Beef Jerky; Start with 10 pounds beef; Two Types of flavors

[Kevin A]

I picked up ten pounds of lean top round recently. After chilling them well to near frozen, I sliced the lot into approximately 1/8-1/4" wide strips—depending on how distracted I was during the slicing.
I decided to make two flavors—a basic black pepper jerky (my son's favorite), and teriyaki.
Here are the recipes I followed. You can use regular soy sauce. We're a gluten-free household so the GF soy sauce ($$) is what I used.

Basic Black Pepper Jerky Marinade
for 5lbs meat

8 oz Gluten-free Soy Sauce
2 oz Worcestershire sauce
2 Tbl Fresh coarse-ground black pepper (Tellicherry preferred)
1 Tbl Garlic powder (or 3 fresh garlic cloves, finely chopped)
1 tsp Cayenne (optional)
1 tsp (level) Cure#1
1 tsp Liquid Smoke (I didn't use this as I plan on smoking the beef)

Teriyaki Jerky Marinade
for 5lbs meat

10 oz Gluten-free Soy sauce
4 oz Worcestershire sauce
2 Tbl chopped garlic
2 tsp fresh black pepper
8 oz Dark Brown sugar
2 tsp fresh chopped Ginger
3 finely-chopped Scallions (white & green parts)
2 tsp -1 Tbl Sesame oil (potent, so use to taste)
1 tsp (level) Cure#1

I mixed in the meat in two bowls with the ingredients, and bagged them in zip-loc freezer bags. Squeezed out the excess air and these will both reside in my fridge for the next two days. Then it's off to the smoker with them on Monday.


After almost two days of marinade, time to hang the meats pieces for the smoker. Using the tried & true wooden toothpick method, I managed to get all 10 pound onto a single rack. This was my preference (vs multi-rack) in order to get a consistent temp for the duration.

Hanging for the first hour or so with no smoke @ 150°F to dry off the excess moisture before applying smoke.


Using a maple/hickory blend of dust, I applied light smoke for the next 3-4 hours.
Here's a shot about 2 hours into the smoke application...


After nearly 5 hours @ 150°F I did a test-pull and the jerky looks & feels just about right...


Good color & texture. Tens pounds of beef yielded just a bit over 5 pounds of jerky. Here's samples side by side...


The teriyaki jerky has a touch of garlicky sweetness (almost a tang) & just the right amount of saltiness...


The black pepper jerky has a great 'basic' jerky flavor, with a bit of heat provided by the coarse-ground peppercorns...


Most importantly, all the boys seem to like both types, so I'm a happy jerky-maker!  :)

Kevin

[classicrockgriller]

Pass the Black Pepper Jerky to me!

That is a thing of beauty.

Them boys are SPOILED eatin' your groceries.

[Caneyscud]

Right there with you CRG - a hunk of that black pepper jerky would taste mighty good about 9:00 when I'm starting to get weak from lack of food!  a.m. - p.m. - it don't matter - both count!

[anthony]

It is almost 9 and I could use some of that jerky!!! I will agree, black pepper for me. 

[squirtthecat]

What they said!

[KyNola]

What they said!

Ditto!

[NePaSmoKer]

Looks good Kevin

[Mark in Ottawa]

Wow - that looks great! Making me think I should make a Costco run and try out your recipes.

Thanks for sharing!  :D

Mark (in Ottawa)

[Hud1952]

Dumb question from me, but what is the Cure #1 you refer to in your recipe?  Thanks!

[Kevin A]

Dumb question from me, but what is the Cure #1 you refer to in your recipe?  Thanks!

Cure#1 mentioned is the 'pink salt' we know as sodium nitrite. Available online from sausage supply shops (such as Butcher & Packer).
Essential for cold or hot smoking & curing meat products. Not to be confused with Cure#2.

More information to be found here:
http://www.wedlinydomowe.com/sausage-making/curing
http://nchfp.uga.edu/publications/nchfp/lit_rev/cure_smoke_cure.html

Always recommended to read up on curing, the use of different cures, the risks and benefits before using these products to ensure safe results.

Kevin

[fuzzy1]

Great looking jerky Kevin. I think I will run to Costco and buy me some beef and try your recipes. What is your tried and true toothpick method?

[anthony]

Great looking jerky Kevin. I think I will run to Costco and buy me some beef and try your recipes. What is your tried and true toothpick method?

The toothpick is when you put a toothpick through the meat and hang the meat through the rack.  See pic above.  You can get alot of meat on one rack this way.  I used this method all the time when I made jerky in the home over. This doesn't work with bradley rack with the squares in it.   

[Sailor]

Great looking jerky Kevin. I think I will run to Costco and buy me some beef and try your recipes. What is your tried and true toothpick method?

The toothpick is when you put a toothpick through the meat and hang the meat through the rack.  See pic above.  You can get alot of meat on one rack this way.  I used this method all the time when I made jerky in the home over. This doesn't work with bradley rack with the squares in it.

You can use paper clips bent to hand the meat using the bradley racks  ;)

[wetzel1977]

I was licking my phone Kevin when i saw the pics! Great job i love makeing jerky !!

[Saber 4]

Thanks for posting this Kevin, I'm going to slice up 5 pounds of eye of round this afternoon and use your Teriyaki marinade as the base for mine. I'm going to wait for the pepper until it's out of the marinade and on the racks I saw that in another post and tried it on my first batch and it seemed to work real good.