Jerky Basics 101

I have recently started making my own beef jerky and thought I would put up a simple pictorial guide to how I do it. If anyone would like to offer suggestions to improve my technique, please do so!

Some basic rules to jerky:
*Jerky is dried, not cooked, so don't be in a hurry!

*Since jerky is dried, you will need to add salt, so it doesn't make you sick.

*Some add sodium nitrite as a preserving agent, but if you plan to consume it soon, keep it in the fridge, just use ordinary salt and CLEAN YOUR HANDS when making it!!
If you plan on selling your jerky, seek advice from a professional.

Since jerky is dried, make the process as sanitary as possible. This will reduce the chance of introducing bacteria and other nasties.

 

[Nova]

God i love jerky, venison jerky would be awesome, what are the fibres in the meat like?

 

[chilehunter]

God i love jerky, venison jerky would be awesome, what are the fibres in the meat like?

the texture of venison meat is just like beef, except for the silverskin they have that wraps around damn near every muscle fiber, this stuff can test your patients sometimes if you're butchering it (&%^#$!%^&*

its a very strong tendon like, you can see a little bit on the raw pieces in the last post with pictures. a little bit is ok & then you either eat it if small enough or chew the meat off it, then throw the silverskin away.

too much silverskin on the meat is not good & you won't like eating it that way. the shit is like chewing on plastic, no matter how much you chew on it, its not gonna get broke down.

 

[chilehunter]

I thought there was deer in new zealand or aus. ?
saw something on the internet a couple days ago that aus. has too many camels & they want to start hunting them to get the numbers down.

 

[ring sting]

Yes, there are both farmed and feral deer in Aus.

Farmed deer are generally exported into SE Asia, with some on the local market.

Problem with the feral/wild ones is that they live in national parks, which are usually a no shooting sorta place.

Camels, yes camels. They came out with the Afgahns in the 1800's to transport goods thru the interior. Of course, back then, they brought the best camels out (no point freighting crap stock halfway around the globe) and some escaped, or were turned loose. Apparently there is something like a million of the buggers in the area around the West Aus/South Aus and Northern Territory border, and the population is expected to double every 9 yrs!
A potential goldmine for someone wanting to export them back to the middle east, but I'm sure that PETA or some other bleeding heart animal welfare group will put a stop to it.

 

[JayT]

RS this is a great thread you started, and thank you for the info (all of you) I learned a lot and have made some good jerky because of it.

 

[moyboy]

Yes, there are both farmed and feral deer in Aus.

Farmed deer are generally exported into SE Asia, with some on the local market.

Problem with the feral/wild ones is that they live in national parks, which are usually a no shooting sorta place.

Camels, yes camels. They came out with the Afgahns in the 1800's to transport goods thru the interior. Of course, back then, they brought the best camels out (no point freighting crap stock halfway around the globe) and some escaped, or were turned loose. Apparently there is something like a million of the buggers in the area around the West Aus/South Aus and Northern Territory border, and the population is expected to double every 9 yrs!
A potential goldmine for someone wanting to export them back to the middle east, but I'm sure that PETA or some other bleeding heart animal welfare group will put a stop to it.

As far as I remember (and I may be wrong?), I think we do export live camels back to the middle east and from memory (as RS stated), we have some of the purest and best quality camels in the world running wild......So the people that export them make big bucks out of them.....

And also as RS has stated, we have deer and they can be hunted at certain times of the year, But they are only in limited areas of lower Australia and it costs an absolute fortune to hunt them as your average hunter can't get access to the hunting area so we have to use guides which charge stupid amounts......It's actually just as cost effective to go and hunt large deer over seas (new caladonia - spelling?) as it is to hunt in our own country...

RS this is a great thread you started, and thank you for the info (all of you) I learned a lot and have made some good jerky because of it.

I agree, I learnt all I know of jerky from this thread....

 

[chilehunter]

Well what did it taste like....Sound lovely.

forgot to report back, tastes really good & HOT, I'd say I put 3/4 (total) of mrs. dash spice container of smoked hab powder & arbol powder in the batch (mostly the smoked habs)

 

[tony05]

Just put some meat in a marinaid and tucked it down in the fridge to sit overnight. Will chuck it in the dehydrator in the morning.

I used a silverside..... or corned beef roast. I tried a friends jerky made with this the other day and it was fantastic. And its already salt cured

sliced it a bit thicker..... up around 8 to 10mm square shape in 2 to 3 inch strips. I want it chunky.

marinaid:

1/4 cup good quality balsamic vinigar (high acidity)
1/4 cup japanese soy
1 tbs brown sugar
1 tbs Hazmat 4 freaken hot sauce
1 tbs sea salt
1 tspoon cracked pepper
1/4 tspoon cinimon powder
1 mexican smoked chipotle ground to powder

The mix tasted great. Sweet, sour, salty and bloody hot. The chipotle has added the most wonderful smokiness to it.

cant wait!

cheers

 

[tony05]

Drying it now and just tried a thinner piece that was dry. Its great. Sweet, slight bitterness from the vinigar and a nice solid round heat that builds in your mouth as you chew it.

very happy.

Am going to look into one of those boards though. Its not so easy to uniformly slice a large block of meat. I got it close but some are a bit thinner

cheers

 

[moyboy]

You will have to save me some so i can taste it....

 

[tony05]

I will but that will depend on how ling before you get here.

Its addictive....... like seedles grapes........ ive had to put it away to stop myself.

I pulled the thinner buts and left the thicker bits for another hour and they seem to be good. Nice and chewey on the outside and dry's but slightly softer inside.

Yum

The proof will be in the telling that i dont get food poisioning.

cheers

 

[tony05]

Well im not dead! So its not poison!

It does give me shocking wind though........ i find this amusing but the rest of the family....... not so impresed!

Going to take some to work tomorrow and "great white" the office

Had a friend over this arvo aof a couple beers and broke it out. He reconed it was some of the best jerky he had eaten and stated he will be getting a dehydrator. Ive been asked to have some for our next fishing trip!

Moyboy..... you will know who i mean

cheers

 

[moyboy]

Well as this weekend is a very long weekend, I thought I would use some of my free time to make a batch of jerky. I haven't made a batch in a few months as life has been upside down for a while....

I'll be doing a batch with 1kg of top side, 500g of very lean mince, and a small corned beef roast.

I'll be using a wet marinade and hopefully have it soaking for 48 hours.

Has anyone ever used pork to make jerky????? either as strips or formed mince??

Anyway, I will try and take pics and let you know how it goes....

 

[Dyce51]

I've been working on building a large hot/cold smoker in the backyard. I make alot of homemade sausages, jerky and other things where I've outgrown my other smokers. As soon as its finished I think the first thing I make is a large batch of jerky!! All the jerky in this thread looks awesome and the recipes sound soooooooooooooooooooo good!!!

 

[ring sting]

Careful with pork moyboy, it's gotta be cured/cooked, not just dried. Like chicken, it's susceptible to more nasties than red meat (not a food scientist, dont know more).

Bacon, real bacn, is smoked pork which you then need to cook. Ham is cold cooked pork. So if you gonna do it, i would suggest ham.

Nice bump btw!

RS

 

[moyboy]

Careful with pork moyboy, it's gotta be cured/cooked, not just dried. Like chicken, it's susceptible to more nasties than red meat (not a food scientist, dont know more).

Bacon, real bacn, is smoked pork which you then need to cook. Ham is cold cooked pork. So if you gonna do it, i would suggest ham.

Nice bump btw!

RS

Thanks for the info RS....I will steer clear of the pork....

No it wasn't a bump mate cause the rules say you can't do that without additional information.........

I stated very informatively what I was planning on drying.....

 

[ring sting]

Sorry, didnt understand what a bump was then. I thought it was just reviving an old thread, no matter how it was done.

GL with the jerkin'!

 

[moyboy]

Sorry, didnt understand what a bump was then. I thought it was just reviving an old thread, no matter how it was done.

GL with the jerkin'!

yeah you're right. A bump is a bump.....but you have to give some form of additional information. You can't just repost on an old thread with the word "bump", and no additional information or questions, or you will get a PM from a mod....

 

[JayT]

Bumpo! I had to search for this one. It's nearly deer season again and I decided it is time to make some jerky. I wanted to look up what i made last year so I could do it again. Here's the work in progress. Sliced up venison roast:

Here are the majority of the ingredients for the marinade. It included Three Hot Tamales Toxic Tonic, Datil Doit sauce, soy sauce, liquid smoke, also not pictured are Defcon DM MKII, Raw Sugar, Garlic Powder, Hickory Smoked Salt and 7 Pepper Blend.

All mixed up and ready for a good overnight soak:

 

[texas blues]

Now that you mention Three Hot Tamales........'Lawd have mercy.....venison tamales!!