First attempt at making Jerky and I have several questions before I start.

[slief]

I picked up 6 pounds of flank steak and I am preparing to make some teriyaki jerky. Having never done jerky before, I had a couple questions before I start.

First question I have is about the cut.. I have read a bunch and there seems to be a number of opinion's on cutting with or against the grain. Against the grain as I understand will make for easier to chew or softer jerky which was my original plan. I am curious what others have to say about that.

Second, I have both meat slicer as well as an electric knife. My plan is to put the meat into the freezer for a little while and cut the meat into 1/4" slices..

Should I use the meat slicer or the electric knife? My better judgment says to use the slicer..

Are 1/4" slices good or should I go thicker or thinner?

The recipe I plan on using consists of a combination of teriyaki sauce, soy sauce, brown sugar, onion powder, garlic powder, pepper, red pepper,  balsamic vinegar, pineapple juice,  Worcestershire sauce and liquid smoke. It doesn't call for any cure # 1 but I will err on the side of caution and use a little over 1 teaspoon of it.

I assume that in-spite of the above ingredients, cure #1 would be advised?

Will it effect the taste much given that the recipe will likely make upwards of 16 cups worth of marinade for 6 pounds of meat?

I have both an MES with an AMNPS and a GMG pellet smoker.   I also have a Cabelas commercial dehydrator.

Is it worth the effort to smoke the meat for a couple hours before dehydrating? If so, what temp? I assume as low as my smoker will go but with the AMNPS and the MES, I could in theory cold smoke without turning the heat on.

That said, would I be better off using my pellet grill which can get down to about 150* or the MES?

With the MES, I can use either pellets, or chunks of hickory.. Any thoughts?

Am I better of hanging the jerky or laying on it frog mats? If I hang it, the MES would be easier but I could also do it on the pellet grill.

If I use the smoker first, should I cut back or eliminate the liquid smoke from the recipe? The recipe calls for upwards of 1 3/4 cup of liquid smoke which I was planning on cutting in half even if I didn't use the smoker.

Since I can set the temp on my dehydrator, what temp would you guys suggest during the dehydrating process?  

Last question.. When I dehydrate, should I hang the jerky or lay it on my drying mats?

Any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance for the help. Once I'm done, I will post up a thread with the results!

 

[LanceR]

Well, it's great to see you trying something new.  On the other hand you have an awful lot of questions in the post and they don't all have easy answers.

Jerky is not rocket science.  Rather, it is an aboriginal preservation technique so I wouldn't spend too much time over thinking it.

If I can make a suggestion for your first run, I use the recipe at the link below and make variations from it.  I want the flavor of the meat to be front and center stage and not other things.  I also realize that this is a big tent with room for a lot of different ideas, each of which is correct but my advice would be to use the simplest recipe you can find at first in order to tell how the combination of meat, salt, smoke, spices etc works and that will let you expand the horizon from firm footing.

http://www.bbq-porch.org/recipes/html/r1327.htm

It will answer some of your other questions too.

Lance

 

[diggingdogfarm]

I picked up 6 pounds of flank steak and I am preparing to make some teriyaki jerky. Having never done jerky before, I had a couple questions before I start.

First question I have is about the cut.. I have read a bunch and there seems to be a number of opinion's on cutting with or against the grain. Against the grain as I understand will make for easier to chew or softer jerky which was my original plan. I am curious what others have to say about that. It's a matter of personal preference. Try it both ways and see what you like.

Second, I have both meat slicer as well as an electric knife. My plan is to put the meat into the freezer for a little while and cut the meat into 1/4" slices..

Should I use the meat slicer or the electric knife? My better judgment says to use the slicer.. I would use the slicer, you'll get better slices.


Are 1/4" slices good or should I go thicker or thinner? Again this is a matter of personal preference. I like 3/16" slices.


The recipe I plan on using consists of a combination of teriyaki sauce, soy sauce, brown sugar, onion powder, garlic powder, pepper, red pepper,  balsamic vinegar, pineapple juice,  Worcestershire sauce and liquid smoke. It doesn't call for any cure # 1 but I will err on the side of caution and use a little over 1 teaspoon of it.


I assume that in-spite of the above ingredients, cure #1 would be advised? Yep,

Will it effect the taste much given that the recipe will likely make upwards of 16 cups worth of marinade for 6 pounds of meat? It'll affect the taste but it may not be noticeable with a strong marinade like that.

I have both an MES with an AMNPS and a GMG pellet smoker.   I also have a Cabelas commercial dehydrator.

Is it worth the effort to smoke the meat for a couple hours before dehydrating? If so, what temp? I assume as low as my smoker will go but with the AMNPS and the MES, I could in theory cold smoke without turning the heat on. I cold smoke at less than 75 degrees.

That said, would I be better off using my pellet grill which can get down to about 150* or the MES? I would use the MES, but without heat.

With the MES, I can use either pellets, or chunks of hickory.. Any thoughts? I use the AMAZE-N smoke generators.

Am I better of hanging the jerky or laying on it frog mats? If I hang it, the MES would be easier but I could also do it on the pellet grill. Either way is fine.

If I use the smoker first, should I cut back or eliminate the liquid smoke from the recipe? The recipe calls for upwards of 1 3/4 cup of liquid smoke which I was planning on cutting in half even if I didn't use the smoker. I would totally ditch the liquid smoke, even half would be way too much, IMHO.

Since I can set the temp on my dehydrator, what temp would you guys suggest during the dehydrating process?  I dry at refrigerator temps.

Last question.. When I dehydrate, should I hang the jerky or lay it on my drying mats? Either works fine.

Any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance for the help. Once I'm done, I will post up a thread with the results!

~Martin

 

[slief]

Thanks for the suggestions! I ended up cutting way back on the liquid smoke and included some cure #1 into the recipe. The meat marinated overnigh and just went into the dehydrator.. Those is smelling good! I will start a new thread later today if not tomorrow with the results.

Thanks again!