Any Jerks Out There?

[John-Edmonton]

I took up making beef jerky with my new machine which my wifey got me for Christmas. Beef jerky can cost up to $70.00/LB.....I can make a great batch costing about $14.00/LB. If interested, I will share some of my recipes. I have made it out of beef cuts, extra lean hamburger, minced sirloin and ground moose meat. I have also used pineapples, various melons, strawberries, mushrooms and others I can't even remember.

 

[Ron J]

n/t

 

[Orion42]

Planning on getting a jerky gun and dehydrator very soon.

John

 

[cadman_us]

I got a dehydrator and jerky gun this week. Just now cooking my 2nd batch of deer jerky, overcooked the first batch....

The first batch had great flavor, just dry and crumbly. 12 hours is way to long, gonna cook 2nd batch about 5 hours and see what happens. Going to do a bunch of apples this weekend,

I think I'm gonna like it....lol

 

[Guvner]

I'd love to see some recipes... Looks like I don't have enough hobbies apparently...

G..

 

[JimmyCT]

I first I thought you were calling my name lol. John, that jerky looks delicious! It is your fault -now you made me hungry lol


Thanks for sharing! - Jim

 

[John-Edmonton]

Hot and Spicy Jerky Spice or original from the Nesco on line site. One package = 1 lb of meat.

http://www.nesco.com/products/Jerky-Spices-Jerky-Kits-and-Jerky-Seasonings/10-Pack-Jerky-Spice-and-Cure/session_cf8b5d04cc5a/

And I have found honey, honey bar-b-que sauce or brown sugar are a good way to sweeten up the flavor, especially if it is hot.

 

[Steve O]

Ahhhh!! The wife decided we are cutting out the red meat, cheeses, dairy. I looove jerky

 

[Woodchuck]

Got me a Cuisinart Dehyrator , have made beef jerky,bunch of deer jerky ,dehydrated fruit etc.Got to get a jerky gun though.

 

[hydrodog]

Shot three deer last season and I always cut what I can from the front shoulders and one rear ham for jerky. I use a a couple recipes, one is the High Mountain jerky seasoning, the second is salt and pure maple syrup mixed up and marinate the meat overnite. Then I start the smoker using hickory or mesquite wood, put the jerky on the racks and when the meat is grey looking and not dripping water anymore I throw into the Excalibur dehydrator until it is just right.Then I vacuum pack it and throw it into the deep freezer. Good stuff. The wood smoker gives it a relly good flavor.

 

[LabradorBob]

http://www.deejayssmokepit.net/Downloads_files/DeejaysJerkyRecipes.pdf

I love these i have pdf's of sauces,sausages,jerky,

 

[cozz]

Have the same machine, works great! I buy nice roasts at the local supermarket they trim n' slice no charge. That end product sure doesn't hang around long.

 

[Tajue17]

I make venison Jerky at work,,, anyone have any home made recipes (mix/Marinades) they'd share?

 

[John-Edmonton]

I substitute pineapple juice for water when making the marinade. Then add extra pepper to the mix.

 

[John-Edmonton]

n/t

 

[mudpuppy]

Great lookin stuff! Brought up a memory...I used to shoot a lot of woodchucks, they made wonderful jerky since they ate grass and soybeans and all.
had a little smoker station down in the woods, Pretty much just used their backstraps..gave some to my Father in law the first time I met him and he loved it.
Didn't care much for me, but really loved the jerky...cant remember if I told him it was woodchuck or not...probably not...
Mud

 

[Critterhunter]

By far the easiest way I've found to make it is to use ground chuck from my deers I've harvested to make jerky with. Simple and easy. Mix the spices in it, load it into the jerky gun, and squirt it out on the dehydrator. A friend had always cut strips to make jerky and when he saw how easy it was and tasted it, he started using ground chuck too. Walmart sells (or did, been a few years since I bought it) a jerky gun that comes with several starter seasoning types to try. You can then buy the packets for more from them down the road. If memory serves the gun with the packets was like $12 or so. The seasoning types were great. Only thing was the gun was kinda small. Far better to pick up a bigger gun at Dick's or something.

Harbor Tool sells some cheap dehydrators. Buying extra trays to make it a 5 or 6 high stack on it makes for the perfect mass quantities for me to make and share with friends. Been a while since I made some but from memory I needed to dehydrate like 12 to 14 hours or so, but I always overshot it by a few hours to insure no moisture that might make the jerky get moldy. Way I look at it you can't over dry the stuff for my tastes for the most part. Also important to rotate the trays from top to bottom over that span of hours to insure equal drying.

 

[Critterhunter]

I got a dehydrator and jerky gun this week. Just now cooking my 2nd batch of deer jerky, overcooked the first batch....

The first batch had great flavor, just dry and crumbly. 12 hours is way to long, gonna cook 2nd batch about 5 hours and see what happens. Going to do a bunch of apples this weekend,

I think I'm gonna like it....lol

Depends on how many trays and how much jerky you are drying out. I think usually they come with 3 or 4 trays, but I bought an extra tray or two for like 5 or 6, which then takes longer to dry them properly. Yea though, can be over dried, but I'd rather do that than risk it getting moldy. I try to shoot for the other end of extremes on being dry and hope I don't got too far with it to where it's like eating cardboard. I guess though with the preservatives if you stuck it in the fringe no risk of mold, but I think it might be important to let the bag breath well for a day or so in there before closing it tight to avoid the mold risk factor.

For sure making your own jerky is dirt cheap, while the store bought stuff is premo expensive. If you use venison from deer you harvested yourself it gets insanely cheap to make. We'd always carry a bag while squirrel or waterfowl hunting or such and usually eat the whole bag before we finished with the drive to where we were going. Brought some to the bar one time and many people turned their nose up to it being made from venison. By the time the night was over just about all those people were the ones coming back for their 4th or 5th piece.

Got out of hunting a few years back due to fanancial retrains, but now that things are looking up I'm looking forward to heading out again this winter, God willing of course.

 

[NE Digger]

Ive made it from ground as well, but it has to be lean lean lean. I LIKE the ground stuff shot out of a jerky shooter ( I have two shooters) but IMHO, there aint no substitute for the real McCoy (classic) jerky. In fact I have 25 pounds of venison thawing as we speak to make a batch. I make ALL my venison jerky from bucks, as the meat is a lot leaner than it is on the does. I also have a big old Hobart meat slicer I lucked into a few years back, so its easy to slice the rounds into uniform thicknesses, and then slice strips off them for the jerky. make perfect pieces that dry uniformly. I USED to make my own marinade, but now just buy the mixes from Cabellas. They make an awesome pepper jerky mix. Nice thing about most commercial mizis is they have cures in them.......so the jerky will last longer.

 

[LabradorBob]

LOL, Mudpuppy, we use to have a venison chili feed at work every fall.
Last year when we had it this new engineer guy came out and got him a big bowl of venison chili.
This guy was from the city and had never eaten anything wild,so i couldn't resist.

Just as he took his first bite i said, Pretty good possum huh!
he immediately pushed it out of his mouth with his tongue and made the awfullest face, it was running down his chin, Then i told him i was just kidding.
he just laughed and left with his bowl.
Never did know if he ate it or not!

LabradorBob