The Great Turkey Jerky Debacle

[BurntFork Ken]

Well... try as might with 2 different batches, one with a dry seasoning / cure, and one with a merinade I pulled off our related sites, couldn't make turkey jerky.  The marinade batch became dog food, and the dry batch became dog treats.  Waaaay too much moisture in the marinade batch, and the dry seemed to simply dry out before it dried properly.  I'm using a good quality ground turkey.

Am I missing something here?  Any suggestions would be great.

Cheers!
Ken

[Wildcat]

Have not tried jerky yet, but there is a guy out there that does a lot of it.  You will recognize him by the pictures of his toilet. ;D ;D ;D

[NePaSmoKer]

I found that making turk jerk i sprinkled the dry seasoning on the meat when they are on the racks just before putting in the bs. Mine has come out pretty good but just watch the temps.

nepas

[Scotty-G]

At first I had a similar problems as well as either it was like a meat loaf or it was saw dust.

I wound up finally doing a home made mix of the powdered stuff (garlic, onion, pepper, etc.) and letting it sit overnight in the fridge.  The next morning, if it is still too wet, I mix in a little oatmeal flour (oats powdered in a food processor) until I had something more stiff.  I find that extrude vs smeared also effects end results.  Smeared winds up having a texture like meat loaf - moist and soft.  Extruded has a better texture to it but if cooked too high and/or too long can become like cardboard.  Usually though, comes out pretty good everytime.

[JVR]

I always use a dry rub when making jerkey from ground meat.  I extrude it.  As long as you limit the fat content in the meat and process at a low temp (I prefer ~190'F) you should be fine.  I flip the strips about half way through the cooking/drying process too.

Give it a try and report back!

P.S.  I once processed a batch of ground meat jerkey at a higher temp and I ended up with dog treats too.

[nodak]

Burntfork Ken
Are you making whole muscle jerky or chopped and formed(ground jerky)?  It sounds to me like you are making wholemuscle, but I see everyone is giving you advice on ground.

[agent provocateur]

whole muscle jerky... listen up you lasses...

if you want to know how to please your guy... its simple... whole muscle jerky is the answer...

now where can i get some of that terkey jerky...

[BurntFork Ken]

I'm using ground, although a friend has just acquired a commercial grade slicer.  Could you make turkey jerky out of breat meat?

Anywho, the second batch stayed in the BS a full 12 hours at 150 degrees (F).  I started checking it at 6 hours and it never seemed right.  The finished product wasn't that bad, that is if it was the only thing you had in your backpack... and you were stranded in the wilderness... with no hope of returning to civilization... ever... and oh yeah, there were fireants.

Thanks for help, I'm gonna keep pluggin' the T&E process.

Cheers!
Ken

[West Coast Kansan]

 :D   :D   :D

I have no help to offer but am enjoying the experience. Remember what you do with each batch cuz one of these times it will be amazing kinda perfect.

[nodak]

2 more questions burnt fork

Are you laying it out in strips or rolling it out? 

what temp and times are you using?

[Scotty-G]

Anywho, the second batch stayed in the BS a full 12 hours at 150 degrees (F).  I started checking it at 6 hours and it never seemed right.

12 hours?!?  I've gone at most 6 hrs at 150 and everything turned out fine.  When you say never seemed right,
what are you considering to be "right"?  What type of texture/consistency do you hope to get using ground meat?
I have found that ground meat does have a different consistency than sliced muscle meat.  Also extruding vs smearing has different textures as well.

Have you tried a few samples in the oven for comparisson?

Best of luck
Scotty-G

[BurntFork Ken]

Thanks for the luck wishes Scotty, looks like I'll need it for turkey.  :P  I'm shooting it out in strips, I've only tried the snack sticks with beef.  The turkey looked great at 6 hours, but seemed a little moist.  From there I checked it every hour.  Perhaps it was the magical 10-12 hour segment that did me in.

I'm looking for the same consistancy (or as close as I can get) to the way my beef jerky turns out.  No shoe leather, something you can actually bite into and eat, rather than gnaw on like straight muscle meat.  I've done both, I just prefer the ground's consistancy.

That's the fun of this baby, it's just cool to mess around with and see what you come up with. 

BTW - I tried some salmon last night per Kummok's recipe, with slight alteration.  I was amazed at what I perceived as a sweet taste.  After the pieces were out of the OBS and still warm, I smeared some butter and drizzled lemon juice on them.  Oh man!

Cheers!
Ken

[Scotty-G]

I'm looking for the same consistancy (or as close as I can get) to the way my beef jerky turns out.  No shoe leather, something you can actually bite into and eat, rather than gnaw on like straight muscle meat.  I've done both, I just prefer the ground's consistancy.

... 

BTW - I tried some salmon last night per Kummok's recipe, with slight alteration.  I was amazed at what I perceived as a sweet taste.  After the pieces were out of the OBS and still warm, I smeared some butter and drizzled lemon juice on them.  Oh man!

Ken,
I don't know about others but ground turkey consistency and ground beef consistency has never been the same for me. 

Even when I make old fashioned hamburgers vs turkey burgers, the turkey has a little different consistency - still awesome though!

MMMMmmmmm... Butter & Lemon Juice on Kummok's Incredable Smoked Salmon (KISS as my wife calls it - or that's the reward I got when I made it last time  ;) ) sounds good.  I typically grab the cream cheese and a toasted bagle.  Dang, I'm going to have to make some more,  we just finished the last of it this past weekend.

Scotty-G

[jaeger]

BurntFork,
When I make ground jerky of any kind, I never dry it out as much as whole muscle. I think the main thing is to reach your target internal temp, just as if you were making sausage. I lay out the strips the same direction as the heating element as well. As mentioned by JVR, rotation and moving the pieces around is a must.
The jerky will have a lot different consistencey once it has cooled.
When I make whole muscle turkey jerky, I like to use a knife instead of the slicer and cut the turkey tenderloins or breast meat about  1/2 inch + thick.  Again, go for internal temp and not so much dryness.
If you get it to dry, you will be feeding it to the dogs! :o

[agent provocateur]

ruff ruff...

ruff ruff...

ruff ruff...