I think I got ahead of myself on my first beef jerky. I picked up an eye of round, sliced it up and put it in a ginger garlic teriyaki marinade (store bought). Then when I started looking here for smoking/drying times in the Bradley I realized I probably needed to add cure #1 before I dropped the meat in. I don't think I can separate the meat from the marinade enough to mix in the cure now, I might be able to dump it all in a big bowl and mix it as best I can. Here's pictures so you can help me with a solution, Can I save this or am I going to just have to scrap the jerky and make some stir fry for dinner?
(http://i1331.photobucket.com/albums/w599/Robert_Shulter/2ac28387-f990-4ce2-93f7-b1ff5419336c_zpsd312181f.jpg) (http://s1331.photobucket.com/user/Robert_Shulter/media/2ac28387-f990-4ce2-93f7-b1ff5419336c_zpsd312181f.jpg.html)
(http://i1331.photobucket.com/albums/w599/Robert_Shulter/de541344-c5ee-4932-a5e2-7c84d5e53af4_zps08d94bf5.jpg) (http://s1331.photobucket.com/user/Robert_Shulter/media/de541344-c5ee-4932-a5e2-7c84d5e53af4_zps08d94bf5.jpg.html)
How many pounds of meat strips?
If you have the lid for that bowl mix the cure in just enough water to get it dissolved. Drop that into the bowl, put the lid on and give it a good shake. Put the bowl into the fridge over night and you should be fine the next morning.
What Devo said. Use 1 tsp of cure 1 per 5 pounds of meat. you can even take some of the marinade out and put it in a bowl and mix the cure in it to dissolve then mix it all up and let it sit in the fridge overnight. You will be fine.
Let us know, how it turns out!
Thanks guy's it's only 2.5# of meat and I do have the lid on it in the fridge, I'll calculate the cure #1 and add it now. I'll keep you posted on how it turns out.
Any suggestions for time/temp of smoke and cook?
I get my frog mats in the mail tomorrow afternoon or should I do the hanging paper clip method I saw in some of the posts?
:D
Quote from: Saber 4 on July 28, 2013, 03:36:27 PM
Thanks guy's it's only 2.5# of meat and I do have the lid on it in the fridge, I'll calculate the cure #1 and add it now. I'll keep you posted on how it turns out.
Any suggestions for time/temp of smoke and cook?
I get my frog mats in the mail tomorrow afternoon or should I do the hanging paper clip method I saw in some of the posts?
:D
Add 1/2 tsp of cure to 1/2 cup water, stir to dissolve and add to the teriyaki marinade and mix in.
Quote from: NePaSmoKer on July 28, 2013, 04:00:59 PM
Quote from: Saber 4 on July 28, 2013, 03:36:27 PM
Thanks guy's it's only 2.5# of meat and I do have the lid on it in the fridge, I'll calculate the cure #1 and add it now. I'll keep you posted on how it turns out.
Any suggestions for time/temp of smoke and cook?
I get my frog mats in the mail tomorrow afternoon or should I do the hanging paper clip method I saw in some of the posts?
:D
Add 1/2 tsp of cure to 1/2 cup water, stir to dissolve and add to the teriyaki marinade and mix in.
that's basically what I did, the Lem's cure said 1.1g per pound so I did 2.75g in 1/2 cup of water to help loosen up the marinade because it looked a little thick for good penetration.
I've been looking at times and temps from old posts and from KyNola and Sailor I've figured out to go 150 until it bends without breaking, so I figure I'll do a couple of hours of smoke and keep checking every couple of hours.
I noticed in an old post from 2009 that you were telling someone to run the smoker at 150 but no water in the puck bowl just an empty bowl to catch the used up pucks and my question is do you still do this and if I have water in the bowl will it keep the jerky from drying out correctly.
Water in the bowl until the smoke time is complete
Thanks, I'll be putting it on this afternoon when I get my frog mats in the mail. :)
Pulled the jerky this afternoon and dumped it in a strainer to get the excess marinade off and start bringing it up to room temp, then got my new frog mats out and started laying it out and adding some fresh ground pepper to it, got three trays out of 2.5 lbs of meat
(http://i1331.photobucket.com/albums/w599/Robert_Shulter/IMG-20130729-00383_zpsd5f6a5a4.jpg) (http://s1331.photobucket.com/user/Robert_Shulter/media/IMG-20130729-00383_zpsd5f6a5a4.jpg.html)
Here it is going into the smoker at 150 for 2 hours of mesquite and on to finished
(http://i1331.photobucket.com/albums/w599/Robert_Shulter/IMG-20130729-00383_zpsd5f6a5a4.jpg) (http://s1331.photobucket.com/user/Robert_Shulter/media/IMG-20130729-00383_zpsd5f6a5a4.jpg.html)
It's been in since 3:30 this afternoon so hopefully it will finish before midnight but it's still pretty moist.
After 8 hours total here is the first attempt at Beef Jerky
(http://i1331.photobucket.com/albums/w599/Robert_Shulter/IMG-20130729-00387_zps83cf1729.jpg) (http://s1331.photobucket.com/user/Robert_Shulter/media/IMG-20130729-00387_zps83cf1729.jpg.html)
Following the info I found that said it's done when it bends without breaking it should be done
(http://i1331.photobucket.com/albums/w599/Robert_Shulter/IMG-20130729-00388_zps0688d005.jpg) (http://s1331.photobucket.com/user/Robert_Shulter/media/IMG-20130729-00388_zps0688d005.jpg.html)
It has a good flavor, a little sweet with a nice bite from the pepper, maybe a little tough will see how it is in the morning after resting.
Lessons learned:
1. Either start earlier so it finishes before bedtime or start later so I can go to sleep after the smoke and check it early in the morning.
2. Use a thinner marinade, this one was so thick it took awhile to start drying out and had an almost candy like flavor to the outside, will make my own next time.
3. Don't drop any around the dogs when I'm taking it out. :-[
4. Get an extra set of racks and make more next time.
Looks very good from where I'm sitting. (work) >:(
Quote from: devo on July 29, 2013, 10:36:22 PM
Looks very good from where I'm sitting. (work) >:(
It's very good, I just wanted to make notes for changes next time. I'm going to vac seal it and bring it to the Midwest Smoke out for some input from the masters
Looks good from here! About the toughness, if you sliced the meat with the grain it is going to have more "pull" to it. If you can slice against the grain without the pieces being too small it should have less of a "pull" to it. Either way, your jerky looks good! Reminds me, I'm out of jerky. >:(
Quote from: KyNola on July 30, 2013, 07:14:23 AM
Looks good from here! About the toughness, if you sliced the meat with the grain it is going to have more "pull" to it. If you can slice against the grain without the pieces being too small it should have less of a "pull" to it. Either way, your jerky looks good! Reminds me, I'm out of jerky. >:(
If that question mark comes off your name for the smoke out you'll get a chance to taste it, I'm going to vac seal it and bring it so I can get some opinions on improving the next batch. Looking forward to meeting you and the others in Iowa.
Great jerky Saber 4. If you liked this batch I can imagine how much better its going to get on your next attempt!
I use eye of round for all my jerky....but I just cut it across in rounds..not sticks. Like this...tender every time.
(http://i1183.photobucket.com/albums/x465/SiFumar/image_zps47ece550.jpg) (http://s1183.photobucket.com/user/SiFumar/media/image_zps47ece550.jpg.html)
Yours still looks tasty!
I'll have to give that a try, that is some good looking jerky, I found another issue when I went to clean the smoker this morning, in the middle of everything I forgot to pull the puck bowl after the smoke was done so I probably slowed my drying down and doubled my time, live and learn.
It happens.. :). I now just smoke in the Bradley then move to dehydrator. I have a 4 rack, double up the racks...do 5 lbs...put in dehydrator...then smoke another 5lbs. I can then get more done. I ship a lot to my son in Korea.
Round two beef jerky is now in the smoker, I found a 4lb eye of round on sale at Sam's for 11 bucks. Sliced it in rounds the way SiFumar suggested and marinated it in a variation of Kevin A's Teriyaki Jerky Marinade. After trimming and slicing I had 3.5lbs so I mixed my marinade as follows:
8 oz Soy sauce
3 oz Worcestershire Sauce (called for 4 but only had 3 in bottle)
1 cup Brown Sugar
2 tsp Ground Ginger (called for fresh but all I had on hand)
1 TBS Onion Flake (called for chopped scallion but none in fridge)
3.85g Cure #1 by weight
Didn't have any sesame oil so I skipped that
Ground fresh pepper on when it was out of marinade and racked up.
Put in at 150 for 1 hour of Hickory plus 2 hours of Oak(wanted strong smoke and using up small leftovers)
Rotated front to back and top to bottom when smoke finished, tasted a small piece off the back of the bottom rack that was thin and done. It had a great taste and texture so I am thinking I've got a better batch going this time. I think I'll change to a 50/50 mix of soy sauce and Worcestershire sauce to get a balance of salt and bite.
Sorry no pictures till it comes out, a friend brought his work trailer over for a welding repair while I was racking it up and I forgot to take any.
Here's a picture of the final product, definitely not as tough cut this way, I still need to tweak the recipe. It needs a bit more salt and spice in my opinion
(http://i1331.photobucket.com/albums/w599/Robert_Shulter/IMG-20130802-00391_zps381d7750.jpg) (http://s1331.photobucket.com/user/Robert_Shulter/media/IMG-20130802-00391_zps381d7750.jpg.html)
Cutting it across the grain you could really see the shrinkage when it was done, I'd weigh it but to many pieces were sampled as it came out of the smoker, had the wife and a friend hanging around when it was time to pull it, they did say they liked the flavor so it may just be my quest for the perfect flavor.
Got a 10 pound pork shoulder in doing a cold smoke with some cherry, after another hour or so ill fire up the burner at about 250 for 18 hours
That ought to be tasty eats
Saber if you want a little more fire and flavor add some of that mustard fusion you picked up in with the next batch
Red pepper flakes in the marinade also add a good amount of kick. I do plenty of coarse black pepper in the marinade as well :)
Quote from: Tenpoint5 on August 03, 2013, 08:01:33 PM
Saber if you want a little more fire and flavor add some of that mustard fusion you picked up in with the next batch
Now that sounds like a plan, I couldn't bring my self to use the Chai Thai Teriyaki sauce he gave me to try on beef jerky(saving it for some stir fry and grilled pork chops) but didn't even think about adding the mustard fusion sauce. I bet that would have made the difference, I've got to get to the point where I trust my instincts more and not just follow recipes.
Sabor.....trust your gut when you go into mad scientist mode. Make up a pound test batch and if you don't like it you are not out that much money. I know Chris goes into his Mad Scientist mode quite often ;D When I was developing my Honey Heat snack sticks I did several 1 pound batches and made calls to Chris and Rick for advice until I got the right amount of Honey, Brown Sugar and Cayanne. The test batches were good and got eaten but they were not what I was looking for. Then I kept adjusting and hit what I was looking for.
What is so great about this hobby is you can take a recipe and tweak it around to your own tastes.
Quote from: Sailor on August 04, 2013, 09:57:24 AM
Sabor.....trust your gut when you go into mad scientist mode. Make up a pound test batch and if you don't like it you are not out that much money. I know Chris goes into his Mad Scientist mode quite often ;D When I was developing my Honey Heat snack sticks I did several 1 pound batches and made calls to Chris and Rick for advice until I got the right amount of Honey, Brown Sugar and Cayanne. The test batches were good and got eaten but they were not what I was looking for. Then I kept adjusting and hit what I was looking for.
What is so great about this hobby is you can take a recipe and tweak it around to your own tastes.
You are so right, I'm getting in touch with my inner mad scientist more and more.