What went wrong?

[mikbau]

Hello all

First time poster here. I made a batch of Jerky on my Traeger about two weeks ago - it was a sweet and spicy recipe that I found online and modified. I used a top round which I thought was fairly fat free.

After about 4 hours, it had a good texture so I took it off and let it cool on the counter for a few hours. I had to dab a little grease off of it as it cooled, but it still didn't seem like a lot of fat. Once it reached room temp, I put some of the batch in a couple of glass jars - the rest I used a food saver to vacuum seal.

Fast forward a week - I took the batch that I vacuumed sealed on a trip with me in a cooler. Kept ice in the cooler but obviously the temp was above freezing. after the bag was open in the cooler for a few hours, I opened the cooler to find a ton of fat on the outside of the jerky - congealed, as it was still fairly cold.

I"m wondering if for some reason the foodsaver pulled any remaining fat to the outside of the jerky when I sealed it? I've read that it may be necessary to put it in the fridge overnight before vacuum sealing? It seems there was more fat in there than I suspected, which leads me to wonder how long it would have lasted just in the fridge.

Michael

 

[TNJAKE]

First off welcome from Tennessee. Please share your jerky recipe and the final temp when they were finished. Pics could help if you have some. The recipe is gonna be crucial to get the appropriate help though

 

[SmokinEdge]

Welcome from Colorado.
Too much fat in the mix. Jerky needs to be pretty much fat free. If there was a fat cap it needed trimmed off. Fat is no good in jerky weather whole muscle cut or ground meat. Fat is greasy and will rancid. No fat. Not just pretty lean.

 

[mikbau]

Hello all

Below is the recipe I used for about 3lbs. I don't have a final temp but it was ~4 hours at 165 and came out bending w/o snapping with white sinew in the break. It was definitely done.

I cut off the fat cap and the larger bits that I could see before marinading. (marinated for about 18 hours in the fridge over night)

It came out delicious, with the exception of what I vacuum sealed (which was still delicious, the ones I could find w/o excess fat on the outside after opening)

I will say I did need to dab off a little grease as I let them cool.

• 2 Tb. of onion powder
• 2 Tb. of garlic powder
• 1/2 c. Worcestershire sauce
• 1/2 c. teriyaki sauce
• 2/3 c. balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 c. lemon juice
• 3/4 c. brown sugar
• 1 c. soy sauce
• 3 tsp. red pepper flakes
• 2 tsp. pepper
• 1/2 tsb. Chili powder

 

[BGKYSmoker]

What went wrong.
Worcestershire sauce
teriyaki sauce
lemon juice
soy sauce

Too much of each for 3 lbs. Cut back on each and nix the lemon juice.

And yes the vac will pull any remaining moisture and fat/oils out. Just use a plain old brown paper bag for your jerky. Ziplock is fine in your cooler but not for long term unless you have a packet of absorb in it.

 

[mikbau]

What went wrong.
Worcestershire sauce
teriyaki sauce
lemon juice
soy sauce

Too much of each for 3 lbs. Cut back on each and nix the lemon juice.

And yes the vac will pull any remaining moisture and fat/oils out. Just use a plain old brown paper bag for your jerky. Ziplock is fine in your cooler but not for long term unless you have a packet of absorb in it.

Curious as to why to reduce the liquids and nix the lemon juice (recipe called for pineapple but I didn’t have any so I subbed it) The original recipe was for 1lb. I didn’t 3x the liquids, more like 1.5x.

I do have absorb packets that I use. Perhaps the vacuum seal isn’t necessary as fast as we go through it.

I ordered up some eye of round that should
be to the butcher tomorrow. It’s the same as what they use for their jerky. Hopefully better luck with it

 

[jkc64]

I use Cracked black pepper & garlic seasoning kit from Owens BBQ. I make whole muscle eye of round about 3/16 thick. Their instructions call for 1 cup of water with all the seasonings plus cure packet for 5lbs of meat. I used to do the liquid soak like you did a long time ago and seemed like it took forever to dry. The brown bag for at least a day in the fridge does wonders.

 

[noboundaries]

I usually jerky bottom round which does need to be trimmed of fat. I get those fat globs, too. I do include Prague Powder #1 in my jerky cures. I also keep it in the fridge as an extra level of safety. Keeps for months. I have taken it on the road with me, unrefrigerated, for up to 10 days. No problem.

Dab the fat off, refrigerate, enjoy.

 

[mikbau]

I use Cracked black pepper & garlic seasoning kit from Owens BBQ. I make whole muscle eye of round about 3/16 thick. Their instructions call for 1 cup of water with all the seasonings plus cure packet for 5lbs of meat. I used to do the liquid soak like you did a long time ago and seemed like it took forever to dry. The brown bag for at least a day in the fridge does wonders.

With the amount of fat pulled out from the vacuum seal, I was concerned about how long it would actually last without going rancid. I have not been using Prague in my recipes.

 

[BGKYSmoker]

Curious as to why to reduce the liquids and nix the lemon juice (recipe called for pineapple but I didn’t have any so I subbed it) The original recipe was for 1lb. I didn’t 3x the liquids, more like 1.5x.

I do have absorb packets that I use. Perhaps the vacuum seal isn’t necessary as fast as we go through it.

I ordered up some eye of round that should
be to the butcher tomorrow. It’s the same as what they use for their jerky. Hopefully better luck with it

Not saying you did anything wrong, its just my way of making jerky as not to add lemon juice and that much combined salts and liquids that break down the meat fibers which can form new bonds and could cause meat toughness.

Just my way

 

[sandyut]

Not saying you did anything wrong, its just my way of making jerky as not to add lemon juice and that much combined salts and liquids that break down the meat fibers which can form new bonds and could cause meat toughness.

Just my way

I got off the wet marinade for jerky a while back and switched disco OFG recipe with no regrets. There is an Excel on page 2 that I made that will calculate he spice quantity if you add the LB's of beef. I always use EOR.

 

[jkc64]

I'm no expert by any stretch. I have used recipes like your in the past with no issue, just seemed to take longer to dry. They were salty but I like salt especially with beer. I have only used eye of round so my guess would be cut of meat you used. Just a guess on my part. I picked up the paper bag trick in the fridge for a day or so from BGKYSmoker (NEPAS) a few years ago and it works great for the final drying that I like. I pack it all in a ziplock bag and into the fridge and what moisture is left equalizes out.

 

[mikbau]

Thanks everyone. I picked up a couple pounds of eye of round today and I’m going to try and smoke it this weekend. I’m going to modify my recipe above but with much less liquid - we’ll see how that goes. I will also probably try the paper bag trick.

I think ultimately had not used the vacuum sealer, it probably would have lasted quite some time in the fridge despite how much fat was squeezed out. If I seal in the future I may just stop the vacuum process sooner so it’s not squeezing the heck out of it

 

[1MoreFord]

I seriously doubt the vacuum sealer is the problem. Keep an open mind.

 

[mikbau]

I seriously doubt the vacuum sealer is the problem. Keep an open mind.

I guess where I was going with that comment is that the vacuum sealer clearly pulled the remaining fat out. If I end up using cuts that have some fat, it’s just something I’ll need to watch out for.