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Jerky Anyone?

Hopefully hasnt been done before, a Jerky thread, all types but especially making your own.

Had a crack at this the other day, turned out great, will be doing again this weekend i think, but a whole lot more. Got eaten in one night by everyone.

Started out with about 1.5kgs of Topside, cut into 5mm thick strips. Marinated in a mixture of soy and worcesterchire.

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Then placed on wire trays and seasoned with a mixture of herbs,spices and habanero powder.

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All dried up, tasted awesome

What you think

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geeme said:
Jerky experiment #3 in progress. #2 was a bit too heavily seasoned and a bit over-dried, so it had a rather gritty texture in the mouth. #3 is pork tenderloin and beef london broil, with their separate dry rubs not as heavily-applied as #2. The pork is seasoned Asian-style, while the beef is seasoned Mex-style. I am also doing these at "mixed" temps - 160 to start with, lowered to 145, then will up back to 160 at the end for the pork. 
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Asian style.
 
Mex style.
 
Doggy style
 
Any style.
 
Where da' pics at?
 
I didn't take any pics earlier, but here is a shot of some of the first to come out of the dehydrator:
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I am much happier with the results of this - much more tender and no grit. A few of the pieces of beef appear to be almost paper-flat in the pic above, but they're not. 
 
What I did differently this time -
Instead of putting seasonings into a bag, adding the meat and shaking, laid the meat out on parchment and sprinkled both sides. (Still bagged and put in fridge overnight.) Started at 160F for half an hour, then popped the temp down to 145 for a couple hours. One of the sites I looked at recommended putting pork into the oven at 200F for half an hour to ensure no salmonella, so I did that to the pork but not to the beef. Returned the pork to the dehydrator at 145F for another half hour before removing the pieces above. Continued the thicker pieces in the dehydrator for another half hour after that. 
 
Let's see if I can remember what I used for the dry rub….
Pork: Lemongrass, garlic, salt, sugar, ginger, allspice, thyme, fatalii
Beef: Cumin, cilantro, salt, sugar, garlic, ginger, allspice, coriander, thyme, aji panca
 
I think I'm forgetting something or other, but that was late last night so I don't remember.
 
So question for those of you who regularly make jerky - Do you include the step of putting pork in the oven at 200F when drying at the temps I indicate above? Note I'm looking for a not-tough texture and low in salt. I am cutting against the grain to help with the bite, which is also part of why I am going with a thicker cut. I am okay storing these in the fridge, but are there any other considerations I should keep in mind? 
 
I have to say, this has been my favorite batch so far. I ended up putting them back in the dehydrator a tad, but they still have everything I was looking for. Low salt, a nice balance between meat and seasoning flavors, and the perfect size and texture for ease of snacking. Next time I'll go back to experimenting with a liquid marinade. 
 
Used the same seasonings as last time, but also used CAJohn's chipotle chile puree. Using brisket this time, as well. Into the dehydrator they go.
 
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The finished product:
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Sorry, not the best pic, but WOW. The addition of chipotle puree and what seems to be the perfect amount of time in the dehydrator definitely make this the best batch yet. 
 
Only 5 hours for those thick cuts? I have never used brisket before but those cuts look like they might need another hour or so... Still looks good though Geeme
 
Yes, 5 hours. I plan on storing them in the fridge, but they won't last long, regardless. I'm still experimenting with small batches at this point, focusing on texture and flavor rather than storage at room temp. Still, these are out of the dehydrator but not yet in the fridge - we have a good breeze going through the house today, so I'm letting that do its thing for a while. 
 
So these are "notes to self" for the most part. Regarding texture:
 
- The first round was flank steak, using a recipe I found online. I didn't care much for it because it resulted in, for me, an excessively sweet jerky. I will try the flank steak again, using a different flavoring approach so I can judge it for texture. The recipe used both brown sugar and molasses, which kind of caramelized the meat, so it was hard to make a good judgement about the texture.
 
- The second round was pre-sliced top round steak. It was too thin for my preference, plus I dehydrated it too long for its thinness. It was definitely dry, about like eating cardboard, maybe one step above that. Plus I was too heavy-handed with the seasonings. So I would try top round again, just not quite so thinly cut and with less powdered seasonings. 
 
- The third round was a pork tenderloin plus a london broil. The london broil came out way too tough, so apparently it doesn't like the low and slow approach at all; I won't' do that again. The tenderloin was a surprisingly good choice. I usually do pork tenderloin in the oven or grill at 500F, so I wasn't sure how it would take the low and slow approach. I would definitely do the tenderloin again. Makes me wonder how a beef tenderloin would do.
 
- The fourth round, just above, was brisket. The good thing about a thicker cut is that you can slice it across the grain, instead of with it, yielding an easier bite. (However, I agree the first batch was too thick, as combined with the sugar and molasses it was almost like putting a Chick-O-Stick in your mouth.) I liked the way I seasoned the brisket the best so far. 
 
So I think my next couple of rounds will be trying the flank and top round again, so I have a better understanding of how they handle the drying process. After I've decided on cut, then I'm going to start experimenting with other adjustments to allow for longer storage. 
 
Chick-O-Stick.
 
Haven't had one of those since I was a kid. 
 
My favorite.
 
Question.
 
You mention you'll not do London Broil again but you'll do a flank again.
 
I've never seen London Broil that wasn't flank steak.
 
Or was your London Broil some other cut other than flank?
 
Got to see the butcher in action today, and it was a sight to behold. I first went to the meat case where one usually finds brisket, to find none, so I went to the meat counter and asked if they had any. Why yes, they did, and I could get one of the unopened packages of it for $35 (a tad over 4 lbs.) Hmm… didn't quite want to pay that much while I'm still experimenting, so I asked for half. The guy helping me was new and wasn't quite sure what to do, so he went and asked one of the experienced fellas what to do. He asked the perfect guy, as he was now going to get a lesson in the fine art of cutting a brisket in half. 
 
Is one of your eyebrows raised in puzzlement right about now? Are you wondering just how hard it is to cut a slab o'meat in half? Patience…. He took it out of the wrapper and asked me how much of the fat I wanted on it. "None." "None?" "I'm going to make jerky with it, so I don't want any." "Ok." He took a large, shiny blade out - one that flexes just so - and WHOOSH! off came the fat. I am here to tell you, if any of the meat came off along with the fat, I couldn't see it. This is the cleanest brisket I've ever seen, and DANG I want that knife! Needless to say, I had to let him know that his skill impressed the heck out of me. I would have taken much, much longer and not done nearly as good a job as he did. But then, he's the guy with the title, not me. 
 
Then he asked me which half I wanted, cut it where I indicated, and then weighed and tagged it. Double win!
 
So here it is, all sliced, seasoned and bagged and ready to spend the night in the fridge. 
 
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Yep. Highway robbery. Which is why I was glad he didn't weigh it until after all the fat was removed. It would really suck to pay that much for fat.
 
Not a good pic, but a pic nonetheless:
 
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Hopefully you can tell these are drier than the last batch. Maybe too dry. Feedback, please - a bite into all but the thickest of these ends up with what look like white fibers (because they are….) at the bite point where it tears - is this normal or an indication that I overdried them? I don't get a strong sense of "overdry" when chewing on them, just the white fibers is what makes me think I let the dehydrator run too long this time.
 
Thanks Nate! 
 
I gave a few to my swim coach to try. His dad makes jerky all the time, and he concurred with what you posted. Also, he really liked this batch, loved what the chipotle puree did for it. (Note he didn't try any of the batch before that, which also used the puree.) It's cool to have a coach that likes heat as much as I do - as in "fun to be able to return some of the pain"!
 
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