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Who makes jerky?


Tpoppa

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Last time I made it maybe 13 or so years ago we used a dehydrator. My Grandmother was cleaning out her chest freezer and had damn near a quarter beef worth of cubed and round steak she needed to get rid of so we turned most of it in to jerky. Made a marinade of woshishire and liquid smoke with some other seasonings and soaked it over night, cut them into strips an ran them through a roller tenderizer. Salted them fairly well with some cracked pepper and used 2 little round dehydrators that we picked up at biglots(think I still have one of them) I bet it took most of the week to do it all, in the end we had like 10lbs of jerky. I was a pain in the ass and I wouldn't want to do it again but it was some pretty damn good jerky. I was only pain because of the quantity we had and our dryers were just too small, but it worked.

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We always used the oven. Marinate venison in liquid smoke, hit sauce and woosrchestershire sauce, hang over oven rack, put oven on 150 and prop the door open.

I've also seen it made with a box fan and the plastic grid used for rebuildable furnace filters.

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I use the venison that isnt big enough for a steak yet 1/4 thick and bigger than a quarter. Standard 5 or so tiered dehydrator from Kmart.

Tried deer burger thru a squeeze gun jerky maker before. It sucked. Disintegrated in your mouth I think due to the low fat in the 100%deer burger. This is home butchered stuff, nothing added. I think you need to add pork fat or something to hold burger type jerky together.

Can't find my recipes but whatever it is I'd just let the meat soak in the fridge for a day. Time on the dehydrator is around 12 hours but you have to pluck thinner pieces earlier unless you like dry cardboard.

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I'm going to try to make some for the first time, probably next week.  Seems like flank steak and eye of round roast are popular cuts for jerky.

 

Some people add meat tenderizer to the marinade, anyone know if that makes a difference?

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I wish I had some venison. There's a guy at work that hunts but doesn't like it so if he bags a deer, I pay for the processing and get all the meat. He didn't get anything the year before and last year he was hurt and didn't hunt. If anyone hunts and doesn't have use for the meat, LMK.

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lean meat works best, and I've had it cut at Kroger, asking them to prepare it for jerky(since they cut it free).  I've never used a tenderizer since my marinades have so much salt in them(Worcestershire sauce and minced garlic, or Teriyaki and garlic or salt+pepper+garlic.......I like garlic).  I also to a minimum of 24 hours in the fridge to marinade, turning the bags a couple times to ensure full coverage.

 

Drying is dependent on how much you want to chew.  Pioneers would rate their jerky done "When you can break it off and stab someone", I prefer mine a bit less lethal, but make sure the moisture is low enough to prevent bacteria(leather consistency is usually a good indicator).  

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There's a guy at work that hunts but doesn't like

 

Idk why but him hunting but not enjoying the spoils bothers me. Does he do it for the antlers? Sounds like he just likes killing things legally lol.

Edited by TimTheAzn
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Idk why but him hunting but not enjoying the spoils bothers me. Does he do it for the antlers? Sounds like he just likes killing things legally lol.

H just enjoys the sport of it I guess. I'm the opposite, when I was a teen I was hunting with my dad and shot a deer. Caught up with it and it was laying there bleeding out and suffering before we got there and finished it off. Made me feel like shit even though we used just about every bit of that deer and I've never been hunting since. I have no problem with others doing it...I just don't want to see it happen. I'm too empathetic I guess.

 

tumblr_lx2qxsaNBj1r6e50go1_400.jpg

hahaha...I always say that... "beef jerky time" and no one but my wife ever gets it. Love that movie.

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H just enjoys the sport of it I guess. I'm the opposite, when I was a teen I was hunting with my dad and shot a deer. Caught up with it and it was laying there bleeding out and suffering before we got there and finished it off. Made me feel like shit even though we used just about every bit of that deer and I've never been hunting since. I have no problem with others doing it...I just don't want to see it happen. I'm too empathetic I guess.

 

I've not been hunting.  I would be fine taking the shot, I'm just not interested in doing the field dressing.

 

I have a friend that begs me to hunt with him because he knows I can shoot.  He badly wants a deer, but he's the least accurate shooter I've ever seen :(

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My dad more or less quit hunting when we lived in upstate NY and he nearly got shot one year and his hunting partner nearly got an arrow to the gut the following year. Too many idiots out there shooting at anything that moves. He still went out here and there but only when he could hunt on private property.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I finally made a batch of jerky yesterday.  It was super easy & came out awesome.

 

The only hard part is telling when it's done.  You can't really tell how firm or dry it is until you take it out of the dehydrator and let it cool for an hour.

 

It took about 5 1/2 hours in my cheapie, $40 dehydrator.

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