Makin' Jerky

[elklandercc]

My parents bought a dehydrater many years ago for the sole purpose of making jerky. So the other day I got tired of it sittin on the shelf so I pulled it down and ordered some cures.

I have the meat curing now (takes 24+ hours to cure) and gonna make it tomorrow afternoon. I was wondering if any of you guys made jerkey before and could share any tips.

If you haven't, feel free to talk about the great taste of a good peice of jerky....mmMMmm

[PRSplaya]

Making your own jerkey is th best! A dehydrator actually cooks the meat, rather than fully dehydrate it. Another way you can do it is hang the meat over the racks in your oven (put a pan under the meat to catch the drippings) and set it to it's lowest setting, and leave the door partly open. The best way to do it though, is to actually dehydrate it. Get you a couple of those high quality air filters (the ones you put in your home air conditioner) that have the "V" ridges. Take a box fan, lay it down on a table so the air flow would blow up. Place one of the filters on the fan, layer the strips of meat in the ridges, stacking up as many filters as you need, and then put a bungie cord around the filters and fan, so that they are held on very securely. Now, go open a window and place the fan so that it blows on the meat, blowing out of the window, not inside your house. It will take about 8 hours or so for the meat to be fully dehydrated. I suggest curring the meat for a minimum of 24 hours in a fairly strong flavored marinaid. Either way you dehydrate it, it will take between 8-10 hours before it's ready.

Good luck, and let us know how it turns out!

[Mark Pav]

Never dehydrated meat yet, but I've done fruit. I guess marinating meat in something nice for a day before you dehydrate it out would be something I'd try.

[magicninja]

I used a dehydrater once that was little more than a plastic box with a light bulb in it. I must say the jerky came out quite tasty. Bigbuda is still the man for that jerkey he mailed me. Hey isn't it deer season?

*plots on buda's jerkey*

[rockonn91]

If you haven't, feel free to talk about the great taste of a good peice of jerky....mmMMmm
yeah, I dont know much about any of the other stuff but I can contribute here.

so, in Colorado, we killed a big ol jackrabbit with a rock accidentally, and we didnt want to waste it... so we gutted and cleaned it, let it marinate in some random spices and stuff we found in the kitchen, and cooked it over an open fire two days later.

okay, so it wasnt jerky. it was juicy and soft like chicken, but I guess the stuff it marinated in made it taste like jerky, which was AWESOME.

[earthman buck]

*plots on buda's jerkey*
Ewwwwww. Now no one's gonna eat that.

[elklandercc]

I'll have to try that thing with the fan Eric, see how it compares to the dehydrator. The meat is almost done curing, another 2 hours and its ready to go.

I can't wait for deer season, A few of my friends go out for em, I'll have to get some meat from them if they get any. I hear your suppose to freeze wild game for 30 days if you plan to make jerkey with it. It kills all the bacteria and what not.

[SprayTech]

Venison Jerky is excellent if done right , as I have a guy at work that does all our glass work on our cars , and he makes the best venison jerky , man I could live on that stuff 24/7 :)

He has been making it for around 5 years now and he has perfected the marinate , not to spicy to where it kills the taste of the meat , but just enough to give it that cant stop eating it flavor !

He uses a home built smoker unit he made , works great and can make like 10 lbs. at a time

[PonyOne]

My little Swedish grandma LOVED making jerky (must be some sort of cultural thing). She had a smoker and would home make a marinade... don't know what she used but WOW, would it come out great! We'd make peppercorn jerky, too... that was good... generally used steak or salmon but sometimes venison or buffalo (the latter of which I wasn't a fan of).

She taught my mom how to make the marinades and we got a smoker... my parents will still make it... when I go home and smell that stuff, it temporarily makes me want to eat meat again!

You can make jerky out of textured soy protein, which they make available in strips... I'll need to do that next time I go home.

[elklandercc]

Jerky got done, delishous! The meat was sliced too thin though and they came out like tater chip thin and a little hard, but they were still damn good. I'm gonna cure some more tomm mourning.

Care to share that marinade Pony? :D

[PonyOne]

Jerky got done, delishous! The meat was sliced too thin though and they came out like tater chip thin and a little hard, but they were still damn good. I'm gonna cure some more tomm mourning.

Care to share that marinade Pony? :D
i don't know it... but... i'll ask mom ;)

[ericthecableguy]

yeah, I dont know much about any of the other stuff but I can contribute here.

so, in Colorado, we killed a big ol jackrabbit with a rock accidentally, and we didnt want to waste it... so we gutted and cleaned it, let it marinate in some random spices and stuff we found in the kitchen, and cooked it over an open fire two days later.


Hahaha!!! How do you accidentaly kill a rabbit with a rock?

[earthman buck]

Hahaha!!! How do you accidentaly kill a rabbit with a rock?
Maybe they were just trying to stun/cripple it.

[ericthecableguy]

Maybe they were just trying to stun/cripple it.
But accidentally had the rock set from stun to kill.

[rockonn91]

But accidentally had the rock set from stun to kill.
more or less.

nah, we were walking down this trail, and we had been throwing rocks at random things. Come on, yall are men, you know how we do. So we see this huge rabbit and, well... we were on a roll. My bud Caleb chucked this huge rock at it, and it whacked it outside the head. Man, it was bleeding though its ears and stuff... real nasty. So we mercy-killed it, and the rest you know. :D

[earthman buck]

more or less.

nah, we were walking down this trail, and we had been throwing rocks at random things. Come on, yall are men, you know how we do. So we see this huge rabbit and, well... we were on a roll. My bud Caleb chucked this huge rock at it, and it whacked it outside the head. Man, it was bleeding though its ears and stuff... real nasty. So we mercy-killed it, and the rest you know. :D
Ha. Your bud Caleb is a terrible person. :)

Although I can sorta relate. One time a friend and I were in this old abandoned building in the old abandoned limestone quarry near my town, knocking down swallows' nests with rocks. We knocked down about 3 or 4 and they were all empty, no big deal. There was just one left, so he chucked a rock at it and shattered the front part. A baby bird fell down with the broken pieces, and another remained inside the nest. We felt pretty bad, but we hoped that the second one would at least have the sense to stay in the nest.

No such luck. It panicked and stumbled out. They weren't killed from the fall (which was pretty surprising, it had to be a 20 ft. drop), so we covered them up with a magazine in a feeble attempt to keep them warm for the night.

The next day, they were gone. Obviously something ate 'em.

Ah well, that's life.

[rockonn91]

Obviously something ate 'em.

perhaps some bored teenager?

[earthman buck]

perhaps some bored teenager?
Nah, you were at camp that week.