Im considering buying a food dehydrator to make beef jerky, does it come out as good or better than the store?
you can get excellent results with a home dehydrator. my husband makes it quite often to the delight of friends and family. you can buy jerky-making kits, but often they are too salty. he constantly makes up his own flavors using just what we have in the house. he often makes asian-flavored jerky with soy sauce, 5-spice powder, and ginger, for example, or Caribbean jerk jerky. hubby will often do a few batches at once, and have "blind" taste tests w/friends, which is fun for everyone.
cuts of meat do matter. you can splurge and buy great steaks and make wonderful jerky, but that's kind of a waste. but if you buy the cheapest steaks out there, your jerky will reflect the steak's less-than-perfect nature (too stringy, too tough, not flavorful enough, etc). we buy when better cuts are on sale, and freeze it until he's ready to make it.
for those who said it's too dry/hard, you've let it dry too long. it's a taste-and-see process, where you sample several times throughout the drying time to get it the right consistency.
the dehydrator we have is one that was mentioned by someone else: round, stackable trays. we also dry garden produce, so it's not like this thing is only used for jerky. it's a more economical way to make those expensive dried tomatoes that are so yummy!
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