Jack link tender bites original copycat recipe?

[housed]

Anyone have a jerky recipe that is close to the taste of Jack Links Tender Bites Original? I would like to try and replicate these. It’s a semi-sweet black pepper flavor.

Thanks

 

[tallbm]

Anyone have a jerky recipe that is close to the taste of Jack Links Tender Bites Original? I would like to try and replicate these. It’s a semi-sweet black pepper flavor.

Thanks

Hi there and welcome!

Sorry I don't have a recipe for you BUT I do have a key piece of information in trying to replicate that jerky.

Tender bites are done with ground meat not whole muscle.
Ground meat jerky is my preferred way to go these days. It is hands down easier to deal with and a million times softer on the teeth.

You want meat that is at minimum 9% fat and 91% meat.
The lower the fat number the better because they will sweat fat out and have grease on the jerky as you dehydrate/smoke.
93/7, 96/4, and 97/3 are better going from good to best.

I have like 25 pounds of 100% ground venison meat (no fat) that I just processed that will be getting turned into jerky in the future :)

Final tip.
If you buy like 5 pounds of meat you can do 1 pound test batches where each 1 pound is a different recipe/flavor to try and dial in. It will speed things up x5 if you use this method and hopefully you can nail it.
I think that flavor uses more sugar than one would imagine so try a run of the mill jerky recipe that uses Worcestershire sauce, brown sugar, salt, cure#1, black pepper, and maybe a touch of garlic.
Here is the ingredients list I found on the back of package online. USA food laws state that you must list ingredients from most used to least used so this will help you a little figure out what is used more than other stuff. The mystery is what they use for "flavors" but you can se its way down the and is 2% or less than the entire product weight because it comes AFTER salt which they stay is 2% or less :)

I hope this info helps you :)

 

[housed]

Great observation on being ground and not whole muscle! I guess I eat them too fast to have noticed
It appears as it's comprised of coarse grind and also a fine grind to bind them as I do see some 1/4"- 3/8" chunks when I tear them apart.

I appreciate the help!

 

[tallbm]

Great observation on being ground and not whole muscle! I guess I eat them too fast to have noticed
It appears as it's comprised of coarse grind and also a fine grind to bind them as I do see some 1/4"- 3/8" chunks when I tear them apart.

I appreciate the help!

Glad I could help a little. Gluck on finding the recipe or making one. I'm in to see what you come up with :)