First time with Jerky.

[dribron]

So I have been thinking that I would really like to try and make some jerky. But there are a few things that I do not understand.

  (1) what cut of meat is best, and how thick should I slice it?
  (2) at what temp should it be smoked/cooked?
  (3) How long should I acually smoke it, and how long to just allow to cook?

Thank you all once again, Duane

[NePaSmoKer]

So I have been thinking that I would really like to try and make some jerky. But there are a few things that I do not understand.

 (1) what cut of meat is best, and how thick should I slice it?
 (2) at what temp should it be smoked/cooked?
 (3) How long should I acually smoke it, and how long to just allow to cook?

Thank you all once again, Duane

Cuts of meat are as diverse as the members here, some like top or bottom round, flank or skirt. I like london broil and briskit.

Cutting is how you like. With or against the grain of the meat. Either way is good. 3/8 to 1/4" thick. I just eyeball it  ;D

I start with a temp of 130-140* with no smoke for about 1 to 2 hours to get the jerky dry some. Then bump to 150* with smoke for 2 hrs (6) pucks. Depending on how thick your strips are it can take from 4 to 9 hours to get the jerky done. But dont take your temp of the smoker above 180* or you will be cooking it.

Lots of different ways to do jerky. Some use water in the pan, I dont. Vent half to full open. If you have a dehydrator you can use it after the initial smoke has stopped.

So actual smoke time is 2 hours or longer if you like really smoky jerky.

Jerky is done when it bends, if it breaks its close to being over done.

So if the jerky is to your liking then its done  ;D

Smoke on  ;D

[dribron]

Okay, thanks well I hope to maybe play with a bit of jerky this weekend if time allows me. Aside from that I am hoping to do a brisket that I have in the freezer. I have done several briskets over time, but never on the bradley.. Guess we'll see.

[RAF128]

You can also make jerky out of lean ground meat.   All you need is a jerky gun or some way of pressing it.  It comes out tough just like whole muscle meat.

[Quarlow]

I use eye of round for mine. You can also make the ground meat jerky by just rolling it out between 2 sheets of plastic wrap. Then freeze it and cut it into strips. then seperate them and smoke. And I think it was NePaS(but I could be wrong) who put it in a plastic wrap covered cake pan to about 1 1/2" thick, then freeze it till it is nice and firm but still sliceable then ran it through the meat slicer to 3/8" thick and smoked it like that. I like this idea and am going to try it soon.

[BigJohnT]

Any meat trimmed of fat makes good jerky in my book. My favorite to use is eye of round.

My favorite recipe is in the food section on my web site.

www.gnipsel.com

I usually make 8-10 racks of jerky at a time in my SS OBS. Oh, and double stacking racks got old real fast... so I added an extra 8 rack kit so I could use 12 racks total.

John

[NePaSmoKer]

I use eye of round for mine. You can also make the ground meat jerky by just rolling it out between 2 sheets of plastic wrap. Then freeze it and cut it into strips. then seperate them and smoke. And I think it was NePaS(but I could be wrong) who put it in a plastic wrap covered cake pan to about 1 1/2" thick, then freeze it till it is nice and firm but still sliceable then ran it through the meat slicer to 3/8" thick and smoked it like that. I like this idea and am going to try it soon.

Naaa aint me Q

I dont freeze the meat at all and do my cutting by hand  ;D

[mow_delon]

Venison is still my favorite...sliced about 1/4 inch thick and marinated for 24 hours...great.

[OU812]

Ground meat through the Jerky Cannon.



Sliced whole muscle.



Its all good.

[FLBentRider]

This is how I do Jerky, most of the time.

http://forum.bradleysmoker.com/index.php?topic=12391.0

[Mr Walleye]

I use eye of round for mine. You can also make the ground meat jerky by just rolling it out between 2 sheets of plastic wrap. Then freeze it and cut it into strips. then seperate them and smoke. And I think it was NePaS(but I could be wrong) who put it in a plastic wrap covered cake pan to about 1 1/2" thick, then freeze it till it is nice and firm but still sliceable then ran it through the meat slicer to 3/8" thick and smoked it like that. I like this idea and am going to try it soon.

Here's a link showing how I froze and sliced the ground meat.

http://forum.bradleysmoker.com/index.php?topic=9517.0

Mike

[Quarlow]

I knew I wasn't crazy. This is the post I was talking about. I don't know if my cheapo slicer would slice this but I am going to try it.