Jerky Recipes! Everyone's Favorite

Brock A

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So I got a Weston Propane Smoker (http://www.westonsupply.com/Weston-36-Gas-Smoker-Black-p/41-0301-w.htm) for Christmas I figured I would break it in with some jerky. I have a few Elk roast set aside from this fall but I wanted to perfect it on beef first in case I screwed up. Anyway here is what I came up with.

I bought a 3lb Top Round Roast for my local grocery store. I froze it for 2 hours and then sliced it WITH THE GRAIN into 1/4" strips. I then cut those strips into thirds. I placed them in a gallon zip lock bag.

Then I whipped up the brine/marinade

. 2/3 cup of Teriyaki sauce
. 1/3 cup of Worcestershire sauce
. 1/3 cup of Soy sauce
. 1 tbsp of garlic powder
. Add ground pepper to you desire

I then added it to the gallon zip lock bag and let it sit for 24 hours. Every few hours I would pull it out of the fridge and mix it around. After I laid them out on racks I sprinkled red pepper flake on half of them to give them some spice.




Smoking it:

160 degrees for 3 hours. Swapping racks around at 1.5 hours (only 2 racks in the center, traded places)

I used hickory chips and started with a full bowl of them. I put in new chips at 1 hr and then again at 2 hr. My next batch I will only use the chips I started with. It came out a little smokier than I wanted.





Anyway,

What are your jerky recipes!?
 

Jackelope

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Feb 28, 2012
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Thanks for posting Brock. I've got some venison set aside for jerky. I just haven't done it yet. I'll try this recipe. My plan was to go with 1 tray of smoke then let the smoker do the drying.
 

InIt2Live

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Awesome looking meat right there! I use Alton Brown's marinade recipe for mine, sometimes I adjust the spice level to what I'm wanting, either more red pepper or black pepper.

2lbs of meat (cut to what you consider jerky sized pieces
2/3 cup Worcestershire sauce
2/3 cup soy sauce (I use low sodium)
1 Tbsp honey
2 teaspoons black pepper
2 teaspoons onion powder
1 teaspoon liquid smoke (if using a dehydrator)
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes

Mix it all up and marinade overnight in a ziplock bag.

It's simple, but tasty!

With regards to the smokiness, I don't think jerky needs much more than the first hour with smoke, and then just the dehydrating heat.
 

Randle

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I use that same recipe when I want a teriyaki flavor , not a recipe but a mix , I really like hi mountain original it is a salty pepper flavor
 

pirogue

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Jun 28, 2012
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Kinda surprised to not see salt in these above. But I use a smoker only and not a cooker/dehydrator. Guess I am curing mine more and never worry about refrigerating afterwards. total amount of meat I slice up would be a little smaller than a football. Use hand full of most dry ingredients above.
 

Trial153

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Sea salt, black pepper and red pepper...then into the smoker. That's it
 
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I picked up a Smoke Vault, which is also propane, last summer and have done a couple of batches of jerky. Both with ground venison using the High Mountain cure and seasoning. I prefer pressed jerky to whole meat strips but that's just me.

Both of my batches cooked prior to drying out. This is fine and yummy but I didn't trust it to leave it in a pack for a week or more. Worked great for when I had a cooler in elk camp but it still seemed more like a jerky flavored burger snack than a true jerky product.

The problem I found in my smoker is that in order to get the pan smoking real good it heats up to 200-220* so it's cooking the meat. Even though I did better on the second batch it still cooked long before the water content had all been removed thus shortening it's shelf life. Despite the cure and bringing the meat to 160* both test pieces I left wrapped on top of my freezer began to mold after a week or so.

While looking for a way to cold smoke salmon and oysters for the canner I found a new product called the Smoke Chief. It's a smoke generator that attaches to the outside of a smoker so there's no heat generated. I think this will work perfect for me as I can add the smoke while keeping the smoker at around 150-160* and hopefully do more drying then cooking. The Smoke Chief would also be perfect for those that use a dehydator but want to add a little smoke first.

At least I've figured out what to use my Cabela's gift card on.

Good thread!
 
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