First Jerky

[Uncle Pigfat]

Doing my first jerky.  I had to cut it sort of thick (half inch) and had some weird pieces that are thicker and lumpier since I don't have a slicer and didn't have the time needed to freeze the beef a little.  I used London Broil (give or take 3 lbs) and the basic jerky recipe from sausagemaker.com with some garlic and a couple pinches of cayenne.  Nothing flashy for the first time out.

into the fridge for 24 hours - flipped over every 8 hours


dripping before hitting the smoker.  Going with an hour and forty minutes of hickory:


I anticipate a long drying process.  I put the weird thicker pieces on the same rack and kept the more uniform pieces on another.  I figure I'll let it go a little longer than I would if I had more consistent pieces before flipping racks.  I'll still rotate regularly.  How long do you guys go between rack movements?

[Quarlow]

1 1/2 to 2 hrs. I would put the thicker pieces under the other racks so as to get more heat on them. May be even just front to back it the first time and leave it lower, then see how it is going. You will be able to tell how it is drying as you go, it is pretty obvious, you'll see. But take your time, keep the heat lower instead of higher so as not to dry it to paper. I had the bad habit of putting my heat to full and turning the jerky into over cooked bacon.

[Uncle Pigfat]

thanks.  I'm realizing this process is just long and not in need of a plan.  Let the box go through it's temp swings and rotate around.  Rinse and repeat.  It's starting to look and smell like jerky in there.  Everything is still soft but starting to show some dryness around the edges.  If Bradley is teaching me anything it's patience.

[Quarlow]

That's the ticket for sure. Good luck.

[Uncle Pigfat]

1am, Monday morning, and I have my first taste of jerky. So good. Quarter inch slices will be the way to go next time.

[Quarlow]

Looks like some tasty stuff. glad it worked for you.

[BigJohnT]

My favorite jerky recipe is here:

http://gnipsel.com/recipes/jerky/soy-jerky.html

John

[josbocc]

Uncle,

If you don't want to do Ground Beef jerky, and haven't got a slicer yet, your best bet is to do the quick freeze to get your pieces to a uniform thickness.  There is also another method, which is a jerky slicer (which I believe might be available from LEM products).  It is a board with a guide above it, over which you run a sharp knife to get a uniform thickness.

Loos like the forum members have you pointed in the right direction, and it also looks like you did just fine for your first effort.  Keep plugging away, and enjoy the fruits of your labor  ;D

Jeff

[FLBentRider]

I've found I can do the nuggets without having to partially freeze the meat.

It also speeds up the seasoning process.

[Uncle Pigfat]

Uniform slicing was rather easy with a ceramic knife. The problem was the first London Broil was huge and had some weird fat resulting in a few strange pieces. Everything came out really evenly dried and really good. I'm looking forward to the next round of jerky. Maybe Santa will bring me a slicer this year, especially since the Santa I know goes ape poop for jerky. :)

[azamuner73]

For muscle jerky it's cake it you freeze it until firm and use a meat slicer.  I bought one from Sears for about a $100....worth it for sure.

Your jerky looks good abeit a bit thick.  Going down to a 1/4 inch would be a great idea.
But hey, you can eat your mistakes and they taste good!  :)

[NePaSmoKer]

I found freezing and a slicer is more of a pain in the a$$. I just use my knife, takes longer but worth it.

[azamuner73]

I found freezing and a slicer is more of a pain in the a$$. I just use my knife, takes longer but worth it.

Then you probably have better knives and knife skills than me.   :D

[BigJohnT]

I found freezing and a slicer is more of a pain in the a$$. I just use my knife, takes longer but worth it.

Then you probably have better knives and knife skills than me.   :D

Practice Practice Practice...

JT

[Uncle Pigfat]

with my smaller London Broils, uniform cuts were no problem since the only fat I had to trim was the ring on the outside. I used a plastic ruler for the first couple slices until I could eyeball it.  The ceramic knife I used glided right through the meat so it cut easy.