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Jerky...it’s just that easy.

was thatguy

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Ok so I like jerky. But I hate paying for the disappointment of store bought crap.

Step 1!

I use any decent “muscle meat” that’s sliced correctly. Usually some bottom steak or center round. If I dont see anything pre sliced (against the grain so it’s not tough) I’ll go for a 2-3 pound London broil and have the guy slice it 1/4” for jerky.

I like this dry cure product. Marinated jerky like Teriyaki is awesome, but remember it’s not cured so should really be refrigerated afterwards if not eaten readily. It’ll go a few days, but you know.
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Cut the meat into jerky sized strips. I do one pound at a time. I’ll do several pounds at once...but in stages of one pound each.
This is one pound.
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Mix the spice and the cure in the supplied shaker as per instructions. For one pound of muscle meat this product uses 1 1/2 teaspoon spice, 2 tsp cure.
Sprinkle evenly on one side using about half the cure mix, flip all pieces over and do the other half. Don’t worry if it ain’t perfect, it’s going in the mixing bowl next.

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Scoop up all pieces and put in mixing bowl. Pour in any remaining spice mix from the shaker bottle. Mix and knead with your hands to thoroughly and coat all pieces.

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Take each piece of meat out separately and neatly and carefully stack each piece straight and evenly in a stack or 2 stacks. It’s important to do this straight and flat and even so it cures consistently.

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Take the stacks of meat (1 pound) and place in ziplock bag straight and tight and squeeze all air out and seal. (Quart baggie)
Place in fridge to cure. These are less than 1/4” thick so 24 hours will be plenty.
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Tomorrow afternoon we will pull this out (I’m actually doing 2 pounds so it’ll be 2 loads) and we will smoke them on 180 for 2-2 1/2 hours or so on the Traeger.

Thicker sliced meat I will do at 200 for 2-3 hours. But this is sort of thin
 

RitcheyRch

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This thread reminds me that I need to make some more jerky. Some of the store bought stuff aggravates my stomach but my homemade stuff doesn't.
 

River Runnin

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I butchered all my Elk and Deer for years and always made at least 10 pounds of jerky! -- Cracked pepper, Teriyaki, sweet & spicy and an experimental batch of something. :) .....But It sure weren't as purdy as your slabs though! :D
 

Xtrmwakeboarder

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Damn it, now I’ve got to wait until tomorrow to see the finished product. Love me some jerkey, but it always dries out when I try.
 

was thatguy

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Damn it, now I’ve got to wait until tomorrow to see the finished product. Love me some jerkey, but it always dries out when I try.

It’s easy to overdry it.
I turn it after an hour and then check it every 30 minutes.
After 2 hours (or less) I’ll pull a small piece off and try it. If it’s close to done then it’s done. It drys more after pulling it off.
Thinner pieces I’ll pull off sooner and thicker pieces will go another 15-30 minutes maybe.
 

2Driver

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Thanks for putting that up. Anyway to do this on a standard propane grill, cheap charcoal Weber kettle or even a convection oven?
 

stingray11

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Thanks for putting that up. Anyway to do this on a standard propane grill, cheap charcoal Weber kettle or even a convection oven?
Yes if you have a convection oven with a drying feature jerky turns out excellent one thing you don't want to do is over cook it and dry it out like the store-bought crap it should be juicy and tender.

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was thatguy

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Thanks for putting that up. Anyway to do this on a standard propane grill, cheap charcoal Weber kettle or even a convection oven?

Yes.
Just try to keep it at 200* or so.
You’re not cooking it, just evaporating it.
Don’t be afraid to check it often, and try it as you go. On the Traeger I start tasting it after just an hour or more!
On a propane grill I’d try just one burner on low and put the strips at the other end...but I’ve never actually done that so can’t really say.

I have a buddy that doesn’t even use heat...but seems sketchy to me!
They make dehumidifiers as well, but I’ve never used one.
 

2Driver

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Thanks. Wh
Yes.
Just try to keep it at 200* or so.
You’re not cooking it, just evaporating it.
Don’t be afraid to check it often, and try it as you go. On the Traeger I start tasting it after just an hour or more!
On a propane grill I’d try just one burner on low and put the strips at the other end...but I’ve never actually done that so can’t really say.

I have a buddy that doesn’t even use heat...but seems sketchy to me!
They make dehumidifiers as well, but I’ve never used one.

Thnaks I’m going to try it. When I was a kid on Safari In Tanzania some of what we shot got stripped in 2’ sections and hung high in a tree that was in camp. LOL thinking about it now it probably had some high fly traffic on it. We lived though :)
 

Sleek-Jet

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Yes.
Just try to keep it at 200* or so.
You’re not cooking it, just evaporating it.
Don’t be afraid to check it often, and try it as you go. On the Traeger I start tasting it after just an hour or more!
On a propane grill I’d try just one burner on low and put the strips at the other end...but I’ve never actually done that so can’t really say.

I have a buddy that doesn’t even use heat...but seems sketchy to me!
They make dehumidifiers as well, but I’ve never used one.

Alton Brown uses a box fan to dehydrate jerky, no cooking required. He uses pleated air filters to sandwich the meat, then straps the whole thing to a big box fan and turns it on for several hours. Drives dogs in the neighborhood crazy.
 
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Xtrmwakeboarder

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Alton Brown uses a box fan to dehydrate jerky, no cooking required. He uses pleated air filters to sandwich the meat, then straps the whole thing to a big box fan and turns it on for several hours. Drives dogs on the neighborhood crazy.
After I watched that episode we used it to dry fruit. House smelled amazing, and the strawberries were delicious, but it was a lot of work and took a long time.
 

Chili Palmer

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One of the guys at my work uses seasoned skirt steak (carne asada meat) in an air fryer and it turned out pretty damn good.
 

pkrrvr619

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It’s easy to overdry it.
I turn it after an hour and then check it every 30 minutes.
After 2 hours (or less) I’ll pull a small piece off and try it. If it’s close to done then it’s done. It drys more after pulling it off.
Thinner pieces I’ll pull off sooner and thicker pieces will go another 15-30 minutes maybe.


How do you store it and how long will it last? Vacuum sealer in a pantry or vacuum seal in freezer?
 

was thatguy

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How do you store it and how long will it last? Vacuum sealer in a pantry or vacuum seal in freezer?

I just keep it in zip lock baggies, sitting on the counter.
Not sure how long it will last, it always gets eaten pretty fast.
But I have had it laying around for over a week before and it’s no problem. I would think that cured, dried, and sealed it would go a long time?
Personally I would think freezing it would be bad.
 

pkrrvr619

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I just keep it in zip lock baggies, sitting on the counter.
Not sure how long it will last, it always gets eaten pretty fast.
But I have had it laying around for over a week before and it’s no problem. I would think that cured, dried, and sealed it would go a long time?
Personally I would think freezing it would be bad.

thanks. I am looking at the cure kits right now. your finished product looks killer.
 

boatdoc55

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I just keep it in zip lock baggies, sitting on the counter.
Not sure how long it will last, it always gets eaten pretty fast.
But I have had it laying around for over a week before and it’s no problem. I would think that cured, dried, and sealed it would go a long time?
Personally I would think freezing it would be bad.
Never had a problem freezing it up in Oregon Tommy. I did a LOT of it, with my best buddy being a cranberry grower. Deer were like rats on the bogs so we had lots of venison. I most often just dehydrated it, never used heat. Had one of those white round dehydraters and that thing got a workout most of the year.
When the nephews and nieces back in SoCal wanted some beef jerky, which was always, I'd just dig into the freezer grab a bunch, they were vacuumed packed, and send them down. I don't think they still know it wasn't beef. :D
 

was thatguy

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thanks. I am looking at the cure kits right now. your finished product looks killer.

I like the garlic and pepper and the original flavor the best.
I tried their sweet and spicy but it didn’t really pop for me.
 

Rondog4405

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Did a few batches a few years ago on my Green mountain smoker using eye of round. Came out fn great. Finished it off in the toaster oven with the fan on to fully dry it out. Think ill.be doing some more real soon😉
 

jetboatperformance

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Awesome love me some homegrown jerkey , as a society were are wastefull good way to make use of inexpensive cuts , bet its yummy
 

was thatguy

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Waited till this morning to dry it.

One pound on the Traeger!

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was thatguy

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Flipped at one hour.
This is thin sliced, tried a piece at an hour and it’ll probably be done in 30 minutes more.

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WildWilly

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Just ordered a few kits from HI Mountain. I haven't done any on the pellet grill so looking forward to that
 

was thatguy

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Just ordered a few kits from HI Mountain. I haven't done any on the pellet grill so looking forward to that

It’s good stuff.
Just let it cure for at least 24 hours, keep the pellet grill no more than 200* (180 is better)
Check it and flip it at one hour, check it every 30 minutes after that.
If you think it’s done it probably is.
Even if you overdry the first batch it’ll still get eaten! Lol
Then just adjust the next time.

Sometimes I’ll pull thinner pieces off first and let thicker pieces stay on for another 15-30 minutes.
 

was thatguy

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Boom.
First pound done, second pound is on the smoker.

I’ll let it sit out open until completely cool, at least an hour or so, then put it in a baggie.

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hallett21

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Looks like pretty thick Slices?

Dont be afraid to go 2 hours or more if it needs it, depending on temp.
Ive had 1/4” slices go 2 1/2- 3 hours at 180.

I think I went too thick lol. Went from 7-10.

We’ll see how this taste manana. I cut up the London broil from RDPs Cow supplier [emoji1303]

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