Food Dehydraters for dog treats?

[ceecee]

Does anyone have a dehydrater to make jerky? After the last recall of my dog's chicken jerky treats (I only buy US products, not China made) I think I might start making it myself. Chicken breast costs $1.99 lb so it may cost less? I almost bought a Ronco (the only one Target had) but it has bad reviews, I don't want to spend a lot on it in case it doesn't work out!

 

[Jeff_G]

I see several problems with this, home made jerky requires a cure which is basically salt. the cure / salt creates an environment the inhibits bacterial growth while the meat is slowing dehydrating. If you omit the cure you can end up with a meat product full of some very nasty bacteria. If you add the cure it will be way too much salt intake for your animal.

 

[clh2]

I found a recipe for a chicken jerky that did not need a food dehydrator. Our dog at the time LOVED them. They stored in the fridge until they were gone. They just cooked in the oven..

Our current dog was very overweight when we got her from the rescue, so we don't give her as many treats. (so sorry, I do not have the recipe handy )

 

[Kies99]

I have an older version of this:
https://www.ronco.com/products/food-dehydrator.html

I don't use it often, maybe once a year, but it works great. I use thin cuts of meat which I cut into strips and then marinate in something I toss together. Put the strips on the trays, plug in the machine and then every two hours or so I rotate the trays. Takes most of the day and you do need to be home with it, but it's fine for my needs and never had any issues with the meat.

As for dog treats, I can't speak to that but as Jeff_G said you need to be careful of the salt content of your cure if you're doing it for dog treats. I'm sure there are probably recipes for dog treats on the web though.

 

[wiigirl]

Awesome idea.

 

[sksjasams]

We used to make turkey jerky for ourselves. Coated it in a jerky spice that I bought in the meat dept. After it dehydrated, we would have to bake it at a low temp for a short time to kill any bacteria. That was all explained in the dehydrator instructions I believe. The last step of baking was not required for beef jerky. We haven't made it in years, but no one ever got sick.

 

[scbelleatheart]

I slice the meat very thin with a meat slicer. It's easier if it is slighly frozen. Then marinate over night in low sodium soy sauce and a few drops of liquid smoke. That's my people version. It takes around 14 hours to dehydrate.