Don’t you use salt and sodium nitrite to cure the meat? I have a variety pack from High Mountain that I’ve used several different flavors from and all have been good so far.

@Beechwoodfan @Watusi @BigVMan23 @MBWC41 @ThrillVille Cardinal51 ....I think I remember you folks all having mentioned making jerky in the past. Any luck? Any ideas/recipes you'd be willing to share?

@coldweatherfan Ever given jerk-making a try? Seems like something you might have fiddled around with before.

I love making jerky! I can’t say I really have a recipe, I literally throw a bunch of salt and other stuff in it like chili powder, pepper, cayenne pepper and stuff like that. It usually turns out ok.

 

I’m thinking about getting a jerky gun and a dehydrater. In the past I’ve just taken ground meat, mixed it with the spices and then laid it as flat as I can against a pan in the oven on low heat.

If you get a dehydrator, don’t use it in the house...use it in the garage as it will totally smell up wherever it is...now it’s a good smell, but it can be overwhelming after awhile. This year I’m going to try the trick where you put the meat in the freezer until it just gets very firm which makes it easier to slice thinly.

Don’t you use salt and sodium nitrite to cure the meat? I have a variety pack from High Mountain that I’ve used several different flavors from and all have been good so far.

 

I've not ever tried curing anything proper, so I don't have any real experience using sodium nitrate. I've been making different kinds of sausages in recent years, though, so I've got a little experience with using Prague Powder #1, which is a curing salt that contains sodium nitrite. Prague Powder #2 contains sodium nitrite as well as sodium nitrate, and #2 is used when you're dry-curing things like country ham, salami, and some jerky.

 

I've only made jerky using whole cuts of meat rather than ground meat and a jerky gun. I usually make it in smaller batches (I use 1-2 pounds of meat, un-dried weight). That will usually keep well at room temperature for 3 or 4 weeks, and on the rare occasion that I make larger batches, I stick a fair amount of the finished jerky in the deep freeze for longer keeping.

If you get a dehydrator, don’t use it in the house...use it in the garage as it will totally smell up wherever it is...now it’s a good smell, but it can be overwhelming after awhile. This year I’m going to try the trick where you put the meat in the freezer until it just gets very firm which makes it easier to slice thinly.

 

You've got that right...I made it a few times while my wife and I were in an apartment while she was in med school. The whole place smelled like beef jerky for a few days, so after the first time my wife only let me make it while she was out of town :lol2:

 

I used to go with a dehydrator, but I eventually opted for a setup that Alton Brown put together on an episode of Good Eats. It uses a box fan with a couple of furnace filters bungee strapped to it. It looks pretty Rube Goldberg-ian, but it works like a charm.

 

Edited October 25, 20187 yr by Colonels_Wear_Blue

@Beechwoodfan @Watusi @BigVMan23 @MBWC41 @ThrillVille Cardinal51 ....I think I remember you folks all having mentioned making jerky in the past. Any luck? Any ideas/recipes you'd be willing to share?

@coldweatherfan Ever given jerk-making a try? Seems like something you might have fiddled around with before.

 

Mine is very simple, but I like it. I have an older Nesco dehydrator that I like pretty well.

 

2 lbs beef round sliced thin. I have a slicer so I slice it to 3/16" thick.

1/4 cup ginger soy sauce

2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

2 tablespoons liquid smoke (if using a dehydrator)

2 tablespoons brown sugar

1 tablespoon Kosher salt

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 teaspoon meat tenderizer

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon onion powder

1 teaspoon smoked paprika

 

 

- mix all of your ingredients together until the sugar and salt are dissolved, and pour into a 1 gallon zip lock. Add the beef strips and mix it all around to assure all the meat is evenly coated. Marinate in the refrigerator for at least 8 hours. I just do it overnight. I also like to move it all around a few times while it's marinating.

 

- Remove meat from bowl and place between two pieces of plastic wrap; pound to 1/8-inch thickness. I prefer to slice it at 3/16 and pound it as opposed to slicing it to 1/8. the pounding breaks up the tissue.

 

-Put the meat strips in your dehydrator. I go 160-165 degrees for at least 4 hours.

 

-Store in an airtight container or resealable bags.

 

- Eat

@Beechwoodfan @Watusi @BigVMan23 @MBWC41 @ThrillVille Cardinal51 ....I think I remember you folks all having mentioned making jerky in the past. Any luck? Any ideas/recipes you'd be willing to share?

@coldweatherfan Ever given jerk-making a try? Seems like something you might have fiddled around with before.

 

I’ve actually not tried my hand at Jerky making. I usually get some from our deer processor though.

 

I may have to put a couple these recipes to use. I’d like to make some on the smoker.

Edited October 25, 20187 yr by Colonels_Wear_Blue
R13 - Capitalization

I’ve actually not tried my hand at Jerky making. I usually get some from our deer processor though.

 

I may have to put a couple these recipes to use. I’d like to make some on the smoker.

 

I've not ever tried to cure anything or make jerky with a smoker, but I have read about it a good deal, and as I understand it, it's as much about knowing your smoker as anything. Ideally you want a very low temperature smoke - under 175°F if you can help it. I've always been told that 160°-165°F is the ideal wheelhouse for dehydrating jerky using heat. That low temperature (in addition to the need for air circulation) is the reason why you're instructed to leave your oven door partly open if you're making jerky in the oven. So first and foremost, you want to be able to maintain

 

From my reading, it sounds like electric smokers are generally more ideal for making jerky than wood-fired smokers. That's because, first and foremost, they're usually significantly more capable of maintaining a consistent low temperature.

 

Also, electric smokers are heated by an electric element and not by the smoldering wood itself. That gives you the opportunity to continue dehydrating the jerky in the smoker without having any wood in. The reason for that coming as an advantage is the fact that jerky is thin-cut meat, so the lack of mass allows it to be completely penetrated by the smoke flavor in a short amount of time. It takes somewhere between 4 and 6 hours at those temperatures to dehydrate the meat into jerky, and if you had smoke rolling in your smoker the entire time, you're going to end up with jerky that tastes more like a campfire than anything else. For that reason, most of my reading has said it's best to use an electric smoker, and most folks said to only use the initial handful of chips in the smoker, or maybe replace the chips once after the first handful has burnt away. Then let it go the rest of the time in the smoker without any actual smoke.

 

The MOST important process of the whole thing is making sure you maximize air-flow in your smoker. Air flow is a must in order to get moisture out...which is the whole point. And you're removing a LOT of moisture in order to make your jerky. The catch 22 is that more air circulation means more oxygen, which means more potential for combustibility for the wood chips, which means more heat than necessary.

 

From the sound of things, it's all a pretty delicate balance. That may well be easier to manage than I realize (since I have VERY little experience using smokers), but that's basically why I stick with the kind of redneck box fan, bungee cords, and furnace filters from up in post #20 :lol2: ....works like a charm every single time. It's too easy, really.

Mine is very simple, but I like it. I have an older Nesco dehydrator that I like pretty well.

 

2 lbs beef round sliced thin. I have a slicer so I slice it to 3/16" thick.

1/4 cup ginger soy sauce

2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

2 tablespoons liquid smoke (if using a dehydrator)

2 tablespoons brown sugar

1 tablespoon Kosher salt

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 teaspoon meat tenderizer

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon onion powder

1 teaspoon smoked paprika

 

 

- mix all of your ingredients together until the sugar and salt are dissolved, and pour into a 1 gallon zip lock. Add the beef strips and mix it all around to assure all the meat is evenly coated. Marinate in the refrigerator for at least 8 hours. I just do it overnight. I also like to move it all around a few times while it's marinating.

 

- Remove meat from bowl and place between two pieces of plastic wrap; pound to 1/8-inch thickness. I prefer to slice it at 3/16 and pound it as opposed to slicing it to 1/8. the pounding breaks up the tissue.

 

-Put the meat strips in your dehydrator. I go 160-165 degrees for at least 4 hours.

 

-Store in an airtight container or resealable bags.

 

- Eat

 

That looks like a really nice and straightforward jerky recipe. The meat tenderizer is something I've not ever tried, but sounds like something worth really considering. And I really like the smoked paprika idea...that's a nice touch. :thumb:

@Beechwoodfan @Watusi @BigVMan23 @MBWC41 @ThrillVille Cardinal51 ....I think I remember you folks all having mentioned making jerky in the past. Any luck? Any ideas/recipes you'd be willing to share?

@coldweatherfan Ever given jerk-making a try? Seems like something you might have fiddled around with before.

 

Nope...do a LOT of smoking, but have yet to do any jerky.