Deer Jerky

O

Old Stony

New member
I've been trying to make deer jerky lately and having mixed results. I have been using packaged products, grinding the meat and using a dehydrator to dry it all out. Yesterday I used a cure that was supposed to be peppery, but it was still pretty bland. My stuff has been edible and the dehydrator does a good job, but I'm just not getting a good spicy product.
Anybody mix their own spices? I think getting away from a pre-packaged spice might be a better way to go.
Any help would be appreciated.
 
I think I remember seeing some jerky (not specifically deer jerky) recipes in the recipes sticky at the top of the the hunt section.

My processor does mine, so... I'm useless
 
I'm pretty much a novice at it only done it twice but I marinade thinly sliced venison in a glass tub filled with liquid smoke, worschisture sauce, and cavendars Greek seasoning. I let it sit in the fridge for 2 days then I place em in the dehydrator lightly coat in pepper, it seems to work well for me. I just got a batch out today and it came out pretty good.
 
I thought about doing the thinly sliced route, but I'm an old codger and I'm a lot older than a lot of my teeth. I opted to do the grinding thing, and running it through a jerky gun to make it easier to chew. Consistency is great doing it like this so far, just the taste is pretty bland and I want to spice it up.
 
It helps to season the meat before you grind it. Salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder and crushed red pepper flake some to mind. I would also marinate the meat after grinding. I use a mixture of Soy sauce, Worshestershire, Olive oil, Molasses, whole grain mustard and texas pete.

Not too much oil or it will end up greasy. Equal parts soy and worchestershire.

A little Pepsi or coffee is good in the marinade as well.

I thinly slice mine. You are essentially making dried sausage with grinding. (not at all a bad thing) It just makes the process a little closer to sausage making. After you season and grind it should sit in the marinade at least 24 hours.
 
Anybody mix their own spices?
Click to expand...

I do.
And have used the same recipe for many years. Never found a better one.

Besides No ones ever complained or turned down a stick that I know of.
Frankly: Spicy (hot) brines are pretty simple to make. Chopped red pepper flakes or cyan (red) pepper are the primary ingredients for that purpose but allowing the brine a long enough period to leach into its meat is quite often overlooked. My brine takes 4 days in a refrigerator to fully brine its layered meat. On the third day the bloody brine its changed and replaced with a new brine mix and allowed to soak one more day.
I've used a house oven to make jerky and even a Webber kettle grill will work. Trick to any jerky making is to smoke or slow cook it with little applied heat. {If your using a liquid smoke in your brine. Then there is really no need to use a smoking cabinet.} Tip: use your dehydrator after the jerky's cooking or smoking too pull out any moisture left. A much better product is the benefit in doing so.
 
I wasted 4lbs of good deer last month on those pre-packaged mixes. So bland it wasn't even worth eating (now this was strips not ground jerky). The main problem is that it was severely lacking salt. I may use them again but you can be sure I'll add my own extra salt and spices.
 
I marinade in a spicy bbq sauce, worchestershire sauce, a few dashes of liquid smoke and a generous amount of Montreal Steak seasoning for 3-4 days. The key is to mix well everyday so it all gets even flavor. Then i lay the strips out on racks with a final shot of pepper and into the oven on 170 for around 1.5 hours. Make sure to leave the door cracked a tiny bit so the steam escapes. Any longer and its so tough you can barely chew it. Comes out amazing best jerky ive ever had. This year i will add pickled jalepano juice for a spicy additional!
 
I use the thin slice method but if you slice it thin to soak then grind it this should work. Everyone i know loves my jerky so I'll try to help ya out.

This recipe is good for about 4 lbs of meat

The marinade is as follows

1/2 pt of bourbon
12oz full flavor beer (I use Boston logger)
1 small onion diced small
2 cloves of garlic pureed
1 large bottle of teryocky (i know i have no clue how to spell that):)
2 tablespoons of Montreal steak seasoning
3 tablespoons of crushed red pepper
1 tablespoon of non-idolized salt
1/2 of a small bottle of liquid smoke
And 1 small bottle of A-1

Let the marinade sit for 24 hours at least before adding meat

Add your meat and allow to soak for 48 hours. Make sure you mix it up a few times so that the pepper gets on all of the meat. Once its done the inside of the meat is brown, not red. Dehydrate and enjoy.;)
 
The premade mix will always be bland, add they don't want to over spice folks. Mix your own. It's easy. Tons of recipes to get you started. Also, I don't grind, I slice my meat into quarter inch thick pieces.
 
I've found a few recipies online that look promising. I have to agree that the seasoning mixes you get a bland end product. I just taste something wierd (maybe nitrates ?) and not something with a slight salty taste like it should. My next batch will definitely have some crushed red chili in it.
 
I've found letting the meat "chill" in the fridge for at least a day mixed with the spices before I dry it makes the spices more intense. Whenever I try a new type of spice I always do several small batches to make sure the spices are correct. Some brands of commercial spices are more intense than others and finding a combo you like is the hardest part. Having a good scale to make sure of the exact weight of the meat you have and precisely measuring the spice mix once you have found one you like is the secret to consistency. I generally start on the lighter side of adding spices as you can always add more as opposed to taking some out. If you microwave a small chunk of it and taste it, it will taste similar to your finished jerky. If the meat is not spicy enough, add more. While you adjust the spices to taste, you always add cure per weight.
 
The secret to good jerky is Mortons Sugar Cure. My dad used it for years and got me started on it. I switched it up a little because dad would make some once in a while that was so salty it was inedible. I found that using a three to one ratio of brown sugar and salt solved that issue. Of course dad didn't like it because it was "sweet". But the MSC has a smoke flavor added, so no liquid smoke required and it has sodium nitrate in it for preserving meat.

I have made it in the oven with so so results. Best is out of a smoker. Never tried the dehydrator, but know it will produce good jerky.

As far as spicy - I use fine ground white pepper, course ground (fresh) black pepper and cayenne pepper. You have to be careful with amounts unless you are a pepper head - you can over do it.

Other than that I only use toasted onion powder and garlic powder (fine ground for both). These are available at www.bulkfoods.com.

The basic recipe is
3c brown sugar
1c mortons sugar cure
1.5tsp garlic pwdr
1.5tsp toasted onion pwdr
1tsp white pepper pwdr
.5tsp cayenne pepper
Course ground black pepper to taste (I wait until I have laid the strips out on the screen and use the pepper mill to grind over just the one side)

Combine all ingredients (except black pepper) in a mixing bowl and set aside.
This should be sufficient for about five lbs.

A deep rectangular cake pan is best for applying the seasoning to the meat. I use a meat lug but not everyone has those. I have also used very large stainless bowls.

Spread a thin amount of seasoning on the bottom of your vessel and put the first layer of meat down then apply seasoning liberally on the top. Repeat the process until all your meat is seasoned, then put plastic wrap on the top and refridgerate over night. By morning the salt has drawn moisture out of the meat. This gives you a jump start in the dehydrator or smoker. Remove the meat to a wire rack and apply the cracked black pepper. Place in the dehydrator or smoker. For the smoker set the temp to 100 degrees for one hour or until the surface of the meat is dry. Raise the temp to 130 deg and apply smoke. Maintain heat at 130 - 150 deg until done. Cool on the racks and remove to plastic bags and refridgerate, then vacuum seal the next day. If you are not sampling the product along the way you are making a serious mistake! Save some for your family and friends though! Enjoy and Merry Christmas...

P.S

If you omit the pepper (all), this can be used to season any fish you want to smoke. I guarantee this is killer...
 
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Old stoney, I missed the part where you are using ground meat. If you were to use my recipe, try about 4oz per lb and adjust up or down to your taste. Good luck...
 
I use spice mixes by Nesco and they are all very good. If I want a bit more pepper or heat, I simply add more pepper or red pepper.

Great stuff.

Personally, I used to make up my own recipes but find the Nesco stuff to be much better than I could produce.
 
You make your own rubs for the BBQ? Do the same thing for jerky. Suspect the commercial blends are like other stuff like 'em. Full of salt. (Had my heart rebuilt, all 4, in Jan of '13. The low salt diet isn't horrible when you have herbs and spices.).
Can't imagine why you'd grind first. That'd make flat sausage. And you don't need teeth. According to the local insurance companies dentures are cosmetic.
"...teryocky..." Teriyaki. Commercial is usually too salty. Use this(to marinade chicken and beef too).
3/4 cup unsweetened pineapple juice.
3 tbsp. each lemon juice, low salt soy sauce and vegetable oil(olives are vegetables)
couple bay leaves
couple cloves crushed garlic(a couple being a relative number)
pinch of ground cloves
It's non-iodized salt. snicker.
 
Stony I use the ground meat system for much the same reasons. I also use packaged cures like Hi mountain Cajun or hickory but I will usually add to the mix a tablespoon of Slap Your Mama Cajun spice. You can increase or decrease it to your liking but it sure he's and is a lot easier than making a whole mix from scratch. Mix it up, let it set over nite in fridge and load up the dehydrator. Don't know about its long term storage never had any survive that long. But I have mailed it to my wife when she was deployed to Kosovo many years ago. Seems it was better bribery fare than fresh fruit with the officers.
 
I cut my jerky thick & use a packet of WM's garlic & peppercorn marinade mix & re-constitute it with 2tbsp olive oil ('cos capsaicin is oil-soluble), a cup of Valentina Extra Hot Mexican hot sauce & 2 serving spoons' Sriracha "Rooster" sauce & let it marinate 48-72hrs.

I use a gas grill to make mine. Far right burner on just high enough to keep the left side of the grill around 180*. Hang the strips on the rack & "check"/munch every now & again, till it's done. Takes 5 hours or so, but the jerky is so tender. Last batch lasted less than 24hrs. lol...
 
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