I treated myself to a new meat slicer last week. Got the Chef's Choice 615 after reading many reviews of it on the forums. Decided to make some jerky for it's inaugural run.
Started with a Sirloin Tip Roast, and I had about 2lbs of a pork loin in the freezer so I decided to try pork jerky...I had never had it.
Beef roast:
Trimmed and separated the muscles:
Sliced and ready for some flavor:
I made three flavors but only used 2 of them for the pork (Teriyaki and Black Pepper). Recipes were modified from various members here, mainly these two threads; 1, 2. I wanted to try a Tapatio based flavor, so I made one up using common ingredients from other recipes. Trimmed and sliced I had 7.5 lbs of beef (2.5lbs/flavor) and 2 lbs of pork. Here are the recipes. I converted measurements based on the amount of meat I had with the Tender Quick being the most critical to be accurate with.
Black Pepper
for 5lbs meat
1 C Soy Sauce
2 oz Worcestershire sauce
2 T ground black pepper
1 T Garlic powder (I used minced garlic from a jar)
1 tsp Cayenne powder
1.5 tsp Tender Quick per lb of meat
Teriyaki Jerky
for 5 lbs meat
10 oz Soy sauce
4 oz Worcestershire sauce
2 T chopped garlic
2 tsp fresh black pepper
1 C brown sugar
2 tsp fresh chopped Ginger (I used powdered ginger)
3 finely-chopped Scallions (I used chives from my garden)
2 tsp -1 T Sesame oil
1.5 tsp Tender Quick per lb of meat
Tapatio Maple Jerky
for 1 – 1.5 lbs meat
1/2 C Tapatio
1/4 C Real maple syrup
1/4 C brown sugar
2 tsp chopped garlic
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1 tsp coarse black pepper
1.5 tsp Tender Quick per lb of meat
The flavorings:
Sorry, not many pics of the pork...it was kind of an afterthought once I got going.
Left to marinate for 2 days in the fridge then on to the Masterbuilt. I smoked it at the lowest I could get the smoker which ended up right around 160 (perfect!). As you can see I put a landscaping block (wrapped in foil so as to not get it all greasy....it needs to go back where it came from eventually...) in the water pan just to help maintain temps through multiple door openings. Smoked with apple wood chunks. I started them with a propane torch since heat was so low, but turned out I probably didn't need to. No chance all of it was fitting in at once so here is the first batch. About 1/4 of the total.
After 12 solid hours of smoking (take jerky out, add more, repeat) here are the results. Each rack I put in probably took ~ 4 hours.
I ended up with 4.5 lbs of total jerky from ~9.5 lbs trimmed and sliced meat. It turned out excellent! Recipes taste great. The Tapatio flavor has a nice heat, but not too much. The only thing I plan to do differently next time, is lay it all flat on the grates and not hang it over. I was trying to save space, but you end up with jerky that is folded in half, and sometimes I had to go in and separate pieces from each other as they were sticking and not getting dried.
I put each batch in a paper bag and closed loosely and let them sit on the counter until vacuum sealing. It ended up being two days until I got it packaged up, but the jerky is even better after sitting.
All packaged up and ready for storage! I packaged it in ~3oz packages. Perfect for snacking.
Now I can't wait for deer hunting season this fall so I can make venison jerky!
Thanks for looking!
Started with a Sirloin Tip Roast, and I had about 2lbs of a pork loin in the freezer so I decided to try pork jerky...I had never had it.
Beef roast:
Trimmed and separated the muscles:
Sliced and ready for some flavor:
I made three flavors but only used 2 of them for the pork (Teriyaki and Black Pepper). Recipes were modified from various members here, mainly these two threads; 1, 2. I wanted to try a Tapatio based flavor, so I made one up using common ingredients from other recipes. Trimmed and sliced I had 7.5 lbs of beef (2.5lbs/flavor) and 2 lbs of pork. Here are the recipes. I converted measurements based on the amount of meat I had with the Tender Quick being the most critical to be accurate with.
Black Pepper
for 5lbs meat
1 C Soy Sauce
2 oz Worcestershire sauce
2 T ground black pepper
1 T Garlic powder (I used minced garlic from a jar)
1 tsp Cayenne powder
1.5 tsp Tender Quick per lb of meat
Teriyaki Jerky
for 5 lbs meat
10 oz Soy sauce
4 oz Worcestershire sauce
2 T chopped garlic
2 tsp fresh black pepper
1 C brown sugar
2 tsp fresh chopped Ginger (I used powdered ginger)
3 finely-chopped Scallions (I used chives from my garden)
2 tsp -1 T Sesame oil
1.5 tsp Tender Quick per lb of meat
Tapatio Maple Jerky
for 1 – 1.5 lbs meat
1/2 C Tapatio
1/4 C Real maple syrup
1/4 C brown sugar
2 tsp chopped garlic
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1 tsp coarse black pepper
1.5 tsp Tender Quick per lb of meat
The flavorings:
Sorry, not many pics of the pork...it was kind of an afterthought once I got going.
Left to marinate for 2 days in the fridge then on to the Masterbuilt. I smoked it at the lowest I could get the smoker which ended up right around 160 (perfect!). As you can see I put a landscaping block (wrapped in foil so as to not get it all greasy....it needs to go back where it came from eventually...) in the water pan just to help maintain temps through multiple door openings. Smoked with apple wood chunks. I started them with a propane torch since heat was so low, but turned out I probably didn't need to. No chance all of it was fitting in at once so here is the first batch. About 1/4 of the total.
After 12 solid hours of smoking (take jerky out, add more, repeat) here are the results. Each rack I put in probably took ~ 4 hours.
I ended up with 4.5 lbs of total jerky from ~9.5 lbs trimmed and sliced meat. It turned out excellent! Recipes taste great. The Tapatio flavor has a nice heat, but not too much. The only thing I plan to do differently next time, is lay it all flat on the grates and not hang it over. I was trying to save space, but you end up with jerky that is folded in half, and sometimes I had to go in and separate pieces from each other as they were sticking and not getting dried.
I put each batch in a paper bag and closed loosely and let them sit on the counter until vacuum sealing. It ended up being two days until I got it packaged up, but the jerky is even better after sitting.
All packaged up and ready for storage! I packaged it in ~3oz packages. Perfect for snacking.
Now I can't wait for deer hunting season this fall so I can make venison jerky!
Thanks for looking!