, even if you only grow a few culinary herbs on the window sill. You don’t have to worry about saving them or using them quickly. You simply dehydrate them and use them as you would purchased dry herbs. You can also use the dehydrator to make crafts, including drying bunches of fragrant lavender to make your own sachets.

There is another project you can use the dehydrator for: Mix unsweetened applesauce and cinnamon until it forms a workable paste and then either use cookie cutters or free form it into desired shapes. Pop these inedible creations into the dehydrator and when they are dried, you will have fragrant décor that is rustic and unique.

The Right Dehydrator

Finding the right dehydrator is important especially if you plan to make your own fruit snacks, your own healthy, protein rich jerky and even dry your own herbs or make arts and crafts that scent and beautify your home at the same time. The Excalibur Dehydrator 3900 is a good choice for you, offering all the function of a quality machine at a great price. Available in a number of tray sizes, the dehydrator that you need can be found at: http://www.877myjuicer.com/excaliber.

About the Author

If you are looking for best juicers online. Visit 877myjuicer.com that offers a latest selection of top branded dehydrators like, Food Dehydrators, Excalibur Dehydrator 3900, juicers, wheatgrass juicers and many more products.

www.1beefjerky.com This is a Beef Jerky Marinade Recipe for Hawaiian Jerky. A little different from the ordinary beef jerky recipes found out there today. Enjoy More Homemade Beef Jerky Recipes from our website.
Video Rating: 5 / 5

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Whether you own a mountain bike or a road bike or simply no bike at all, there are some truly great exercise equipment available on the market today that can allow you to workout cycling any time whether it is night or day or raining or sunny.

Closest equipment to feeling like a real bike ride is the Ride E-Motion Roller, which gives individuals the virtual reality riding experience. This is an innovative roller that allows safe and a high performance exercise training that can be used indoors or even outdoors. It has the ability to feel more like real cycling as both wheels spin on roller drums that forces the individual to be balanced as they rock back and forth while pedaling.

It is truly simply to learn how to do and will take most individuals less than thirty seconds to learn and it is safer for any age group. The entire device is built on a spring loaded sub-frame that slides four inches fore and aft on a track, which accommodates the natural and imperceptible pulsing that occurs during outdoor pedaling but feels jerky on fixed position trainers. It is lightweight, which makes it perfect for moving around without the need of assistance.

Another roller available on the market today that can be used indoors or outdoors is the Performance Travel Trac Century Fluid Trainer. It has a stationary rear wheel training stand that helps generate resistance though the tire’s contact with a roller drum that must overcome the inertia of an attached fan encased in a fluid housing. It has a smooth ride and the setup is quick and easy. It is extremely safe for novices and experts alike and is quieter than similar air-fan and magnetic resistance trainers. This trainer folds up for small and easy storage or to be able to move outdoors on your deck so the individual will get the real experience of training outdoors.

The Minoura Powermatic Rim Trainer is another stationary roller that is available on the market to day that has a stationary training stand that creates resistance on the rear wheel rim to allow the use of any tire including mountain bike tires. It is the quietest and smoothest trainer on the market and instead of the tire rolling on a metal drum as with other trainers, this has two small spring loaded rubber wheel that pinch the rim from the each side. There is a handlebar mounted adjustable resistance lever that allows the individual to increase their workout level.

The Expresso Fitness S2u is an exercise bike with a seventeen inch LCD screen that puts the individual up against interactive courses and racers for the most of their workout experience. This exercise bike is the most fun and the most motivating and realistic exercise bike on the market with its true virtual reality riding and pivoting handlebars and resistance that changes with the terrain. As in real cycling the individual must steer their bike through traffic and around corners as they shift gears or stand up out of the saddle to climb intense hills to speed up. There are more than thirty programs that will offer easy to difficult courses in which the individual can race pacers or against their own personal best. This bike includes a heart rate monitor, a watt meter, and has calorie, distance, RPM, gear and slope readouts.

About the Author

Victor Epand is an expert consultant for sweatpants, sweatshirts, outdoor gear, sports clothing, and model motorcycles. Click here when you want to find sweatpants, sweatshirts, outdoor exercise bikes, and model motorcycles.

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Making beef jerky at home is something pretty easy to do. It’s a process that you can get really creative with too, as the possibilities for marinating and seasoning, and even what you can turn into jerky, are endless!

Before you begin to make jerky, there are a few things you need to know. First of all, you may want to read our page on beef jerky risks to learn about any health risks you may encounter while preparing. Using a curing salt is a very good way to make sure the meat stays safe.

Making beef jerky is a fun project, but there are some things you may want to purchase before you begin to make your first batch. You can make jerky in your oven on low heat, but many jerky enthusiasts use a dehydrator. In fact, many people probably got into making jerky from purchasing a dehydrator of a late night infomercial! There are all different brands and capacities of dehydrators. You may also want to make sure you have some sharp knives, as you will learn that cutting meat while frozen is ideal. If you think you will be making a lot of jerky, you may want to invest in a mechanical slicer. Rival has a good model and so does Cabela’s.

Other accessories you can purchase are drying racks, jerky shooters (guns for shaping ground meat), tiered jerky trays for the oven and jerky cubers.

Before you begin making beef jerky, you may also want to stock up on some ingredients. This would include a curing salt like sodium nitrite. Use one teaspoon of the cure per five pounds of meat. Aside from that, you may want to look up some recipes for ideas on what else to get. Usually salt, pepper and garlic powder are a given.

Then of course you will want to get the meat! Many jerky experts say the best meat to get is freshly cut beef top round. Your butcher or grocery meat department can even slice it for you into a 1/4″ thickness. As noted above, freezing the meat will help with getting the perfect slices. It is recommended to do this about an hour before slicing. When you are ready to make the beef jerky, you will cut it into thin slices. Many say that slicing it against the grain makes for easier chewing.

After the meat is sliced, the beef jerky making process continues with seasoning. This is where we don’t want to get specific because from here your recipe may take over. However, most recipes call for seasoning/curing on both sides and then refrigeration for up to a day.

When you are ready to “cook” the jerky there are various methods too. Some use an oven, some use a dehydrator and others go as far as a smokehouse. If using the oven, keep at 160 °F for about six hours. After it is dried in the oven at the proper temperature for the proper time the jerky should bend so it cracks a little but does not break. It should be dry, chewy and even a bit leathery.

To help your jerky last longer, store anything you are not going to eat right away in vacuum packed bags. The FoodSaver or a similar product works well. Because jerky lasts so well, making a big batch at one time is never a problem. This article really just provides the basics of making beef jerky at home, as there are so many recipes available that explain the process.

Remember that all meats are different! Pay close attention to temperature.

About the Author

If you found this information on beef jerky recipes useful, you’ll want to read this article about making beef jerky.

Just using the jerky gun to make some venison jerky. Kind of hard to film and use the gun at the same time.

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The first thing most folks want to do with a new vertical propane smoker is smoke jerky. Beef jerky is really a popular snack and one requirement for my personal tote on a car trip. After you obtain the basics lower, it’s a technique that can be used with other meat. Growing up in high altitude associated with non-urban Pennsylvania, a state that life deer searching, We developed a preference with regard to deer jerky, a hillbilly treat.

But let us begin with beef, because that’s the easiest to find, you don’t have in order to kill this your self, and when you ruin it, you can buy much more. Jerked beef is made of strips of beef dried and salted. At first, it had been cured out in the sun, as well as later within smoke homes. By using a vertical smoker, you can include a great mesquite or even hickory smoke for your jerky.

First, take the beef as well as cut it over the grain in to whitening strips in regards to a quarter-inch heavy. Then cut body fat off. That’s essential in the vertical smoker since fat can extend the actual treating time. It is even more important if you ultimately wish to graduate in order to treating under the sun because fat gets rancid pretty fast. 1 quick way is to buy the slim reduce, such as sirloin ideas. Be aware the cost of the reduce, though. It is difficult to justify a pound associated with jerky that cost .

Eventually, you can test a myriad of spices as well as marinades (teriyaki beef jerky is really a personal preferred when venison isn’t readily available) to jazz up your jerky. Initially, nevertheless, just use old fashioned sodium as well as pepper.

In your vertical propane smoker you will need to start with a bit of smoke out of your wood chips in the beginning. Because the whitening strips tend to be slim, you’ll get a good great smoky style of just a few hours. It’s also wise to ensure that it stays in a lower heat, between 145 and a hundred and fifty degrees. After that let it smoke. It can taketwelve hours, based on humidity, temperature, and the cut associated with meat. Using a grilling with charcoal vertical smoker in excess of 12 several hours is difficult (and harmful should you let it go as you rest), so for extended smokes, use gas or electric smokers. You can add the wooden chips going back 2 or 3 several hours.

About the Author

A Vertical
Propane Smoker is perfect for Beef Jerky as well as all types of meats, and
try some vegetables too. You can find more information at http://www.landmann-usa.com

Jack Scalfani shows you how to do homemade beef jerky. PLEASE SUBSCRIBE TO THIS CHANNEL. IT’S FREE. Here is the recipe for the marinade that Jack used. Ingredients: 1 1/2 to 2 pounds flank steak 2/3 cup Worcestershire sauce 2/3 cup soy sauce 1 tablespoon honey 2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper 2 teaspoons onion powder 1 teaspoon liquid smoke 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes (add more to make hotter) Special Equipment: 1 box fan, 2 paper air-conditioning filters, and 2 bungee cords or shipping tape Basically what you want to do is trim the meat of any fat. Then stick it in the freezer for about an hour or two until it’s firm. You don’t want it completely frozen, but this helps with the slicing. Cut long, thin strips WITH the grain. I know this is counterintuitive, but this is what you want to do for good jerky; we’re not making steaks here. Mix all of the marinade ingredients together in a large zip-lock baggy, and drop in your meat. Ensure all the pieces are coated, and throw it in the refrigerator for about 6 hours. When 6 hours is up, remove the meat, pat the pieces dry and grab your filters. Lay the strips out in the grooves of the filter. Cover with the other filter, and bungee or tape the stack to your (preferable square) box fan. Turn the fan on high, and let it blow over the meat for 12 hours. After 12 hours is up, it’s time to enjoy some delicious, delicious home made jerky.

For a healthy, portable snack, one needs to look no further than the nutrient dense, low calorie, and filling treat, Beef Jerky. Jerky has been an important part of many people’s lives for centuries, but with the advent of modern agriculture and food distribution, it has been relegated to a small niche on a supermarket shelf. While most people associate beef jerky with the old west, this healthy food is readily available, and makes an excellent snack anytime, especially with our busy modern lifestyle. It is a perfect “on the go” food for outdoor activities, and is easily carried in a bag or pocket for an anytime snack.

Beef jerky is an excellent source of lean protein, which promotes a feeling of fullness, and is a perfect choice to help sustain a person through the day. The low fat content helps keep calories down, and means it is healthier than many other snack options. For those on low carbohydrate diets, beef jerky is a perfect treat to help satisfy your craving for food without the accompanying carbohydrates. A celery stick doesn’t seem an exciting option for many of us, and a savory snack such as beef jerky is satisfying without being a dieter’s nightmare. It should come as no surprise to hear that supermodels have been known to nibble jerky throughout the day to help them feel satisfied and avoid the cravings that can come from dieting.

A 1 ounce serving of beef jerky can have as little as one gram of fat and, supplying the body with much needed nutrients without the sugar, fat, and preservatives that seem prevalent in every snack food these days. The ultimate portable food, beef jerky is easy to carry, store, enjoy, and share. While some commercial beef jerky products may be high in sodium, low salt options are readily available. If you can’t find it at the grocery store, beef jerky is amazingly easy to make at home, without the need for special equipment. While dehydrators are not expensive, beef jerky can easily be made in a conventional oven with little effort. And jerky is not limited to beef, just about any meat can be made into jerky, and just about any flavor may be added to a variety of meats, with surprisingly good results.

Real beef jerky comes as strips of dried meat, firm yet pliant and ready for the road. It can be stored for indefinite periods of time, and is both pocket and shelf stable. Certain mass produced ‘sticks’ are not the beef jerky of yore, and often contain many other things that meat (fillers and preservatives). Many jerky-esque products come in special packaging, and leave behind a oily wrapper that must be disposed of. Real jerky is easy to carry, dry, so there is no transfer of oil or moisture, and a convenient way to take a small meal with you without having to worry about any preparation. There truly is no better food for an easy snack away from home.

If you are looking for beef jerky recipes, jerky making tips, and easy how-to instructions, The Jerky FAQ at http://www.jerkyfaq.com is a complete guide to making jerky at home, or finding beef jerky online. Making your own favorite jerky is easier than you think, and this satisfying snack has been hiding in plain sight for too long.

About the Author

Warren Ransom is a personal chef and manages a number of websites devoted to food and dining.

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Gun Safe Accessories; Dehumidifier why you need one!

You’ve taken the financial plunge and have finally invested in a gun safe to give you that piece of mind you are looking for but are there options for your safe that your local safe retailer has not told you about ? Or worse yet did you purchase your safe at a box store and had no idea that you need some sort of dehumidification device.

Dehumidification; you can achieve this with an electric dehumidifying rod or a silica gel pack. But why do you need these? Whenever you have an installed box, like a safe, the air inside the box does not circulate. When the air becomes stagnate it settles and the moisture particles that were in the air settle on your paper work, firearms, jewelry, etc etc. This moisture build up causes rust, mold, mildew. How do they work? Electronic dehumidifiers , heat up to the touch and in turn this heat creates a slight circulation of air in the safe, this circulation does not let the moisture particles settle but rather keeps them suspended in the air inside the safe. On the other side of the coin you have target=”_blank”>Silica Packs, are just that silica, lots of it, think of those little packs of stuff that say ” do not eat” that you get in beef jerky and boxes of shoes. Essentially the silica sucks the moisture up getting rid of the moisture completely.

Which one is right for you? When I purchased my first safe from a local office supply store I was unaware of moisture issues, needless to say my safe ended up rusting so bad that it was a bear to open. However, there are differences in safes fire protection causing differences in moisture released into the safe. Gun Safes, like Liberty, Champion, Fort Knox, use sheetrock as their fire insulation material and have pre-drilled holes for electric dehumidifiers. On the flip side of the coin many of the home fire safes you find at your local retailers use concrete for their insulation. Concrete creates exponentially more moisture then a “dry” fire lined safe. In addition, most concrete safes are not drilled for running the cord from your electric dehumidifier to an outlet; in this case a silica gel pack will be needed.

Ease of Use: Electric Dehumidifier, they stay plugged in and work 24/7 as opposed to Silica packs which need to be “recharged” or put in the oven to bake out the moisture when they are saturated.

Cost : Silica Packs tend to be slightly cheaper.

Effectiveness: Electric Dehumidifier, and the only I reason I say this is because most people who have silica packs do not re-charge them when they are saturated, which in turn renders them useless.

Warranty: Electric Dehumidifier, companies like goldenrod offer a lifetime guarantee, whereas silica packs like eva-dry only offer a 5 year warranty.

Overall: Electric Dehumidifier with the win, do yourself a favor and invest in one you will be happy that you did.

About the Author

Combined safe industry experience of 50+ years