More questions about jerky

[Wannabe]

David,
Nathan and I went to the store and picked up 3 LB. of ground meat. We started mixing your recepie and Nathan said, no wonder you and David are friends. He's just like you. if a little is good then a whole lot has to be better. I said, Well yeahh. Makes sense to me. He grinned and kept mixing according to your directions. Mixed up enough to fill the jerky gun twice. I will let you know how it turns out. Also have one rack of habeneros in the dryer.
Bob

 

[wilded]

Remember that how you dry it will actually change the texture. I sometimes put a wood spoon in the door of the oven set on the lowest setting to get a hard dry. That way the moisture is let out during the drying period. If you have to much steam or enough moisture does not escape during drying it can be grainy in texture.

 

[Wannabe]

uh-ohh David,
This might turn out to be an interesting batch of jerky. I was reading the directions and noticed that instead of TBS by the Cumin, you had Tsp. :shock: I don't know what that is going to be like but, I will find out. Will let you know. We also added some liquid smoke also.
Bob

 

[dawallace45]

Bob

You can't have too much Cumin as far as I'm concerned and I some times add liquid smoke too

Like I always say " Any thing worth doing is worth over doing "

David

 

[Kayak Jack]

I've never made jerky of ground meat. I make a beef sausage of ground beef, that I cure with tender Quik, and then smoke. I have had better luck with slices of meat either marinated (for best flavor) or simply dried or smoked. Primitive man used sliced meat, a rack made of sticks, and a smokey fire. Salt, I guess too, if he had it. I try to stick close to what worked for Ogg and his crew.

 

[dawallace45]

I use a dehydrator but have used the oven several times and much prefer the dehydrator

Jack , if it makes you feel any better about not using modern technology I once made a passable roo jerky by hanging it on a barb wire fence , would have been better if that bloody willy-willy hadn't come through and gave the whole lot a coating of dust , but it did dry well , 42*C in the shade , 3% humidity and a breeze that just soaked the moisture out of every thing

David

 

[Kayak Jack]

Here's another simple way to dry it. Screen racks and blow ambient air through the racks. A square-framed window fan, laid flat on a few blocks so it is solid, and air can enter the bottom (intake) side. Securely stack screen racks (wood frame with window screen stretched across) up in several layers and let ambient air blow up through them. The meat dries just the same as with heat and little air circulation - and a lot cheaper.

 

[Wannabe]

Jack,
Jerky out of ground meat is pretty easy if you have a jerky gun. Ours holds 1 1/2 lbs. of meat. It gives you nice uniform strips of jerky. We have to make a lot when we make it because I have a granddaughter that is a true Jerky Junkie.
Bob

 

[Kayak Jack]

Bob - our granddaughters oughta meet (meat?). One day when Katie and I were grocery shopping, she wanted a treat (SURPRISE!). I couldn't find any cheese and cracker packs, so grabbed a pack of jerky for her. BIG mistake!

When we go camping, I vacuum pack breakfast and lunch in a plastic, food-saver bag. Light weight, water proof, self-contained garbage bag. Breakfast is a power bar (Cap'n Jack's Power Bars) - lunch will be some admixture of jerky, nuts, dried fruit, and string cheese. When Grandpa gets to check lunch, someone has sometimes foraged ahead and dog-robbed the choice jerky and string cheese. (growing young bodies need protein, I guess, ehh?) Jerky is a favorite, and rightly so.

When it comes to store-bought jerky, I kinda prefer the Jack Links brand. It is consistently good, and, their teriyaki flavor is even gooder.

 

[Wannabe]

David,
If you like Cumin then you would love this jerky. Two TBS of Cumin is a little much. Next batch I will use only 1 TBS. I'm not saying it is bad, just a little much. Six TBS. of Rooster sauce, Two TBS. of crushed red peppers (I just used two cause that waw all I had left) was not enough to make it hot. Just spicey. Guess We will have to put that Gost pepper sauce in it to make it hot. Overall it wern't bad.
Bob

 

[dawallace45]

Bob

Were those proportions per pound or per Kilo ?

My recipe was for a kilo and I found that 6 table spoons of crushed chilli was just enough , even my dog will eat it at that , the last lot I did I just put the whole jar of crushed chilli in it and added a few good jolts of Habenaro Tabasco , it was a little warm for some who tried it and my wife reckons she lost all sense of taste in her mouth and her sense of smell for a day or so [ she's a bit of a wimp with hot stuff ] , I think she was exaggerating as the dog still ate it and come back for more after a big drink

One thing I have been doing that I didn't mention is I sprinkle Cajun seasoning or steak spice on the strips of the raw ground beef on the drying trays so it gives a instant taste in the mouth as ground beef jerky tends to lack initial taste otherwise

David

 

[Wannabe]

David,
You used 1 kilo or about 2.2lbs and I used 3 lbs. I has a little less than a third of the crushed red pepper and way too much Cumin. I did notice that with 6 TBS of rooster sauce plus the other liquids put in it made the mixture too wet. I might need to add cracker crumbs to stiffen the mixture up a bit.
Bob

 

[dawallace45]

Bob

It seemed a little too wet when I first mixed it but after 24 hours in the fridge it didn't seem too bad

David

 

[Wannabe]

Just finished another batch of jerky. This time we sliced a very lean roast up and used the same mix as before with a few exceptions. I used 2tsp of cumin instead of 2 tbs. I had picked a few habeneros, sliced them thin and dried them as I was making the hambuger jerky the other day. We put the dried habeneros in a little mini blender and gave it several bumps to break it down into small peices kinda like crushed red pepper. This turned out a little finer than that. So we added 1/4 tsp of the habenero to the mix. OH MY GOSH :shock: . Kicked it up about 3 octaves. I wouldn't want any more than that but when Nathan tries it I know he'll want to double or triple the amount of habenero. That way he won't have to share. This stuff would get OldYakkers attention.
Bob

 

[Kayak Jack]

<SNIP> This stuff would get OldYakkers attention.

Bob, Yakus Jerkicus can wash down anything with a gulp of Dago Red. When I asked him, one day in Canada, "What IS Dago Red?" He told me that "It's any red wine that's within 100 yards of a Dago."

Pretty simple explanation, ehh?

 

[islandpiper]

Tell Al that when Italian tires go flat.....Dago wop wop wop.

piper