Hi guys, I hunt every year and have been trying to make a decent batch of deer jerky for awhile with no luck. I have an original bradley smoker and a meat slicer. I have no idea how thick I should be cutting these slices, What I should marinade in or how long I should be cooking this for. Basically i'm lost.
I am going on a long hike in 3 weeks and want to make up a batch to take with me this weekend. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I am going to pull the jerky out of the freezer tonight so its thawed by Thursday night so I can marinade and smoke on Saturday.
please help!
hah thanks guys.
So it sounds like your looking for a basic jerky marinade?
Here is one i use for my venison and you might even have everything in your kitchen too ;D
This is for 1 lb of venison strips. Double the recipe for 2, 3, 4 lbs and so on.
3/4 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup worcestershire sauce (opt)
1 T brown sugar
1 t liquid smoke (opt) good to add if you dont have a smoker
1 t salt (use non iodized if possible)
1/2 t minced garlic
1/2 t ginger powder
1/2 t black pepper (more to taste)
1/2 t cure #1 or insta cure (I use the cure for venison when i am going to be out for a couple days. Some add 1 whole teasp, I dont)
1 pound venison strip cut about 1/4"
Mix all ingredients (except venison) in a plastic bowl. Mix well and let sit for 15-20 mins for ingredients to marry. Marinates venison between 1 hour and 12 depending on how you like it.
Place on smoker racks and smoke with oak, hickory or pecan at a temp of 150* for 1 hour 40 mins or 5 wood pucks. Make sure vent is fully open and there is no water in the pan, (but use the empty pan to catch the burnt wood) After wood has stopped smoking bump the heat to 160* and continue for 2 hours. You should be rotating your racks.
Check doneness of jerky by bending it. If it stays slightly bent its just about done. Continue with heat at 170* for another 1.5 hours. Check again by bending or cutting a piece and checking the middle. If it looks and taste done the way you like then its done.
Try not to go above the 175- 180* with the venison, this will over do it and the jerky will snap in half instead of bend. Also i might add if you have a dehydrator you can dehydrate after the first 1 hr 40 mins of the smoke.
After jerky is done put on a cookie sheet to rest and cool the jerky. After jerky has cooled place the jerky in a brown paper bag. This will age the jerky and remove any surface moisture or fatty deposits on the jerky. If you refrigerate in a baggie leave the top open, this will eliminate condensation in the bag or if you have a plastic gallon jug, drill holes in the top for air circulation.
Sorry for being so long ;D
nepas
Thanks for the info I will try this out. When you bend it how far should you bend it? Also how thick should I cut the slices? I have read some people cutting 1" thick? that sounds reallyl thick to me. I am worried that I wont smoke it long enough and it will spoil on me.
The other thing is I should be able to freeze the jerky after I am done for a 2-3 week period before I take off on my hike right?
Quote from: rayf01 on May 27, 2009, 05:59:16 AM
Thanks for the info I will try this out. When you bend it how far should you bend it? Also how thick should I cut the slices? I have read some people cutting 1" thick? that sounds reallyl thick to me. I am worried that I wont smoke it long enough and it will spoil on me.
The other thing is I should be able to freeze the jerky after I am done for a 2-3 week period before I take off on my hike right?
Dont cut it 1" thick, maybe 1" wide but the thickness should be 1/4". Yes you can freeze the jerky with no problems. Just take out the day you leave you'll be good to go.
nepas
Would adding cure to the marinade make the finished product safe to ship?
My dad was wanting some jerky but I'm always afraid it might go bad during the 3 day journey via FedEx.
Thanks ,
Carolyn
Quote from: Caribou on May 27, 2009, 06:18:23 AM
Would adding cure to the marinade make the finished product safe to ship?
My dad was wanting some jerky but I'm always afraid it might go bad during the 3 day journey via FedEx.
Thanks ,
Carolyn
Yes Carolyn it would. Just vac seal if you have one. I send jerky like this to my sons in Iraq and Afgahnistan. Sometime it takes a couple weeks for them to get the jerky. Also if you can get potassium sorbate and mix with water, spray this on the cooled jerky prior to vac sealing it, keeps the mold and nastys off the jerky.
nepas
All I have available to me is Morton's Quick Tender. Can I use this as a 1 for 1 instead of instacure? Unfortunatley I have already started. But for about 5 pounds of jerky I used 6 teaspoons of mortons quick tender in my marinade...
I baed my marinade off yours and added a bit more surgar and garlic. I just want to make sure my meat will be safe on a 7 day hike.
Quote from: rayf01 on May 30, 2009, 12:28:11 PM
All I have available to me is Morton's Quick Tender. Can I use this as a 1 for 1 instead of instacure? Unfortunatley I have already started. But for about 5 pounds of jerky I used 6 teaspoons of mortons quick tender in my marinade...
I baed my marinade off yours and added a bit more surgar and garlic. I just want to make sure my meat will be safe on a 7 day hike.
You should be ok, might be kinda salty and be sure to rinse the TQ off the strips before you smoke or dehydrate it.
nepas
Just be ware they do not measure the same. There are some posts here on how to convert. Mortons contains a lot of Sodium as a carrier.
The two do not convert 1:1. The calculation of 6 teaspoons (2 tablespoons) of TQ for this recipe is alright. Morton recommends 1 cup TQ for 1 quart of water. This recipe has 1.25 cups of liquid; which means you need 4 tablespoons (figuring in that 1.25 cups there are solids like salt, seasonings etc that may make up .25 cup). So 2 - 4 tablespoon will work, using less then 4 tablespoons is safe since it is jerky recipe and the meat will be dehydrated.
As NePas stated it will be salty, because in that 6 teaspoons you are adding about 4.75 teaspoons of salt. Eliminating the salt called for in the recipe, and cutting back on the Worcestershire sauce will help some.
So I should rinse all my strips off then before I put them in the smoker? I dont have a dehydrater so I will be using the smoker for the entire process.
Quote from: rayf01 on May 31, 2009, 09:02:03 AM
So I should rinse all my strips off then before I put them in the smoker? I dont have a dehydrater so I will be using the smoker for the entire process.
Yes get the TQ off of the strips
nepas
The tender quick was mixed into the whole marinade and brine, so I'll be rinse off my marinade as well then other than what was soaked in..
Also I guess I should say this is Degrees F not C right? heh.
Quote from: rayf01 on May 31, 2009, 12:22:46 PM
Also I guess I should say this is Degrees F not C right? heh.
Yes degrees
Start your smoker at 150* F and bump up to 180* until done. I guess you dont have a PID right? If you just use the slider control your going to have to play with it to get your temps. Keep your vent fully open.
nepas
How about the marinade question? The tenderquick is mixed in the marinade so rinsing wont it decrease the taste or enough should have soaked in?
Well I rinsed it off and it should work good. still smells very good. Im excited its smoking right now. I cant wait till later tonight!
Using Hickory we'll see hw it goes.
I didn't rotate racks during the smoking process which I went for 2 hours because I couldnt get the heat up for awhile when I put everything in. One peice was actually done onthe bottom rack.... so I ate it.
Pretty damn good. Slightly salty but not horrible. Glad I rinsed :) Next time I'll cut back on salt a bit because of the quick tender. I rotated everything and now i am bringing it back up to 160 for a couple hours.
Do you rotate during the whole process a few times? Everytime I open the door it takes a good 30-40 minutes to get the heat back up.
Quote from: rayf01 on May 31, 2009, 04:16:58 PM
I didn't rotate racks during the smoking process which I went for 2 hours because I couldn't get the heat up for awhile when I put everything in. One piece was actually done on the bottom rack.... so I ate it.
Pretty damn good. Slightly salty but not horrible. Glad I rinsed :) Next time I'll cut back on salt a bit because of the quick tender. I rotated everything and now i am bringing it back up to 160 for a couple hours.
Do you rotate during the whole process a few times? Everytime I open the door it takes a good 30-40 minutes to get the heat back up.
I always make jerky start to finish in the smoker. For seasoning I use High Mountain. I like the Garlic Pepper for venison.
I start out at about 180 F for the first hour and a half with the smoke on. At this time I rotate the racks front to back, top to bottom etc. I now turn the heat up to high. I now rotate every 30 to 40 minutes. I always have a table set up next to the smoker at this point. As I rotate I take out one tray at a time and rotate and remove pieces as needed. Towards the end I might have only one rack left in the smoker and have totally moved pieces all around.Some pieces will be done in 2 1/2 hours and some 3 1/2 to 4 hours. I always lay the pieces parallel to the heating element. After a couple of batches you will be able to just look and touch the pieces to tell if they are done to your specs.
I usually have 5 pounds of meat per batch and it usually takes 3 1/2 - 4 hours total time.
I always keep the jerky refrigerated except for day trips and I will put it in a cooler when available. It tastes better and stays more fresh.
Good luck on your next batch!!!
If you haven't tried ground jerky, you have to try this with venison. I usually just add 1 pound of bacon to 4 pounds of lean venison. Use your favorite recipe and add some mustard seed. You will be a hero. I made an attachment to fit my stuffer instead of using the jerky gun. This is way easier, easier to clean up as well. I have included a couple pics.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v244/xcelsmoke/Hornattch.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v244/xcelsmoke/Stx.jpg)
NOTICE: Strips are parallel to the heating element.