Took my first shot at beef jerky on the smoker the past two days.
Went to our local butcher shop and purchased 3 lbs of top round sliced 3/16" thick. Everything I am reading says that the beef will lose 2/3 of its weight and volume so I'm thinking the final jerky will be under 1/8" thick when all is said and done
For the marinade I used soy sauce, molasses, bourbon whiskey, powdered ginger, Kansas City style tomato base BBQ sauce, garlic and onion salt and kosher salt.
The beef strips marinated in the refrigerator over night.
This morning the slices hit the REC TEC at 180*. I didn't set on heavy smoke or use a supplemental smoke tube. The grill seemed to be doing just fine with lots of smoke at the lowest temp setting.
Left them in at 180* for three hours and then bumped the temp to 200 for an hour and then to 220 for an hour to make sure I hit the FDA safe guide line of 165*. Tough to check on such thin slices but I know I did. After 5 hours and 220* for an hour and out they came.
Some of the pieces, from around the grill edges were a little too done and crispy but the other pieces are just fine. Flavor is great. I will be doing these again without the bump up to 220* and maybe be able to go for a longer cook than 5 hours and still be safe @180 *
For planning I started with 3 lbs of top round cut 3/16" thick. This gave me 27 2" X 8" long slices to put in the smoker. What I wound up with was 1lb 4oz of great jerky about 6" X 1.5". Paid $6.99/ per for the top round yesterday so that's $21.00. Got 20oz of jerky for my trouble. That works out to a tad of $1.00 per oz. I'm thinking with the marinade ingredients, pellets and elecricity to run the smoker I'm at around $1.25 an ounce for jerky. I think this is still cheaper that you can buy it for in the stores.
CUT INTO 2'" WIDE STRIPS.
3/16" THICK
MEAT INTO THE MARINADE FOR AN OVERNIGHT NAP....LOOKS KIND OF LIKE ENTRAILS....DANG!
What they looked like this morning before going into the smoker. Two trays full.
The start. Managed to get them all on the mail grill without using the additional rack.
SMOKIN!!!!
FINISHED.
Went to our local butcher shop and purchased 3 lbs of top round sliced 3/16" thick. Everything I am reading says that the beef will lose 2/3 of its weight and volume so I'm thinking the final jerky will be under 1/8" thick when all is said and done
For the marinade I used soy sauce, molasses, bourbon whiskey, powdered ginger, Kansas City style tomato base BBQ sauce, garlic and onion salt and kosher salt.
The beef strips marinated in the refrigerator over night.
This morning the slices hit the REC TEC at 180*. I didn't set on heavy smoke or use a supplemental smoke tube. The grill seemed to be doing just fine with lots of smoke at the lowest temp setting.
Left them in at 180* for three hours and then bumped the temp to 200 for an hour and then to 220 for an hour to make sure I hit the FDA safe guide line of 165*. Tough to check on such thin slices but I know I did. After 5 hours and 220* for an hour and out they came.
Some of the pieces, from around the grill edges were a little too done and crispy but the other pieces are just fine. Flavor is great. I will be doing these again without the bump up to 220* and maybe be able to go for a longer cook than 5 hours and still be safe @180 *
For planning I started with 3 lbs of top round cut 3/16" thick. This gave me 27 2" X 8" long slices to put in the smoker. What I wound up with was 1lb 4oz of great jerky about 6" X 1.5". Paid $6.99/ per for the top round yesterday so that's $21.00. Got 20oz of jerky for my trouble. That works out to a tad of $1.00 per oz. I'm thinking with the marinade ingredients, pellets and elecricity to run the smoker I'm at around $1.25 an ounce for jerky. I think this is still cheaper that you can buy it for in the stores.
CUT INTO 2'" WIDE STRIPS.
3/16" THICK
MEAT INTO THE MARINADE FOR AN OVERNIGHT NAP....LOOKS KIND OF LIKE ENTRAILS....DANG!
What they looked like this morning before going into the smoker. Two trays full.
The start. Managed to get them all on the mail grill without using the additional rack.
SMOKIN!!!!
FINISHED.
