Beef Jerky. Tips and Tricks

[Spinaker]

As soon as I land in MSP, I am going to stop at Costco on the way home to buy the meat to make some jerky for my up coming trip.

I think I am going to go with 15 lbs of Top round.

1 TSP Red Pepper
1.5 TSP Black Pepper
2 TSP Seasoning Salt (Lawery's)
1 TSP Garlic Powder
1 TSP Onion Powder
2 TSP Accent
1 TBSP Salt
2 TBSP Quick Salt
1/3 Cup Soy Sauce
1/3 Cup Bachans Sauce
1/3 Cup Worshetisre Sauce
1/2 Cup Brown Sugar
5 Lbs of Top Round per Batch

• Slice the 2-Five Pound Packs
• I am going to let it soak in the marinade for a few days.
• Use the KBQ with oak to smoke
• Dehydrate overnight
• Vac seal and pack for the trip!

[Steve B]

Cool deal Spinaker
What I actually do is put the marinade together in a zip lock bag and let the flavors meld for 24hrs than add the meat and let that soak in the bath for another 24hrs.
So I guess it is actually a couple of days process if you think it about it that way.

Now you got me needing to make some. Colder months are approaching and a little spicy jerky is a delight. Just like some good old chili.

[Spinaker]

I like the idea of letting the marinades sit for a day. Good call. Steve B

[Elton's BBQ]

Sounds like a great recipie Spinaker!

[Steve B]

Here’s my jerky recipe.

But that Bachans is really good. It will add some great flavor to your jerky.

[Steve B]

Spinaker 😂😂😂😂
You can always scale back or eliminate the reaper.

[Elton's BBQ]

And reaperpowder is ofcourse Carolina Reaper i assume..

[Steve B]

Elton's BBQ Yup.

[Attjack]

We have another batch of Canna-Tsu jerky marinating now and this time I added some habaneros. I'm going to give it 2 days so I'll smoke it tomorrow.

[Spinaker]

Sounds good! Do you have a recipe you could share? I gotta make two batches, so I am alwasy looking for another recipe to make.

[Attjack]

Yeah, my girlfriend does. Canna-Tsu is a 1:1 CBD to THC strain. The recipe is modified from one online. I'll ask her to send it to me.

[Spinaker]

I picked up 15 Lbs of top round last night, sliced it and threw is in the marinade. Man does it smell good.

When I was making the marinade a few days ago, I threw all the ingredients in the Vitamix and I blended it all up and put it in my curing container. One thing I made sure I did was allow the marinade to sit in the fridge over night to come down to fridge temp. Last night, I sliced up all 15 lbs and threw it in the container, back in the fridge it went.

My plan is to smoke and dehydrate on Friday. I am thinking that I will be able to vac seal all of it Friday and Saturday. I know I can't get all that meat in my dehydrator at once.

I will post some pics of the marinade when I get home. It smells and looks amazing. I will be curious to see how much actual jerky I get out of this 15 lbs. I am thinking 5 Lbs.

[Attjack]

Why not keep it on the smoker until it's dehydrated?

[Spinaker]

I have always wondered the same thing actually. Everything I have read says to smoke it too 165 F and not over that temp. And then put it in the dehydrator. So I am not sure what the move is here. Given that the KBQ has an induction fan, I would think it would be pretty much the same thing. Do you just smoke it the whole time? Attjack

[Attjack]

Yeah, I just smoke it until it seems done. Before I had my smoker, I would use my dehydrator. But I can't see a reason to use it now.

[Spinaker]

Gotcha, I am just gonna let it roll in the KBQ then. I guess, why not? I can easily hang the whole lot in the KBQ instead of having to do stuff in batches in the KBQ.


It will be interesting to see how low I can get that baby to run. What temp do you set your smoker too when you are doing it? Attjack

[Spinaker]

I will for sure. Thanks man. I am gonna fire this up today. Attjack

[Spinaker]

After smoking all the way, I’m starting to wonder why the hell I ever bought that dehydrator. 🤷🏼‍♂️ Thanks for the tip! Save me some time and clean up. Attjack

[Attjack]

Glad you agree that the smoker is more than adequate. My dehydrator has been busy drying Italian Plums for days though.

[klflowers]

So I did some of this Monday using almost Powersmoke_80 recipe. I used ~5lbs of eye of round that I sliced and pounded out. I didn't have the Accent, the Mortons Quick Salt or any liquid smoke. So I threw in some Meat Church The Gospel Rub, a couple tablespoons of Tapatio hot sauce and a quarter tsp of pink salt. I did it in the dehydrator at 160 for around 7 hours. It was the best jerky I have made to date. I don't have any pics though - my son and his buddy stopped by for some wibs and when they saw the jerky it was over. Next time I am going to do it on the Chimp. Powersmoke_80 thanks for the recipe!!!

[Spinaker]

Sweet man, great to hear it worked out!

[texastweeter]

I probably make 100lbs of various jerky a year. Main tip, don't over marinate otherwise it will come out crumbly. Took me a while to figure this out. Also, check you oven. Most modern convection ovens have a dehydrate setting. Or, make your own rigs with a box fan, and cheap pleated air filters plus a bungee cord.

[Spinaker]

Good tip! Thanks!

[IowaGirl]

This thread has revived my interest in making jerky. When I got my Hasty Bake awhile back, I stumbled across a thread on another BBQ forum where a gal put brisket slices in a ginger-and-soy teriyaki style marinade. She threaded the marinaded meat slices on skewers, and hung meat vertically in her Hasty Bake to smoke and dehydrate. Source: http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/sh...37&postcount=1

I noticed she sliced the meat across the grain, but a lot of jerky I've eaten has been sliced with the grain. Any thoughts from experienced jerky makers on the pros and cons of how to slice?

Here's her marinade for those who don't patronize other BBQ forums She doesn't say the weight of meat she used with this much marinade -- it looks like a medium-ish sized brisket in the photos, so maybe 10 pounds? Her marinade is basically a water-based brine, not the more concentrated paste marinade y'all are doing.

1/2 cup Kosher salt
2 cups brown sugar
3 tbsp Mortons Tenderquick Home Meat Cure
3 tbsp minced fresh Ginger
1/2 cup of soy sauce
4 quarts of water

[texastweeter]

I like with the grain. I like having the pull. Old school jerky.

[Attjack]

I go against the grain.

[IowaGirl]

Ya see??? Even you guys can't agree!!!

[Spinaker]

Time to smoke this batch up today! The KBQ is gonna be running a little colder today.

[Spinaker]

It is Jerky time folks! Cherry, oak and peach wood on the KBQ smells divine.

[Spinaker]

Yeah, I like it a little thicker. More flavor punch when you bite into it. Steve B

[Steve B]

Thanks John. I shall try going thicker next time. Which will probably be next weekend.

[Elton's BBQ]

Nice.. 👍🍽

[Spinaker]

I got the jerky all vac sealed and ready for the river!

[klflowers]

How long did you end up smoking it?

[Spinaker]

Um, I would say about 2 hours, on the lowest setting not he KBQ. Probably around 200. There is a ton of air flow with the Fns running so I am guess that it took shorter time than usual. klflowers

[klflowers]

That is pretty short. In the dehydrator at 160 it takes around 7 hours. But I guess the 40 degrees makes a difference. I am going to make my next batch on the Chimp. That KBQ keeps calling my name, but I can't afford it. I can't afford it. I can't afford it. DAMMIT KEVIN, YOU CAN'T AFFORD IT

[IowaGirl]

Smoked my first batch of jerky today. The cure is different than Spinaker's because I knew my Mr. Sweet Tooth would much prefer a sweet cure. To that end, I slightly adapted the Maple Syrup cure on the Jerkyholic website (https://www.jerkyholic.com)--

recipe per 1 lb meat (top or bottom round, eye of round, brisket, flank steak, sirloin tip, or lean ground beef at <=10% fat)

**Basic brine cure for 1 lb meat**
2 teaspoon Morton kosher salt
1 1/2 tsp coarse black pepper
1/4 teaspoon Prague powder #1 (0.25% by weight of meat)
1/2 tsp liquid smoke (omit if dehydrating in smoker)
1/3 to 1/2 cup water (just enough water to barely cover the meat)

**Sweet Maple cure for 1 lb meat**
Basic brine (see above)
2 TBL brown sugar
4 TBL pure maple syrup
1 TBL light molasses (I'd advise against dark molasses or blackstrap)

I sized up this recipe X3 because I wanted to cure 3 pounds of trimmed bottom round beef. After removing all external fat, I cut the meat into strips about 3/8" (1 cm) thick cutting across the grain x 1" (2.5 cm) wide x 4-6" (10-15 cm) long. I mixed up the cure and marinated the strips of meat for 2 days. I'd planned on just 1 day, but life got in the way. I don't think the extra day of cure created any problems.

I removed the strips from the cure and let them drip off, but didn't rinse or dry the strips, which some recipes advise. I threaded about 10 strips onto a bamboo skewer, about 6 skewers in all, and then used wire "bread ties" to fasten the skewers to the top rack of my Hasty Bake. The meat strips dangled from the rack and let me pack more meat into the upper level of the Hasty Bake than I could otherwise do.

I smoked the meat 2 hours starting at 115 F and rising to 225 F by the end. When I stopped, the meat had dried down to about two thirds of its original weight (the yield was about 2 pounds of finished jerky out of an original 3 pounds). I decided to stop when jerky was chewy and firm, but still quite flexible and "bite-able".

I do not consider this to be a jerky that's shelf stable at room temperature, even with the Prague powder. It's a treat, in other words, not a survival food. I'll keep most of the jerky in the freezer and keep leftovers in the fridge ... if there are leftovers. Mr. Sweet Tooth raved about it and I'm afraid we all, including the dogs, probably over indulged on jerky this afternoon.

Picture of the finished product to follow when I find the right dang-nabbit cord.

I'm pretty happy with how it turned out, but I'm already turning my sights toward trying a new brine (probably still on the sweet side) with ginger and perhaps soy sauce. And indulging my engineering side with figuring a better way to hang the strips in the Hasty Bake.

Oh, and on that note, for low temp smoking in the Hasty Bake -- Build a fire the usual way but use only about, oh, 20 briquettes. Plan on feeding the fire about 10 briquettes, give or take a few, every 45 to 60 minutes. Once you tweak the vents to your liking, the Hasty Bake should hold a fairly steady 180-200 F temperature for hours without a lot of fiddling with vents and such -- just feed enough briquettes as needed to maintain that temperature. At least that's what I'm seeing today.

Now that the jerky is done, I shifted the Hasty Bake into drying some grape tomatoes tonight into "tomato raisins" per Meathead's method. Hope they turn out good -- it's a slow process.

[IowaGirl]

Spinaker -How dry do you take your jerky? The Jerkyholic website recommends drying the meat to the point where the meat fibers snap at the fold when bent, but the meat doesn't break into separate pieces.

[Spinaker]

Yeah, that is about where I was when I took it off. I did have a few that were a little more brittle than that. All in all, that is about where I ended up. It turned out really well.

[T-bone]

IowaGirl thank you for the update! I'm planning on giving it a try this weekend.

[Spinaker]

Great time of year for jerky!

Gonna have to fire this back up soon. Thanks @JimLineberger for bumping this long lost thread back up!