Dried Beef or Chipped Beef

[Hopeful]

I have made this a couple of times with good results both times, both with beef and venison, very easy but takes about 3 weeks to finish.

All boneless roasts have been in the 2-3 pound range and various cuts, beef is whatever the butcher cut up from our 1/4 of beef and venison are the roasts that we cut ourselves.

I am using a premixed Maple Sugar cure bought at a local dealer.

Rub your roasts all over with the cure so you have a very lite paste on the roasts.  After you are done with the rub, place the roasts in zip lock bags or Rubbermaid type containers with lids and put in frig.

After 2 weeks, take the roasts back out and rub again just like the first time.  Dispose of any blood that has accumulated.

Let set for 1 more week.  Remove from frig and let come to room temp.  Place on racks in Bradley, bacon on the top shelf is your choice, does not affect the outcome.  I have only used pecan pucks so far.

Have cooked 2 ways so far.  First time I had the temp slide all the way to high, took about 3 hours to get the roasts to 150 degrees.  Second time I did them, I only used the smoke generator for the first 3 hours, then did about a medium on the temp slide for a couple of hours, then on high to finish them to 150 degrees, total cook time was about 8 hours.  Some have said the ones cooked faster were better which doesn't make sense.

With the venison, when I first tried them out of the smoker, they tasted mucho salty.  I let them soak in cold water for about a half an hour before I sliced them and they were just fine.  Not the case with the beef

If you let these set overnight in the frig, they slice much easier the next day.

Give it a try, I think you will be pleased.  What would be the correct cut of meat to use?  Was the venison that much saltier because it is so lean?  Would the difference in the cook times produce different results?  Any comments or suggestions would be appreciated.

Hopeful in Iowa
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b269/vexilar/pic1.bmp

[psdubl07]

I have never done anything like this, but I would think after 3 weeks in cure, you'd want to give them a good rinse to cut down the saltiness.

[MallardWacker]

You sure got my mind a thinking here....That is good Idea.


SmokeOn,

mski
Perryville, Arkansas
Wooo-Pig-Soooie

If a man says he knows anything at all, he knows nothing what he aught to know.  But...

[jaeger]

I would rinse and soak anything with a dry cure rub. This type of cure is mainly salt and sugar.
You could also speed up this process by pumping with a cure solution.
You would be smoking in a week![;)]




<font size="4"><b>Doug</b></font id="size4">

[Bad Flynch]

I did this a number of years ago and it made wonderful S.O.S. The resulting food was vastly superior to the stuff made with commercial chipped beef. I am going to try this again.

B.F.

[Hopeful]

jaeger,
If you were going to pump with a cure solution, can you use a turkey injector or do you think I would need a brine pump?  Do you have any idea on the measurements of cure to water ratio?  I have heard you inject 10% of the weight of the meat you are doing, does that sound about right?  I like the idea of being able to do this in a week instead of three.  I just finished rubbing down 4 beef roasts for the second time, next weekend off to the smoker they go.  I also have a picture of the last batch that I made but not sure how to post a picture, can someone help me out with this.  Thanks for all your help and advice.


Hopeful in Iowa

[jaeger]

Hopeful,
I would use a brine pump. Cabelas had one on special a while back. Go to Cabelas and do a search on "marinades"-(Page 2)

I use a 10 percent solution. I usually go just a little heavier on the water the first time to help prevent the meat from becoming to salty. When you pump, establish a pattern with the needle. Fill the pump with brine, push into the meat and inject the brine as you are withdrawing the needle.
As a reference, with an average size decapped beef top round, I would have 2 rows with 4 injection points evenly spaced per row.
Here is a picture I drew up quick.

You will still rub the outside with cure, like  you are doing now. I would leave them refrigerated for one week and then rinse well and soak well, like you are doing now.

As far as posting pictures, Olds has a very detailed thread on this subject. I use photobucket as a free host for storing pictures. After you have a picture stored, just copy the URL and click on the picture tab or the url tab at the top of this message box, put your cursor(?) in the middle of the tags and right click - paste.
Here is the link from Olds...http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v244/xcelsmoke/beefround.jpg

Hope this helps!!!
Sorry about not responding sooner. I was busy trying to keep my nephews from burning down my backyard with fireworks last night!!![;)]



<font size="4"><b>Doug</b></font id="size4">

[Hopeful]

jaeger, Thanks for the info, I ordered the brine pump and will give it a try this weekend on a couple of deer roasts.  The picture I posted is the second batch I did, thanks also on helping post a picture.  I have not had time to slice the beef roasts but they sure look and smell good.

Hopeful in Iowa