Nicely done, Toby!!!
"And the jerky was hung in the smoker with care, in hopes that St Nicholas soon would be there, lol."
LMAO!!!
"Eric, thank you for the inspiration. This jerky turned out awesome and will be a great addition to the holiday baskets. My wife is now threatening to throw out my dehydrator so I can't use it for jerky ever again"
You're welcome! Oh, don't let her ditch the
dehydrator! How will you dry your own peppers, chilies, cherries, apples, etc, for dry rubs??? I mean, if you really want to get serious about your own rub blends and jerky marinade seasoning blends. Oh, and the dried cherries and apples for dry rubs, brines, wet cures, marinades and such?...yes, I use them...a lot! Along with dried red bell peppers, and occasionally green bells.
"I ended up with 2 lbs of finished product from the original 4 1/2 lbs of eye of round. After Christmas I will definitely be doing a batch of your pepper jerky. Thanks again."
If your yield was less than 50% of your starting weight, you got a really dry jerky, and if weights were accurate, you have a yield of 44.4%. Mine usually runs around 48-52%, but I like to be a little on the drier side. Shelf life will be very long @ 44%, even just in a sealed baggy @ room temp...of course, getting it to last long enough to test the shelf-life is the trick...LOL!!! Should be no problem to ship it as gifts, that's for sure...well as long as the postal workers don't get a whiff of it through the packaging and raid your gift packs...Ha-ha-ha!
Toby, if I can help a fellow outdoor cooking enthusiast achieve their goal (not just smoking and/or drying, but grilling, dutch ovens, etc) then it is a good day, and my time here on SMF was very well spent...this thread is no exception...I actively search for those wanting help with their projects...glad to help, any time, brother!
Eric