Beef Jerky Recipe

[JEBar]

don't know about that but it does have threaded muzzle ..

[JEBar]

our equipment arrived today .... we mixed up a pound of ground beef that is now in the frig .... we plan to load it into the "jerky gun" and make our first run of jerky in the morning .... the pictures below show the beef processed so far and our new equipment

[JEBar]

first run .... looks like it will take a tray and about a half to take care of 1 lb

[CT_Shooter]

first run .... looks like it will take a tray and about a half to take care of 1 lb

Looks a bit different than what I'm used to. Did you dissolve the spices in water?

I make the ribbons shorter, about 4" long, just to make it easier to store it. Not that it lasts long enough to be concerned with storage. I ate the entire batch I just made in three days. I bought another LB of hamburger today to make more.

[JEBar]

Looks a bit different than what I'm used to. Did you dissolve the spices in water?

yes .... once she assembled the recipe, my wife felt it would be easier to uniformly get the spices to cover all of the hamburger

I make the ribbons shorter, about 4" long, just to make it easier to store it. Not that it lasts long enough to be concerned with storage. I ate the entire batch I just made in three days. I bought another LB of hamburger today to make more.

shorter ribbons make sense .... we'd figured on cutting ours prior to bagging them .... hope ours turns out to be as good as yours .... because of your experience we did cut back on the salt .... looking forward to seeing how that works out

pictures were taken at 2 hours ..... at that time we rotated the trays in both order and orientation .... we also flipped the ribbons

[CT_Shooter]

I just mixed another 1 LB batch using 1 Tsp of salt, no water. It's relaxing in the fridge until tomorrow. The grocery store only had 90% sirloin, so that's what I'm marinating.

On another note, the paper aisle in this small town store was stocked to the rafters. I bought an eight roll package of Bounty double roll select-a-size paper towels, leaving several dozens of them for the rest of the shoppers to carry away. I like that.

[JEBar]

I just mixed another 1 LB batch using 1 Tsp of salt, no water. It's relaxing in the fridge until tomorrow. The grocery store only had 90% sirloin, so that's what I'm marinating.

CT ...

does your Jerky turn out to be soft or hard

90% sirloin should do well .... at first taste, ours is softer than I'm used to and it does have good flavor .... for our next batch we have to reduce the amount of Cayenne pepper .... its a bit hot for my wife and daughter

[CT_Shooter]

...does your Jerky turn out to be soft or hard

90% sirloin should do well .... at first taste, ours is softer than I'm used to and it does have good flavor .... for our next batch we have to reduce the amount of Cayenne pepper .... its a bit hot for my wife and daughter

I let it dry for almost all of 8 hours at 140 degrees. I don't turn it or rotate the trays, but I do check it about every hour after five, looking for moisture (water or fat) beading up on the surface. When I consider it's done, it's because it's hard enough to cleanly snap if I break it off or bite into it.

You might not have given it enough time do dry, which is something that comes with experience... at least, for me it was. The amount of cayenne is perfect for my old palate! I like Szechuan Chinese food, too.

[JEBar]

the info that came with our dehydrator says it is set to run at 160 degrees .... I'd think that might shorten the time a bit .... the hamburger we used was shown as 90 - 10 and we never saw any sign of moisture (water or fat) beading up on the surface.... we were also happy to see that it didn't stick (at all) to the dehydrating trays .... that makes cleanup super easy

[JEBar]

last night when we removed the trays of Jerky from the dehydrator their texture was a bit soft .... we sat them on the table to cure and frankly forgot about them .... this morning when we looked at them, they had firmed up .... in short, they looked and importantly tasted like prime jerky .. .. we are currently camped with our club and brought the pound of jerky of with us .... to say that it was a hit is putting it mildly .... I've just emailed a link to the dehydrator on Amazon to two of the fellows who have decided to make their own .... even though they aren't familiar with its source, they asked me to extend their thanks for the recipe to CT .. .. that first pound of jerky is gone .... we plan to start another (larger) batch when we get back home on Sunday

[CT_Shooter]

Today's batch turned out great. I cut back on the salt, only using a tsp per pound, but I will add another 1/4 tsp back to the next batch. It could have been a bit saltier.

You made my day! It's my pleasure to have introduced you and your club to the Dakota Jerky recipe and the dehydrator/jerky gun process.

I also use the dehydrator to dry cherry tomatoes that I store with and without Olive Oil or pulverize into a powder to use as tomato paste. Awesome.

[JEBar]

Today's batch turned out great. I cut back on the salt, only using a tsp per pound,

just checked with my wife .... before making our first run I told her that yours had turned out too salty .... she just told me that because of that she cut back the course Sea/Kosher salt for our 1 lb recipe to 3/4 tsp .... add the 1/4 tsp of Prague and that put a total of 1 tsp of salt in ours .... for our taste, that was fine .... by the way, that Prague stuff is the saltiest salt I've ever tasted .... by the way, she did at liquid smoke to ours

[CT_Shooter]

Today's batch turned out great. I cut back on the salt, only using a tsp per pound,

just checked with my wife .... before making our first run I told her that yours had turned out too salty .... she just told me that because of that she cut back the course Sea/Kosher salt for our 1 lb recipe to 3/4 tsp .... add the 1/4 tsp of Prague and that put a total of 1 tsp of salt in ours .... for our taste, that was fine .... by the way, that Prague stuff is the saltiest salt I've ever tasted .... by the way, she did at liquid smoke to ours

Be careful with the Prague salt, Jim. It contains nitrite, a preservative, and could be toxic to humans.

https://blog.allspiceonline.com/blog/pr ... rth-is-it/

[JEBar]

good to know .... with all the stuff its apparently in, I don't believe any of us has a problem with it .... will most certainly pass that on .... if we don't use the Prague salt wouldn't we just need to up the Sea Salt by the same amount

[CT_Shooter]

... if we don't use the Prague salt wouldn't we just need to up the Sea Salt by the same amount

The nitrite is what keeps the jerky from developing botulism. I've understood that it's important to include, especially for large batches that may not be consumed for awhile, up to two years.

https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/threa ... re.248066/

[JEBar]

don't anticipate any of ours making it that long but having just bought a large jar of Prague and seeing how little it takes, we'll be using it for long time to come

[JEBar]

just put 3.2 lbs of 93% lean hamburger into the dehydrator .... it filled 4 trays and just under half of the 5th .... based on us having 6 trays, I believe we can dehydrate 4 lbs at a time

[JEBar]

a few observations (AKA lessons learned )

> I need to be more consistent in the height of the strips from the jerky gun ..... that involves both controlling the pace of moving the gun as it dispenses the mixed meat and the pressure on the gun's trigger .... slowing the pace thickens the strip, as does more pressure on the trigger .... pace is something I can and will work on .... sadly, our Jerky Gun is cheaply built and its action is sloppy .... pardon the pun but the action is jerky ... I suspect a better one will soon be in house

> small changes in the recipe can and do have a considerable impact on flavor and pepper heat .... in short, take care with measuring ingredients

> our first batch was with 90% lean hamburger from a local grocery that has its own butcher shop .... we didn't have any grease that needed to be blotted .... our second was with Walmart 93% lean hamburger and we ended up having to blot grease several times .... if the fat content numbers are correct, that makes no sense to me

[CT_Shooter]

Yeah. The jerky gun is just plastic and flimsy metal, but I've been using mine for nearly a decade and it's still working well for me.

I haven't noticed any significant difference in the thickness of the strips, but attention to measuring ingredients is very important, for sure. As for grease, I've never made a batch that didn't require a little mopping up with a paper towel, even when using ground bison. I just thought it was normal.

If you get another jerky gun, please let us know what you select. Amazon offers several stainless steel models.

[JEBar]

as you note, they do offer several different ones ..... we decided to go with the SIGVAL Jerky Gun ====> https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B079F ... UTF8&psc=1 .... with 949 rating it carries a 4.7 of 5 stars, 84% rate it 5 stars and only 6 of the 949 rate it at 3 stars or below .... my wife liked "The stainless steel attachments and tube are dishwasher safe;" .... I like the fact that the piston rod is round, no notches like the cheap one .... that has to ensure a smoother operation .... I like their statement: "100% SATISFACTION GUARANTEE: We are so confident in the quality and performance of this jerky gun, your purchase is backed by the Sigval Satisfaction Guarantee. If after purchasing this gun you are dissatisfied for any reason, you can return it for a complete refund. " .... it is designed to hold 1 lb, we looked at the larger 1.5 lb model but it wasn't worth $10 more dollars to us .... its supposed to arrive on Thursday and we hope to make a big run on Friday