Beef Jerky on the MES

twoalpha · Jul 28, 2015

This is my first venture on making whole meat beef jerky on the MES. Have been making ground beef sticks and wanted to try this.

Started with a small batch from eye of round steak. Trimmed the little bit of fat off and then put it in the freezer for about 2 hours before slicing it at .200" thickness cross grain.

Using the High Mountain Jerky Cure in Hickory flavor plus 2 Tsp. of brown sugar/lb. followed their directions and dry cured this for 2 days in the refrig. Right before going to the smoker let it form the pellicle for an hour.

Had the MES on 120 when the meat was added and held that for the first hour to dry the meat. Got the AMNPS going with Pitmaster Blend during this time. Starting the 2nd hour bumped the MES to 160 and put the AMNPS into the MES. Starting the 3rd hour bumped the MES to 200. At the end of 3 hours tested a piece after short cool down and texture was just what I wanted. Nice firm not tuff or stringy chew and lots of good smoke flavor. Pulled the remaining pieces out and let them cool out before bagging.

Some of the best tasting, tender and great looking jerky. Will be doing more of this real soon.

Larry

Started with part of the Eye of Round Steak.

IMG_20150725_113926576.jpg

twoalpha
Jul 28, 2015

Beef strips after curing and hung on the MES shelf

IMG_20150727_124522837.jpg

twoalpha
Jul 28, 2015

Almost ready to come out of the MES

IMG_20150727_162145962.jpg

twoalpha
Jul 28, 2015

Finished and cooling off. Where is that cold one?

IMG_20150727_163223738.jpg

twoalpha
Jul 28, 2015

areallynicegirl · Jul 28, 2015

Wow super pretty!!! I like how you hung the jerky, I have never seen that before. All that would be gone in a heart beat at my house. Thanks for sharing!!!

:points:

twoalpha · Jul 28, 2015

Thanks for the point. The wood skewers worked out well and fit nicely. It is a really deep color for sure.

crazymoon · Jul 28, 2015

TA, Nice job sir !

Bearcarver · Jul 28, 2015

Nice Job, Larry!!

Love the reddish color!!

Looks Mighty Tasty from My House!!

-----------------

Bear

twoalpha · Jul 28, 2015

CrazyMoon

Thanks for the point. This was a fun trial.

Larry

twoalpha · Jul 28, 2015

Bear

Thanks for the points and it was really great Jerky.

The rest of the Eye of Round is curing in TQ and headed for Smoked Dried Beef #1 following your "step by step".

Will be smoking it next week and I will post the update when finished.

Larry

Bearcarver · Jul 29, 2015

twoalpha said:
Bear

Thanks for the points and it was really great Jerky.

The rest of the Eye of Round is curing in TQ and headed for Smoked Dried Beef #1 following your "step by step".

Will be smoking it next week and I will post the update when finished.

Larry

That's Great !!

You're gonna love that Dried Beef !!!

Bear

yeroc · Dec 30, 2015

Twoalpha,

Did you use wood chips to add smoke flavor or was the only flavor from the hickory cure? Looking to make jerky soon and I'm checking out different recipes. Thanks!

tropics · Dec 30, 2015

Damn Larry I see I did view this way back and must have not hit the submit button. Slaps on hand,but I am glad to see I left the point.

I haven't had time to use my Smoores Sticks from the dollar store.They can go on my sausage rack or just sit on the rails.

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/174140/sausage-rack-mes40-w-step-by-step

Richie

yeroc · Feb 17, 2016

Thanks for this recipe!! I've made jerky twice now.

FIRST TIME

Using just the Hi Mountain Original Flavor Jerky mix.

Meat slices hung from wooden skewers.

SECOND TIME

Using the Hi Mountain Jerky mix plus 2 Tsp. of brown sugar/lb.

Meat laid out on a silicone smoker mats.

I like the version with the sugar addition. It blends well with the spices in the mix. Regarding hanging the meat or laying it flat, I'm divided. I liked that the mat keep the meat flat after it was finished, but hanging the meat allowed me to get all the strips into the smoker at one time. I only have two mats and would need to purchase more to smoke 2 lbs of jerk at one time. There was less clean up hanging the meat and that's a big plus.

Question about the pellicle. Why spend the hour letting the meat form a pellicle before going into the smoker? What does that provide?

twoalpha · Feb 18, 2016

Yeroc said:
Thanks for this recipe!! I've made jerky twice now.

FIRST TIME

Using just the Hi Mountain Original Flavor Jerky mix.

Meat slices hung from wooden skewers.

SECOND TIME

Using the Hi Mountain Jerky mix plus 2 Tsp. of brown sugar/lb.

Meat laid out on a silicone smoker mats.

I like the version with the sugar addition. It blends well with the spices in the mix. Regarding hanging the meat or laying it flat, I'm divided. I liked that the mat keep the meat flat after it was finished, but hanging the meat allowed me to get all the strips into the smoker at one time. I only have two mats and would need to purchase more to smoke 2 lbs of jerk at one time. There was less clean up hanging the meat and that's a big plus.

Question about the pellicle. Why spend the hour letting the meat form a pellicle before going into the smoker? What does that provide?

Yeroc

Letting the meat form the pellicle dries up the surface so that the smoke flavor can better penetrate the meat.

I have found that hanging the meat on the wood skewers through the MES rack takes a lot of time and is a preparation pain. However I like the results better than using the mats.

This following picture shows an alternate way to hang jerky in the MES. This is my version after seeing several other ideas on this forum. Do a search and see what best works for you.

Using a piece of oak wood cut to fit the rack holders with notches to hold the 3/16" SS rods. Works great.

Hope this helps.

Larry

IMG_20160217_171227289.jpg

twoalpha
Feb 18, 2016

yeroc · Feb 18, 2016

The notched oak and SS rods look like a great idea. Thanks for the tip!

theboyler · Feb 21, 2016

I just bought my first eye of the round and will be attempting to make some jerky... question about cutting it!

Do i cut it lenghtwise or just cut it across in the oval shape it comes in?

Thanks for your help!

twoalpha · Feb 22, 2016

theBoyler said:
I just bought my first eye of the round and will be attempting to make some jerky... question about cutting it!

Do i cut it lenghtwise or just cut it across in the oval shape it comes in?

Thanks for your help!

Cutting across grain will in my opinion have a softer bite than cutting with the grain.

Experiment with both and see which one you like.

theboyler · Oct 11, 2016

Hi there,

I have done a few batches of jerky now, most of the time I use the Cabelas mix... I'm not sure I am doing everything correctly. Yesterday I started the meat off at about 140 for an hour with no smoke, then added smoke and bumped the temp to about 155.... I smoked the jerly the rest of the way... is that necessary? Some of the slices looked and turned out fine, while some kinda had a white or brown tinge to them (in spots)....

Any suggestions... in total I think the meat was in the smoker for about 6-7 hrs....

I'm using a Bluetooth MES 30 with A Maz N pellet smoker

Thanks for any help!

Beef Jerky on the MES

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