Good to hear that you use cure. Be careful about having your smoker set it to high-temperature you don't want to cook the jerky you just want to dry it. For what it's worth I set my smoker at 150° and keep it there throughout the entire drying process
Dang...I puzzled now. How can I get to a safe germ-killin' temp of 165 if I cook at 150? Maybe I can sear it first...just kiddin'
B T W...here's a money shot / one of the two trays.
Jaxon, Don't be puzzled
![Grin ;D](https://letstalkbbq.com/Smileys/akyhne/grin.gif)
You are just smoking and "drying" jerky. You are removing the moisture from it. You are not cooking it. That is why you want to use cure #1 when you do jerky. You can add liquid smoke to jerky and go right to a "dehydrator" and you are taking the moisture out of it. You are not worrying about the IT. That is why you want to be around 150 degrees. You are just wanting to remove the moisture.
Then you have smoking sausage such as summer sausage, snack sticks and other types of sausage that you apply smoke to and are curing. You are drying the casings around 130 degrees and then smoking from 140 degrees to no more than 170 degrees bringing the IT up to 152 degrees. You are not wanting to remove the moisture when doing these that is why you use soy concentrate or NFDM to help retain the moisture. You are bringing the IT up to 152 and the cure is keeping the meat safe while smoking.
Then you have the meats that you are "cooking", chicken, brisket, Butt. These are done at at higher temp 220 to 250 degrees and cure is not used. When you use whole muscle you are not worried about the germs/bugs on the surface as they have not penetrated inside the meat. The cabinet temp of the smoker, grill or pellet popper is at 220 to 250 so them bugs are killed on the surface and you can "cook" low and slow and are not "drying" the meat.
As stated above......temps at 40 to 140 is the danger zone and when you are using temps in that range you want to use cure.
I hope I have moved some of the puzzle pieces closer to the edge so you can get a better picture.
Jim