Trying my luck at venison jerky

[SmokinEverything]

I've made it in the past both in the oven and your average tabletop dehydrator. Bought an OBS mainly for making venison sausage, snack sticks and jerky. The cost of processing is expensive to have done elsewhere.

Didn't think of taking pictures of the mixing, but I'm using ground venison, Hi-Country original seasoning and a cabelas 20lb. hand mixer. Until I gain my confidence back in the heating element I'm going to baby step it. First two batches are in my  two dehydrators and tossed a 3rd batch in the smoker. I learned in the first 15 minutes, that while the smoker recovers that element gets and stays red hot. I had to flip the bottom rack upside down onto the top of the 3rd rack in order to keep it from cooking instead of drying. I set the PID to smoke for 1 1/2 hours at 165 and then finished it at 165, set it at 6 hours but will check it starting about 3 1/2 hours in. Using hickory pucks.

As I get more and more comfortable with the smoker and getting timiing and temps down I'll start to dabble in my own seasoning blends and trying different smoke flavors, have some mesquite on the way actually. Until then I'll stick with basics until I myself learn the basics.

The ground venison I am using is from a local processor I took my deer to so I wasn't able to be picky on fat content. I've made several batches this way and it has turned out great. It doesn't last long enough for the fat that remains to go rancid, so I'm not concerned. It does require a little extra blotting with paper towels as it dries, but it's minimal maintenance. So beofre I rattle on much longer, I'll get to the lackluster phone pictures. Only been drying for about an hour now, so finished photo's are nonexistant.

The mix: 15lbs. Ground vension, 1 package jerky seasoning(says 10lbs. but does 15 just fine) and 1/4 cup ice water per pound. I prefer the added moisture to maintain size. Cured for 24 hours.


Locked and loaded, basic 1lb. jerky gun with a double strip tip


Smokin' sauce


1 of 10 dehydrator trays, easier to cut to size once drying and flipping


Jerky racks and pucks


Ready for the smoker


Shut the door and hurry up and wait


If everything goes well with the smoker I have about 5-6 lbs of jerky left to dry, if for some reason it fails I'll still toss it in with the smoke generator for an hour or two to infuse the smoke and then transfer to the dehydrator. Fingers are crossed X

[SmokinEverything]

Smokin' sauce(see above) got the better of me last night. Woke up about 3am to finished jerky, a bit drier than I prefer but still some good stuff. Ended up pulling the jerky out of the smoker after 2 hours and finishing in the dehydrator, wasn't drying quite like I was expecting. Smoke flavor still stands out and I'm happy with it. Just threw two more batches in and 1 left to dry.

Have 4 pounds of finished jerky so far, should end up with around 7-8 when all is said and done.


Finished product

[Keymaster]

Good looking Jerky, nice pics, I could use one of them coors lights about now ;D

[pikeman_95]

Nice batch. Have you thought of having the processor leaving out the fat. I have been doing ground venison jerky for years and have found a real improvement if it is made with out any fat. It still looks good. How do you like the High country seasoning?

[SmokinEverything]

Nice batch. Have you thought of having the processor leaving out the fat. I have been doing ground venison jerky for years and have found a real improvement if it is made with out any fat. It still looks good. How do you like the High country seasoning?

I always tell them not to add anything to it, mainly just for this purpose. Oddly enough, as I was mixing it I could almost swear to it it had beef suet added in. This doe was harvested the first week of November during the chase phase of the rut, so this much fat content is a bit hard to believe. I was basically commited though as I didn't want to refreeze 15lbs. All in all it turned out pretty well, really took a lot of blotting with paper towels though.

I've used the High Country original several times and have no complaints. One package does 15lbs of whole muscle or 10lbs of ground. I thought the 10lbs was a bit over seasoned so I did 15lbs this time. It's a bit on the mild side but still flavorful, I think 12 might be ideal. But $7 to do 10-15lbs of jerky is a pretty good price.

Now it is time to start researching custom seasoning blends, the downfall to that is I won't be doing it regularly so buying in bulk may not be the way for me. Don't want it sitting in the cabinet for 6 months between uses. 8lbs of dried jerky will last me a while, so I've got plenty of time for studying.

Thanks for the compliments.

[pikeman_95]

I always cut my own meat and I spend the most time preparing my jerky meat. The meat I save for sausage I cut into large chunks and freeze it in 5 pound units that are well wrapped in plastic wrap and freezer paper. This way I can prepare the meat for what ever process I am doing. If I am going to make jerky, I take the time to trim it of all the fat and sinew before grinding. Looking at the fat content that I see I would guess they don't spend a lot of time trimming the fat and just grind everything or they added beef fat.
I still think it looks good