'MALINKIES':
A quick 'cheat' Jerky recipe - Dehydrated Sausage / Dehydrated Twiggy Snack Sticks

We all think of sausages as being something to throw on the barbie, especially when having an outdoor feast or picnic.
How about livening things up a bit and go for a variation, to be a bit different? After all, you can't always have a BBQ or outdoor fire, especially with the hot Australian weather, creating lots of fire bans.

So, Dehydrated Sausage or Dehydrated Twiggy Snack Sticks - whatever you may prefer to call these tasty jerky snacks.
Take them camping, hiking, bush walking, picnicking, or just keep them in the pantry to snack on!

Do you have memories of these twiggy sticks at the local deli counter? There are probably very few people who can resist these tasty morsels ... but, oh, the dreadfully unhealthy junk that is in them these days (perhaps back in the day as well)!!

Voila! ---- Make Your Own!

Buy good quality ready made sausages from the butcher, or go all out and make your own. from scratch
Making your own is the top choice, naturally - and they're much less expensive. You choose the ingredients knowing exactly what goes into your food, and you have the versatility of choosing flavours you love.
Either choice will be just the thing to grab when the craving hits. 😂

'MALINKIES'

Let's look at the quickest 'cheat' method first ... using your local butcher's sausages. We'll explore making your own from ground meat at a later stage - or someone may like to share your personal recipes, if you've made them.  😂

Please be sure to read our IMPORTANT notes below the recipe, as these are crucial!

• Step 1

Buy the best quality sausages available, with as little fat content as possible. Preferably buy Organic or Free-Range meat. Using some tasty spiced or herbed sausages is a good choice when you are wanting a quick and easy process, as the flavouring is already done for you. If desired, you may like to spice things up a bit by adding some of your favourite spices. Just sprinkle a dusting of spices over the meat and rub in gently.

• Step 2

Cut the sausages into thin strips, around 6.3mm (1/4 inch) thick. Thin slices are essential! Freeze the sausages for about 1 hour before cutting, so that it’s easier to cut thinly. Flatten, if necessary, to as even a thickness as possible. The more even the thickness of your slices, the more even the drying process will be. To help prevent the meat from sticking to the trays, you may like to lightly coat trays with vegetable oil. Laying an Akela Silicone Non-Stick Solid Dehydrator Drying Sheet onto each tray certainly helps prevent sticking, and therefore makes for a much easier clean-up. The mirror finish lets foods slide off very easily. You can see the Akela sheets in our store - the link is on the picture.

• Step 3

Arrange the sausage strips in a single layer on the dehydrator tray, not touching each other or overlapping, leaving about 12.7mm (1/2 inch) between strips.

• Step 4

Insert the dehydrator trays into the machine.

• Step 5

Please read IMPORTANT notes below, discussing essential safety procedures when making meat recipes in a dehydrator. Commence at the highest setting, or at least 71 °C (160 °F), for 2-4 hours. Continue drying at around 68 °C (155 °F) for about another 5 to 7 hours, occasionally blotting any fat that rises to the surface with paper towels, until jerky is firm and flexes and cracks, but doesn’t break, when gently bent.

For added food safety precautions, after dehydrating, place the jerky strips in a 135 °C (275 °F) oven for 10 minutes to kill any pathogens that may be on the meat.  Cool completely before storing.  

Store the dried sausage in zip lock bags, or in an airtight lidded containers.

That's if you don't eat them all too quickly! 😂

IMPORTANT!!

We always suggest when dehydrating any type of meat that you begin operating your dehydrator at its highest/hottest setting, to destroy harmful microorganisms that are typically present in raw meat. The biggest safety concern when making jerky is the risk of allowing bacteria to grow in the warm, dry environment of a food dehydrator, which can cause you illness. The added step of heating the meat before drying is required to destroy the bacteria. Our recommendation for making jerky safely is to heat meat to the top setting, being at least 71 °C (160 °F) and poultry to 74 °C (165 °F) at the commencement of the dehydrating process. This step assures that any bacteria present will be destroyed by wet heat. But most dehydrator instructions do not include this step. Within a dehydrator, evaporating moisture absorbs most of the heat. Thus, the meat itself does not begin to rise in temperature until most of the moisture has evaporated. Therefore, when the dried meat temperature finally begins to rise, the bacteria have become more heat resistant and are therefore more likely to survive. If these surviving bacteria are pathogenic, they can cause food-borne illness to those consuming the jerky. Maintain this highest setting until the internal temperature of the meat reaches the correct temperature. You should insert a thermometer to accurately gauge when the meat has reached the desired temperature. Usually 2-4 hours at the high temperature will suffice.

After heating to 71 °C (160 °F) or to 74 °C (165 °F), maintain a constant dehydrator temperature of at least 54-55 °C (130 °F) to 60 °C (140 °F) for the remainder of the drying process. A low drying temperature is crucial. If the environment is too hot, the exterior of the meat will form a crust that does not allow the interior moisture to evaporate. This is often termed 'case hardening'.

*Excalibur Dehydrators Australia™ is not responsible for the outcome of any recipe you try from our website. You may not achieve the results desired due to variations in ingredients, dehydration times, typos, errors, omissions, etc. Please always use your best judgment.