Leanest GB that can be used for jerky?

[DTAggie]

Rick, your thoughts?

[NePaSmoKer]

Rick, your thoughts?

90/10

Any leaner and it will be really dry and crumbly.

[DTAggie]

Thank ya' jerky King!

[mr5150]

What do you mean by 80/20 90/10? Sorry may be a Canadian thing....  :P

[muebe]

What do you mean by 80/20 90/10? Sorry may be a Canadian thing....  :P

80/20= 80% beef and 20% fat
90/10= 90% beef and 10% fat

[northof60girl]

Mr5150....it is an American thing.  I was confused at first too and googled it.  I am glad I am near the border because I don't think our ground beef has that on the packing so who the heck knows what we are getting.  Besides, meat is way cheaper US side as well.  Will be trying GB jerky in October  :)

[ghost9mm]

What do you mean by 80/20 90/10? Sorry may be a Canadian thing....  :P

80/20= 80% beef and 20% fat
90/10= 90% beef and 10% fat

what Mike said X2

[SoCalBuilder]

I did my first GB jerky stix this last weekend with 85/15. This was the leanest they had and it seemed like an odd set of numbers. The jerky gun worked pretty well.

[pikeman_95]

I regularly make straight lean no fat what so ever jerky with ground venison. I have done this for years with very good results. Most  batches are in the 50 pound class as that is how much jerky my smoker racks will hold.

Much has to do with how you process it. First it needs to have cure in it to help break down the meat fiber to allow it to recombine into a leathery stick. I emulsify it well for the same reason. Then on to the racks for a heavy smoke and get it up to 145-150 until it turns pink which means the cure has done it's thing. Now I give it a heavy smoke and I do not finish it in the smoker. I then put it into my dehydrator at a low temperature and allow it to slow dry. Finishing your jerky in a dehydrator allows the moisture in the sticks to average out well in the stick. [no dry edges] I check it often so that it does not over dry and like Rick said becomes either hard of crumbly. I want it to be like shoe leather.  You should have to tear a chunk off not break it off. I then plastic wrap it well and foil wrap it and stick it in the freezer. I have opened a package a year later and it seems like you just made it. I am going to make a batch soon and I will take pictures to show the process. If you allow the jerky to get too hot in the smoker it will get crumbly and dry.



here is a picture with some still packaged and some unwrapped. It is still leathery and chewy. Notice no fat what so ever.
I do not have the experience that Rick has had with beef so it may need to have some fat content. I know that my friends sure like the taste and texture of these strips.

Kirby

[Mr Walleye]

What do you mean by 80/20 90/10? Sorry may be a Canadian thing....  :P

mr5150

I'm a Canuck as well. Up here we use Regular, Lean and Extra Lean.

Here are the ratios from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency

•maximum fat levels:
extra lean - 10%
lean - 17%
medium - 23%
regular - 30%

Their web site is here:
http://www.inspection.gc.ca/english/fssa/labeti/retdet/bulletins/meavia/burgere.shtml

Here is the actual Act (Law)
http://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/regulations/SOR-90-288/page-35.html#h-33

Mike

[DTAggie]

I regularly make straight lean no fat what so ever jerky with ground venison. I have done this for years with very good results. Most  batches are in the 50 pound class as that is how much jerky my smoker racks will hold.

Much has to do with how you process it. First it needs to have cure in it to help break down the meat fiber to allow it to recombine into a leathery stick. I emulsify it well for the same reason. Then on to the racks for a heavy smoke and get it up to 145-150 until it turns pink which means the cure has done it's thing. Now I give it a heavy smoke and I do not finish it in the smoker. I then put it into my dehydrator at a low temperature and allow it to slow dry. Finishing your jerky in a dehydrator allows the moisture in the sticks to average out well in the stick. [no dry edges] I check it often so that it does not over dry and like Rick said becomes either hard of crumbly. I want it to be like shoe leather.  You should have to tear a chunk off not break it off. I then plastic wrap it well and foil wrap it and stick it in the freezer. I have opened a package a year later and it seems like you just made it. I am going to make a batch soon and I will take pictures to show the process. If you allow the jerky to get too hot in the smoker it will get crumbly and dry.



here is a picture with some still packaged and some unwrapped. It is still leathery and chewy. Notice no fat what so ever.
I do not have the experience that Rick has had with beef so it may need to have some fat content. I know that my friends sure like the taste and texture of these strips.

Kirby

Kirby - those strips are made with ground venison?  I make strip of GB with my canon and they are not that smooth.

[devo]

The ones I made were of a 90/10 mix. They still had a tad of fat/grease on the outside. They came out smooth but not red like Kirbys. Could have been the mix I used. I had the right amount of cure but I did do them in the bradely and not a dehydrator as I can't afford one of those.

[muebe]

Here I used a 85/15 with backwoods regular. They were not dry and had great color. They were done entirely in the OBS with a convection fan. I started at 145F and slowly progressed to 170F ;D

[pikeman_95]

Don
I think the red color has more to do with the light that the photo had on it. Most of my jerky is more black and that is from the heavy smoke and dehydration.
I do not have any fancy dehydrator they are home built and not by me. There was a time when the fad was to dry fruit and what ever, and everyone was building one of these things. I got one from my dad and another from a older gentleman that wanted to get rid of it.



This is the dehydrator with the lid opened up and there is a heating element in the bottom of the dehydrator. There are seven large trays and I have two of these. You could probably Google and find the plans for one of these.  I have to admit I have not used the jerky tip for the cannon because I have a different system which I will show everyone when I make jerky next. I was asked to make a jerky tip by one of the cannon buyers so I have included one for all the cannons that I have shipped since. They do work well I am told but I haven't used on myself.

Kirby

[devo]

As my son would say "Way Cool "