Smoked Tri tip Jerky Brine or Cure?

[UNKYFUNKY]

I had purchased  jerky from a predominant Chicago butcher that was incredible so I wanted make some in my Bradley.  They smoked a whole  Tri tip section and sliced it to order but unlike normal jerky, this had the consistency of like a Prosciutto only more tender and a little firmer. It was not a traditional jerky, it wasn't grainy.  It had some great fats as well as some other infused flavors.  So I made my  brine and indended to  smoke it low and slow until it was firm. The description says "warm smoked".  I am not really sure how to execute this.  Will a traditional brine (1 cup kosher salt/  8 cups water with other flavors be safe for a warm smoke?  What temp would I set for this? I have no experience with curing other than the traditional Jerky kits which I also smoke.
Does anyone have expierance with this or can point me in the right direction?

It can be seen here which by the way can be purchased and shipped if anyone is interested.
I can not seem to figure out how to load the photo but I added the link to this product.

http://www.paulinamarket.com/collections/snack-sticks/products/beef-jerky-teriyaki


Thanks!!!!

[cathouse willy]

Unk The bright red color makes me wonder if it's cured with nitrates.If you had the lable from one of your packages it might say. The terms hot and cold smoke refer to the oven temps, cold up to 90f and hot 160f or so and up What they mean by warm smoke is anyones guess.Why not contact the shop and ask them. It looks great keep us posted

[UNKYFUNKY]

Thanks Willie!
Perhaps I will call them and see what they have to say they are very friendly. I have spent the last four hours looking through the Bradley forums trying to understand curing and brining and I'm probably more confused now than I was when I started. So I see a lot of the jerky and curing posts but they're all specific to meat that is sliced. It appears that I will have to cure the meat but I'm unsure now if I should just dispose of the brine that I made or not? Some of the replies refer to sugar vs salt content and apparently if you have too much sugar the meat could spoil. I was trying to figure out if I do cure this 4 pound hunk of meat I'm not sure how long I should cure it for? On the Morton tender quick instructions (which I have however never used) I'm not sure if I just mix that with the water and have to limit my brown sugar and additional salty products. I ordered some sausage making and curing books that were recommended on the forum so perhaps I'll wait and try to advanced my knowledge in this category.  Thanks for the advice!

[KyNola]

If you have Morton Tender Quick you can use it to cure the tri tip.  Here is how.  First weigh the tri tip. For every pound of tri tip weight, combine 1 tablespoon of MTQ with 1 tablespoon of brown sugar.  Example 3 lb tri tip you need 3 tbsp of MTQ and 3 tbsp of brown sugar.  The brown sugar is used to offset the saltiness of the MTQ as it is approximately 93% salt.  Add to the MTQ/sugar mixture whatever herbs or spices you want but don't add anything with additional salt.  Once the curing mix is well blended, rub it all over the tri tip.  Use it all.  Place the tri tip in a ziplock bag with as little air trapped inside as you can manage.  Place in your refrigerator for 6-7 days.  Everyday turn the bag over.  You may see liquid forming in the bag.  That is normal.  Don't pour it off.  The meat will begin to firm up.  After 6-7 days remove the meat from the bag and thoroughly rinse the meat to remove any remaining sure mix.  Pat dry and allow to sit on a rack uncovered in your frig for a day for the surface to dry and form a sticky surface.  Now you're ready to smoke it at a smoking temperature not to exceed 170.

Good luck!

[UNKYFUNKY]

Ky,
Thank you so much for your instructions. It clearly took a lot of time for you to type all those out I greatly appreciate your help. I will let you know how it turns out!

[piratey]

As a general note for curing, anytime your food (meat) will be between 40 and 140 degrees for longer than 4 hours, you should use cure for food safety reasons.  If you are doing something that cooks faster, say chicken, then you don't need to worry about cure, but something like jerky, low heat, extended time period for drying, really needs cure for safety.

[UNKYFUNKY]

Thank you Piratey.  That seems like a great guide to follow.. I have a friend that makes prosciutto and dried sausages every year and they just salt the meat heavily and then place it in their basement for many many days. They don't use cure they just use  salt and other spices like pepper . They use weights to compress the meat to extract the water during this process. How do you think they're doing it without having food safety issues? Thanks for your advice