A Letter

Dear Mr. Brown,

Over the years I have come to not only respect your culinary technique but also the logic and science you apply to the art. This being said, I've got a bone to pick with you.

A few seasons back you had an episode on drying foods as an excellent way of not only preserving them but also of having a readily accessible highly nutritious snack. Ever since I saw that episode I have been aching to try your method of drying out meat to make jerky. As I have tried numerous other recipes and techniques that you have featured I was looking forward to this new adventure.

Your particular method involves a box fan as a cheap dehydrator, with the thinly sliced meat in furnace filters stacked and bungee corded to the box fan. Turn on the fan, and forget it until you wake up. Or eight hours, whichever comes first (or second).

In the past I have cooked the meat in order to dehydrate it. I also enjoy using a brine, and then season the meat. These are methods that you discourage. I can understand that the baking method will actually cook the meat which is something that should be avoided if possible in the jerky operation. The brine and then seasoning is adding a double dose of salt that isn't necessary. So far, I understand your science.

Where I stop following you is when you say to use a box fan with furnace filters. I understand the multi-tasking in the kitchen. But why the cold air? I understand that warm air holds onto more moisture which if translated into the culinary world means that less moisture will have the chance to be pulled out of the meat.

In your show you used the example of any mountain dwelling peoples that dry meat. Cold air, air movement, great jerky. But what about a little bit closer to home? The Plains Indians dried out buffalo meat. Last time I checked the Plains of the United States isn't very mountainous, and while it does get cold in the winter, there are plenty of days in the summer where 80 degrees is a low temperature.

Needless to say I was skeptical about the adventure but was willing to try it because you highly recommended it. So, just yesterday I started the process. Slightly frozen meat, check. Cut the meat into my desired size, check. Marinade of Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce, honey, liquid smoke, garlic, and pepper for three hours, check. Towel dry meat after three hours and place on furnace filters, check. Bungee cord said furnace filter laden with meat to the box fan, check. Turn box fan on high in a well ventilated room, check. Find something to fill the time for eight hours, check.

This morning I came out of my room to a delicious smelling kitchen. I turned off the fan, un-bungeed the bungees and proceeded to check the jerky. I can summarize my thoughts on the turn out in a word. Disappointing.

Don't get me wrong. Clean up was a breeze. Prep was a breeze. The jerky tastes phenomenal. Where I'm stuck is at the texture. While jerky is supposed to be chewy, this was more like a Slim-Jim than jerky. My conclusion is that your method is a very easy method for producing great tasting jerky, but to make great tasting and great chewing jerky bump up the time that the meat is on the fan. I put the meat back on the filters and turned the fan back on for an additional four hours, checking the meat every hour. At the end of all 12 hours I have amazing jerky.

All in all, just like you strive to teach on your show, stepping outside the box and experimenting leaves you with nothing but...Good Eats. Thank you AB.

Buck