Making Jerky

Salt, pepper, and lean meat. Click here for source.

I thought this would be a straight forward posting on what Mark Baker called "jerk" in his Long Hunter Video, Volume 2. Rather than simply accepting this as fact, I did some research and discovered that "jerky" may not be a generic term for dried meat, but derived for a corruption of a Native (South) American term.

"...Jerky, in its most basic form, is simply dried, dehydrated or smoked meat. Necessary until modern refrigeration, the practice of dehydrating meat, fruit and other produce is one of the oldest methods of food preservation. While there is no way for sure to know how long humans have preserved food in this way, archeologists have determined that the Ancient Egyptians used the sun to dry meat and scores of preserved foods have been found in excavated Egyptian tombs.

Fast forward a few thousand years and we find the history of “jerky” in the Americas.

While it is certain Native Americans made jerky prior to the 1500s, the history of the name “jerky” starts there. “Ch’arki,” from the Quechuan language of the Inca tribe of the same name, literally means “dried meat.” As the first Europeans arrived in South America and discovered ch’arki, the Spanish Conquistadors picked up on the practice, calling it Charqui.

Upon invading North America, the Spanish invaders found that the northern tribes dried meat in a similar way but called it “pemmican.” Pemmican, however, contained other ingredients such as dried berries. The Spanish “charqui” was passed on to the North American Indians, which they pronounced very similarly to the modern English word jerky..."*

I don't know if the development of jerky was a parallel evolution between the Native North Americans and the Native South Americans, but the basics are the same. I don't doubt that it was a technique learned by western explorers as they adopted native customs and practices, if only to survive.

These are screen shots from "Long Hunter Vol. 2" with Mark Baker. Of the four DVDs, #2 is the best for the the aspiring trekker. View the images from left to right, top to bottom. In his video, Mr. Baker demonstrates how jerky would be made on the frontier. It is important to remember that this is a lengthy process, not something that should be done unless adequate supplies of wood and at least eight hours of cooking time are available. Viewing the panels from left to right, top to bottom:

1. After starting a cooking fire, prepare a drying rack from green limbs. Use four "Y" branches, placed at the four corners, to create the "studs". Next, connect the Y branches with straight limbs to create "joists". finally, lay several cross limbs from which your meat can hang.
2. Take some lean meat and slice it, with the grain, into thin strips. Keep them as uniform in thickness as possible.
3. Rub some salt into the meat to help in the drying process. Cayenne pepper was a common seasoning for the period, so if you have it, use it.
4. Lay your strips on the "hangers". If the fire gets too hot, simply shift the hangers away to the cooler edges of the fire.
5. The strips can be flipped, but only once, since the strips will start to stiffen. Remember that this may take as long as eight hours.
6. Your jerky is ready when it no longer bends and is dry on the inside.

Eyeball Primitive: Rules vary from club to club, but there is one rule that is almost universal - Eyeball Primitive. This has to do with both appearance and authenticity during rendezvous that are officially designated as "Primitive".  If you attend a Primitive Rendezvous, you are expected to abide by specific rules concerning equipage and dress.  Simply put, if it appears primitive, it is primitive. You can have a Igloo ice chest, but it it can be seen, it must be covered. Most people simply use a blanket, while others fabricate false covers that resemble wooden crates. Most rendezvousers eschew conventional shoes in favor of period correct moccasins, or in some cases, invest in period correct boots or shoes. Check out this post on period correct footwear, and period correct garments. For those of you compete in the Trek, you do earn points for correct dress, so review these posts for some suggestions on dressing on a budget.

This being said, foodstuffs weren't carried in zip-lock bags in the nineteenth century. But in the interests of food safety, you could "hide" your modern food back in a cloth food sack. This goes for your jerky, your pemmican, and your parched corn.

* "The Fascinating History of Jerky".  Mountain American Jerky. Click here for the full article.