Hi OF,
Not sure how your jerky is going, but I bought my
Masterbuilt smoker around the same time you posted this question.
This recipe has been my favorite so far
1 cup brown sugar
Pour in rice vinegar until it covers the brown sugar
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup mirin (sweetened sake)
2 tbsp minced garlic
1 tbsp minced ginger or a little less than that of ground ginger (I don't follow exact measurements)
1 tsp of ground black pepper
Optional: 1/3-1/2 cup apple juice
Optional: Before I pour in the marinade, I usually toss in 5-6 pieces of meat drizzle honey on them, then repeat until done. Then pour in the marinade.
Also, if you are a cure fan, you may add a cure to this or a pinch of salt, but not too much.
I marinade the meat in ziplock bags for 24-48 hours - preferred 48. At least twice during this time I pull it out of the fridge and massage it around.
After pulling them out of the bag, I *pat* them to get the excess liquid off (too much liquid = it all runs off in the smoker and takes the seasoning with it). Then I generously sprinkle, but don't completely cover, and gently pat/rub on a seasoning.
If I want it somewhat spicy, I use McCormick's Sriracha Black Pepper. Love this stuff.
If I want sweeter, I use McCormick's Brown Sugar Bourbon. Love this as well. Sometimes I use both.
Cooking/smoking: I put the temp up to 200 with wood chips to get the smoke going, then before the first batch goes in, I drop it to 160-170. Don't worry about what the actual temp is, because you'll probably open the door a few times and the temp will drop to that.
Now I have the cold smoker attachment that I use as well, so if you have that, use that and occasionally fill the chip loader internally on the main smoker. I keep it around 160-170 for 3-3.5 hours, rotating the racks halfway through this. You may have to rotate some pieces too.
After 3-3.5 hours, I turn the temp up to 185-190 for about 30-40 minutes and add wood chips. This brings out some moisture from the meat and "glazes" it for you. It's really nice. After the 30-40 minutes, I drop the temps back to 150 and start rotating the pieces to put the non-glazed pieces in the back under the exhaust vent because that is the area the tends to glaze.
You may bump the temp up to 180-190 one more time, but between the 4 and 5 hour mark you will be pulling pieces out as they finish and rotating pieces front to back. Quickest I've done is 4 hours, longest successfully was 5 hours. I ran 5.5 hours once and it started getting a hard burned crust, though the flavor wasn't "burned", I figured it was overdone.
But the temperature alternating has worked very well.
Wood chips used:
I'm not particular to any type of wood, but the obvious work well: hickory or apple wood.
I frequently try one of the above and alternate with maple or pecan.
One other trick you can do to add glaze/sweetness is in the final hour or so, lightly drizzle honey on the pieces. You'll want to test this and figure out what you like best.
