- Aug 27, 2008
- 5,170
- 409
I though I'd pass this on, as I haven't seen an awful lot of threads on snack sticks lately.
I bought the Nesco/American Harvest Jerky Works kit on-line about 6 or 7 months ago and finally got around to digging it out and putting it to use.
I mixed up the cure and regular/original jerky seasoning per the instructions with 85/15 ground beef. I didn't shoot the meat onto a rack right away as the instructions read...it didn't make much sense to do that...not allow any time for it to cure...so I left it in a ceramic bowl with poly wrap tightly pressed onto the meat for 20 hours. I smelled the mix prior to covering, and noticed a slight smoke odor...what? Did they put a dehydrated liquid smoke into the seasoning blend? I don't know.
I prepped my Smoke Vault Jerky grate and shot all the meat out through the strip tip and it still smelled of a slight smoke odor...OK, I don't want jerky smoke flavor so strong that it won't be edible, so into the "O" we went on the lowest setting (170*) for intermitent periods along with a meat thermo under the grate so I could monitor the temp.
I tried to keep it under 150*, but saw it hit higher a few times, and opened the door several times even with the oven turned off.
After patting the grease of a third time it felt pretty leathery so I left it out on the stove top and continued the grease patting.
The texture is very good, with a slight chew, and the flavor is also very good, though the smoke flavor I thought I smelled did not come through after drying. Next batch will be hit with the thin blue for about 20 minutes @ 115-120* grate temps, then dried afterwards at 140-150*.
Edit: dry time was approx. 4-1/2 hours
Thanks all!
Eric
I bought the Nesco/American Harvest Jerky Works kit on-line about 6 or 7 months ago and finally got around to digging it out and putting it to use.
I mixed up the cure and regular/original jerky seasoning per the instructions with 85/15 ground beef. I didn't shoot the meat onto a rack right away as the instructions read...it didn't make much sense to do that...not allow any time for it to cure...so I left it in a ceramic bowl with poly wrap tightly pressed onto the meat for 20 hours. I smelled the mix prior to covering, and noticed a slight smoke odor...what? Did they put a dehydrated liquid smoke into the seasoning blend? I don't know.
I prepped my Smoke Vault Jerky grate and shot all the meat out through the strip tip and it still smelled of a slight smoke odor...OK, I don't want jerky smoke flavor so strong that it won't be edible, so into the "O" we went on the lowest setting (170*) for intermitent periods along with a meat thermo under the grate so I could monitor the temp.
I tried to keep it under 150*, but saw it hit higher a few times, and opened the door several times even with the oven turned off.
After patting the grease of a third time it felt pretty leathery so I left it out on the stove top and continued the grease patting.
The texture is very good, with a slight chew, and the flavor is also very good, though the smoke flavor I thought I smelled did not come through after drying. Next batch will be hit with the thin blue for about 20 minutes @ 115-120* grate temps, then dried afterwards at 140-150*.
Edit: dry time was approx. 4-1/2 hours
Thanks all!
Eric