My first Jerky Attemp

[KevinG]

It looks like I broke the Newbie barrier so I guess I'm going to have to step up my game and try to make something edible. Since nodbody tried to crack the secret recipe for the Jim Beam Pepper Jerky, I thought I'd give it a try. Here goes my first smoking jerky attempt. My ingredients are as follows:

3 lbs of Flank Steak
1 Tablespoon of Dark Brown Sugar
1 1/2 Tablespoons of Kosher Salt
2 teaspoons of Cracked Black Pepper Corns
1.68 oz. of Non Fat Dry Milk
1 teaspoon of Garlic Powder
1 teaspoon of White Pepper
1 teaspoon of Celery Salt
1 teaspoon of Onion Powder
1 teaspoon of Cayenne Pepper
1/3 Cup Worchestershire Sauce
1/3 Cup Soy Sauce
1/3 Cup Jim Beam
1/3 Cup Water
1/2 Tablespoon of Cure #1

I sliced all the meat with the grain, and am soaking it in the well mixed ingredients. I'll let it sit and soak for about 8 hours, and then will set on racks to drip dry for another 8 hours. After this I will smoke the meat in my DBS using (What you can't guess this one?) Jim Beam flavored Bisquettes at 150 degrees for about 3 hours, then cut the smoke and continue cooking until dry.

Unfortunatly nobody carries the Jim Beam Jerky by me anymore so that I could compare it. So I'll just have to see if the recipe is at least edible.

[smokeitall]

Wow that recipe sounds great....Please post some finished pics and let us know how it turns out. 
SIA

[HawkeyeSmokes]

That sounds real good Kevin. Make sure to keep us posted!

[KevinG]

Ok, here's my first picture. This is quite the feat on dial up. I'm not sure if it will work, because I didn't see the option to reduce the size, but here it goes anyhow. It is a picture of my 3 lbs of Flank Steak in my Jim Beam flavored brine.

[Caribou]

Looks like you're on your way Kevin!
The ingredients sure look like a good combo to me, I bet it turns out great.
Looking forward to more pics  :)
Carolyn

[pensrock]

One thing I noticed when I used to do whole muscle jerky in a wet marinade was the black pepper does not disolve into the liquid. Therefor some pieces of meat would have more pepper and others little or none. So now I make the wet marinade without any black pepper and sprinkle it on each rack before putting it into the smoker.

[KevinG]

Good to know, I may have to bust up some more peppers and sprinkle them on after I load the racks. I tried to taste the brine before soaking the meat, and it wasn't exactly what I was expecting, but don't know if it will change after the meat is dried. I hope it gets a little more spicy. I think I probably should have used light brown instead of dark brown sugar.

[pensrock]

Its been quite a while since I made whole muscle jerky, but I'm sure I did not put any sugar in it at all. Mainly spices. Garlic, onion, cayenne, chipotle, salt, Worcestershire. Not real sure what else, been too long since I made it.  :)  Back then I did not add any cure, it never lasted long enough to go bad. Now I would add cure just to make sure. I've learned a lot from this site, a great bunch of folks.

[KevinG]

Well I took Pensrocks advice on one tray and added the spices after word, but suspect that there may be too much now. Only time will tell. Here's some more pics

Here's the Jim Beam flavored Jerky on my trays


Here's my smoker ready for the Jim Beam flavored Jerky



And here's my Jim Beam flavored Jerky in my preheated & presmoked Bradley

[pensrock]

The only spice I add before smoking is the black pepper, cause it does not dissolve in the liquid. I'm not sure what spice(s) you added later?

Everything looks good so far.  :)

[HawkeyeSmokes]

The jerky looks good so far Kevin.

Looks like you must have had rain this fall. The mountains are pretty green in the background.

[KevinG]

Unfortunatly there's no power outlets on the mountains, so I got stuck doing this in my backyard. But I hear Lowes has a sale on extension cords. ;D

[KevinG]

The jerky looks good so far Kevin.

Looks like you must have had rain this fall. The mountains are pretty green in the background.

Ok, you want a mountain scene, here's one outside my front door.

[HawkeyeSmokes]

Nice view!

[KevinG]

Yea, not bad considering it's the cheap seats. Just wish I had this view looking out my back door instead.