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drying Jerky recipe/techniques wanted

making your own marinade is easy though it is also easy to make it too salty, or not salty enough, or too much flavour, or not enough etc. I buy my jerky mix from Sausage Source, I reckon they're the cheapest, they deliver quickly, are very helpful and will respond to your emails promptly.

I use Backwoods Original mix and then add some liquid smoke and hab powder - you can't go wrong! it works for either ground meat (I have a jerky cannon) or sliced beef (put in freezer for an hour or so prior to slicing as it makes it much easier). I use a dehydrator but I have used the oven - I think dehydrator is best. I would give a smoker a run also but the dehydrator does such a great job.

the cannon lets you do sticks or strips, I find the sticks dry much faster, take up less room on the drying sheets also. although ground meat is great, it's a little messy. even with time spent slicing, whole meat is best I think.

a good rule of thumb is around half to one teaspoon of hab powder per pound of meat, anymore than that and you better look out! yes you can use only soy however it will come out very salty. marinate overnight in one or two ziplock bags, in the fridge.

I have a jerky recipe book off a well-known auction website, soft copy which is copyrighted. however, if anyone wants a recipe, pm me with the main ingredients you want to use, such as sugar, soy sauce, pineapple juice and I'll see if I can send you a recipe. naturally I couldn't send the whole item as that would be breach of copyright.

I love my homemade jerky. it's great with beers esp if a bit salty though under-flavoured jerky is very disappointing. the Backwoods packs are good because they contain Prague Powder #2 which is a preservative which prevents mould forming checkout the 'web for plenty of websites. here are some of my favourites:

www.sausagesource.com
www.alliedkenco.com/catalog/index.php?cPath=40&osCsid=0a474cba1700118a347fe6cf7197eb3f
www.alljerky.com/wwwboard/wwwboard.html#beef%20jerky

Mark
 
I've used Hi Mountain. It has different blends, say hickory, mesquite, etc. It's a 2 step deal. The cure is basically salt, sugar and they emphasize curing and seasoning 24 hours in the fridge. The cure is a little too salty, being somewhat sparing makes is a little better. But their seasoning is really a great blend. I'm open to try others though.
 
cyotefishing said:
Was it? I've made deer jerky from hind quarters friends don't want. (Don't tell the game warden) anyway I use a dry rub, keep it simple. marinade overnight then load up the dehydrator all weekend.
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What do you use for a dehydrator cyotefishing? That a store bought item?
 
if you buy a dehydrator get a nice powerful one. mine is an Ezidri Ultra 1000 (watt) and you can add shelves and mesh or plastic liners depending on what you are drying - fruit rollups, yoghurt, jerky, chiles etc. it takes around 7 hours to dry a batch of jerky. I believe you can get these in Brisbane. I got mine from Cash Converters for $99 around 8 yrs ago and it's going strong. you see them at 4wd and camping shows, well worth checking out. they cost around $355 on ebay: http://cgi.ebay.com.au/EZIDRI-Dehyd...ryZ20672QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

highly recommended!
 
Its either my Scottish ancestry or my hippie upbringing, but how was it done before the days of eBay & camping shows?

I'm getting parts together to solar power my house & extra 1000 W is going to be difficult to justify.
 
I plan to smoke some of my jerky if I get myself a better smoker. I may even build a smokeshed this summer. You know what, smoking is contageous.
 
chilliman64 said:
if you buy a dehydrator get a nice powerful one. mine is an Ezidri Ultra 1000 (watt) and you can add shelves and mesh or plastic liners depending on what you are drying - fruit rollups, yoghurt, jerky, chiles etc. it takes around 7 hours to dry a batch of jerky. I believe you can get these in Brisbane. I got mine from Cash Converters for $99 around 8 yrs ago and it's going strong. you see them at 4wd and camping shows, well worth checking out. they cost around $355 on ebay: http://cgi.ebay.com.au/EZIDRI-Dehyd...ryZ20672QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

highly recommended!
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Mine is similar, but the less powerful version. If I were to spend that kind of money on a new dehydrator then I think I'd look into Cabella's commercial dehydrators too.
http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/t...=cabellas dehydrator&cm_ite=netcon&hasJS=true
 
yeah I like the look of the 'sliding tray' varieties but I don't think we can get them in Oz.

prior to ebay and camping shows jerky was made over very low heat such as the lowest setting of your fan forced oven or a normal oven with the door open. you don't want to cook it, just dry it so if you see/hear it cooking there's too much heat. I have a mate from South Africa who makes biltong which is just large jerky South African style. he marinates it then hangs the pieces until they dry, this takes days (not sure how many but I think he mentioned at least a week) I can find out if you're interested but this may be what you're after if you have the space to hang it. he has a second bathroom and that is the biltong drying room.
 
I use a cheap american harvest (from walmart) it does the trick plus I have a 7 in 1 grill/smoker I also use that when its warmer outside.
I dont know if I'd try the hang the meat outside until dried, I'm sure it works just fine for them in africa, but no thanks for me.
in older days they made some kind of smoker like the same method of smoking with a store bought smoker nowadays, granted it didnt look just like it or the same size but still had the same method of smoking - heat in a contained area with smoke & air moving across the meat.

I use those jerky packets but I also add other sauces/spices to it & let the meat soak in it for a couple days, be creative, I use sweet & sour sauce/soy sauce/worchersire sauce/herbs/ etc... whatever I have at the time or in the mood for & it turns out great.
 
I've heard thinly sliced rib eye.
 
1st I'd like to add this, get rid of any fat on the meat or at least as much as you can. since the fat will turn the jerky rancid over time.
if you're gonna eat it within a week or two then a little fat on it shouldnt be a problem, but if planning on keeping it longer - get rid of the fat !!

I'm no expert at cuts, meaning professional butcher but I do cut up wild game, anything with the word "loin" in it should give you the leanest cuts. I do thick cuts for jerky little less than 1" thick, I like them that way.

smoking is kinda a art form, watch the meat closely & dont over do it cuz those nice & juicey chunks of jerky are tasty vs a dried up chewy piece of jerky. granted for those better lean cuts would be higher in price it still can be done with round steak or ? just make sure you eat it soon if not freeze the rest of it for a latter date. but keep all other jerky in the fridge since this is a homemade jerky that doesnt have all the perseveratives in it.

good luck, IMO homemade jerky taste way better plus you can make the stuff for your taste buds. like I said its almost a art form of making the stuff.
 
Anyone ever make jerky out of ground beef? Don't laugh. Imagine pouches of jerky like Big League Chew... hmmmm.
 
thehotpepper.com said:
Anyone ever make jerky out of ground beef?
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yep, many times. I've made it with a Jerky Cannon and also just by shaping the groung beef into strips by hand - the Cannon is much easier for ground beef jerky!
 
Arizona Jack said:
Poultry must be fully cooked before drying to kill any toxins and bacteria, Turkey Jerky is the hardest to make " safe " to eat.
:rolleyes:
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Anybody do turkey jerky. I tried some packaged stuff the other day and I was surprised how good it was. It was made from all dark meat
 
I've never heard or seen people use lamb (mutten) for jerky, but that doesnt mean you cant jerky lamb.
I'm sure you could jerky any kind of meat (but I'd stay away from pork), if you like eating lamb then I bet you'd like lamb jerky. like any other jerky make sure its fully cooked through & get rid of as much fat as you can, & since its homemade jerky I'd keep it in the fridge instead of the countertop.

as for hamburger, heck yea you can use that its a quick way of making jerky w/o needing to marinate for several hours or a day like strips of meat. but if you use dehydrators like american harvest or some other kind that the tray has some small openings, as the hamburger dries the hamburger sinks into those little spaces & I'll tell you its a big pain to get that hamburger jerky off those trays since they dried right around the tray itself :hell: use some strips of wax paper to place the hamburger on while drying them, it'll save you some headaches & you wont be swearing up a storm either :lol: or wasting the jerky you spent time making.
 
THP - i think we need a Jerky sub-forum

Lamb is cheap here, beef getting expensive due to drought...its a luxury item & not going to experiment with it.
 
bentalphanerd - I should of added dont use wax paper in the oven or in the grill/smoker just the dehydrater for hamburger.
when I've had lamb (but youngin's not old mutten) it was pretty tender & tasty, but it wasnt in jerky form just cooked the back legs.
I bet you could get some tasty jerky out of'em, just check up on the pieces of meat every now & then to make sure they dont get over done, unless you like jerky to be really hard/dry/chewy.

go buy a jerky spice packets follow the directions & add some other sauces/spices/herbs you like with it & marinate it in the fridge (I leave mine for 2 days also stir the pieces around every now & then)
its not that hard to learn, smoking is a little trial & error but really tasty.

forgot to add in my other post the american harvest I use costed about $40 & it works just fine for me to make jerky & dry chiles/herbs/etc.. you can even make fruit rolls if you want to in it(just get those those no spill trays to put in it) maybe it takes a little longer to dry vs those higher priced dehydraters, I dont know but no complaints from me about it.
 
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