Ready to make deer jerky tomorrow night in the MES

[novasbc]

I thawed 6 pounds of deer meet I had cut up for jerky and vacuum packed from previous year's hunts.  Now that I have an MES + Mailbox Mod, it's time!  First recipe I modified from another post here that seemed very interesting.  The only things I did differently than his was:

• Added some ice water to bring the level up to the top of the jerky since I was putting mine in a vacuum sealed marinade container
• Habanero Tabasco (I have a 5 gallon jug of the stuff, I love it so much).
• Additional fish sauce to compensate for the water.

Deer Jerky Try #1.PNG

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The other 3 pounds went to try to get the recipe right for some hot deer jerky my brother in law made for me recently.  He doesn't write down his ingredients, but gave me the general idea.

Hot Jerky Try #1.PNG

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Will post pictures afterward as well.

 

[dirtsailor2003]

Should be tasty. Thai Jerky recipe is a good base to start at!

 

[tallbm]

Oh man I'm looking forward to your results!

I don't know that I'll get into sliced venison jerky.  With all of the  sausage, the pure grind, and the few roasts I keep, I just don't have enough roasts to go around to make sliced jerky.  

I started doing ground meat jerky for the first time last year but only in the oven.  I didn't have a smoker.... until now!!!

I love the versatility of having so much pure venison grind.  I can make jerky from it any time.

I retrofitted an Italian Cacciatore Salami recipe to make an amazing and unique ground meat jerky.  Later this year when I get around to making jerky in my MES40 I'll be sure to post the QView and the recipe... unless someone is just dying to have it sooner :)

Best of luck!

 

[SmokinAl]

Sounds like it's going to be really good!

Al

 

[novasbc]

Well, ruined my first jerky :(.

Had it running at 140 degrees last night, and when I got up in the morning, it was a little moist for my preference.

Had my wife pull a piece, and let it sit for a half an hour because I had to leave for work.  She agreed.

I asked her to set it to 160 degrees and I'd check it when I got home.  Got home at 3:00, and it's crunchy to the point it is shattering.  I was wanting it to just be a bit tough, and require some work to chew it.

My guess is the two failures in some combination were:

1. Raising the temperature to 160
2. Letting it stay in too long.

The jerky I helped my BIL make at the in-laws, was set to 140 the whole time, and came out perfect.  I'll make another batch and try that.

The flavor of the Thai batch seemed good, and my spicy batch also was good (this morning when I tasted it).

Try try again.

 

[dirtsailor2003]

Hmmm


I use a step method for the heat when making jerky.

Start around 120-130.

Bump up the temp every hour by 10 degrees until I get to a pit temp of 180, or the jerky reaches the texture I'm looking for. Takes some tending.

 

[tallbm]

 
Well, ruined my first jerky :(.

Had it running at 140 degrees last night, and when I got up in the morning, it was a little moist for my preference.

Had my wife pull a piece, and let it sit for a half an hour because I had to leave for work.  She agreed.

I asked her to set it to 160 degrees and I'd check it when I got home.  Got home at 3:00, and it's crunchy to the point it is shattering.  I was wanting it to just be a bit tough, and require some work to chew it.

My guess is the two failures in some combination were:

1. Raising the temperature to 160
2. Letting it stay in too long.

The jerky I helped my BIL make at the in-laws, was set to 140 the whole time, and came out perfect.  I'll make another batch and try that.

The flavor of the Thai batch seemed good, and my spicy batch also was good (this morning when I tasted it).

Try try again.

That sucks to hear.

If you can re hydrate it a little and salvage it for something. Or maybe throw it in a pot of beans as a salt and flavor agent.  Anyone have any ideas?

 

[novasbc]

Throwing it into a pot of beans sounds potentially good, actually.

That sucks to hear.

If you can re hydrate it a little and salvage it for something. Or maybe throw it in a pot of beans as a salt and flavor agent.  Anyone have any ideas?

 

[tallbm]

Throwing it into a pot of beans sounds potentially good, actually.

If you do it please report back.  This could be a way to deal with brittle over done jerky which many people experience when learning or just getting busy and losing track of time while doing jerky.  I know its happened some to me with ground meat jerky in the oven.

 

[novasbc]

If you do it please report back.  This could be a way to deal with brittle over done jerky which many people experience when learning or just getting busy and losing track of time while doing jerky.  I know its happened some to me with ground meat jerky in the oven.

To follow up, I put the jerky in a Ziploc bag for a couple of days (open), and now the jerky has the consistency I desired.

It's tough, you have to leave it in your mouth before you can start to chew it up. This is precisely how my grandfather's jerky was, and I love it because it goes a lot further. With soft jerky, it just goes so quick!

So now the question is whether I just lucked out, or is this how people normally get this consistency..

 

[tallbm]

Glad to hear it worked out!