LEM Jerky Cannon...

[raselkirk]

Just blew mine up. Actually, it's been on the road to decline the last couple times I used it. Today, I had to squeeze the grip a half-dozen times to get a 1" long piece out of it. Took me 40 minutes (and a couple thousand squeezes!) to get 4 Frog Mats of jerky. I've had it apart before and it all looks super-clean inside, no apparent deterioration of any part of the mechanism. Just wondering if anyone else has had one self-destruct over time?

Russ

 

[dirtsailor2003]

I haven't used mine since we started making large batches of ground jerky. Found that rolling out the mixture on the mats was faster. Then after its done I cut the the meat sheet with a pizza cutter. Use a stainless ruler so every strip is the same width.

The rolling pins we have are gauged. So consistent thickness every time. Wrap rolling pin in saran and clean up is super quick.

Another option it to make a board that your mats fit on and have a lip on each side for the pin to roll on. Make it whatever depth you want. Similar to a slicing board some use to get even thickness on hole muscle meat.

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food52.com

 

[raselkirk]

Interesting method! I'm guessing that after some amount of drying, the strips shrink "apart" enough to get smoke through the gaps. With the LEM, I don't press the meat down into the mats, so how difficult are your finished strips to remove off the mats?

Thanks!

Russ