First foray into venison jerky.

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SpurHunter

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Joined
Jun 27, 2007
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15,863
Location
Cleveland TN
I decided I would make my first batch of jerky this week. I get anal about some things and just the thought of using a food dehydrator had so turned me off for years, I just opted to go buy jerky off the shelf.

To me, the only way to make it was smoking it, so that’s what I did.
I took a couple of lean portions of deer I killed the last weekend and hand sliced it thin. I have contemplated doing a ground version and using a jerky gun, but haven’t purchased one just yet.

I used a kit from Hi Mountain for my first foray, this particular flavor was Sweet and spicy. You measure our the cure, 1/8th teaspoon per pound, add the seasoning packet and let cure for at least 4 hours. I left mine for 20 hours.


Here is my meat ready to go onto the jerky trays I bought at Sportsman’s Warehouse. They run $10 each, but I’m sure you could find better deals looking around online.













The top tray had some space left, the other three were packed pretty tight.








One tray I added cracked pepper to the meat after laying it out.







One tray got a coating of Prudhomes Honey BBQ seasoning.









And one tray got a liberal does of Chipoltle seasoning and red pepper flakes.









I have a Primo Oval XL grill/smoker and accommodates the full racks, I think I could get at least one more in there, and possibly two more.










I used hardwood lump coal with a few large chunks of cherry wood mixed in. I use a BBQ Guru DigiQ controller to keep temps stable, in this case it kept it in the range of 160*-190*. Its very hard to obtain this feat using natural burning material.


Here I am rotating the racks, this one was in the middle of the stack during most of the cook time.








A blury picture of the cracked pepper finished product.







And a better picture of the Chipotle “hot” version.







The outcome:
Friends and family have raved about what they sampled. The peppered and HOT version were the biggest winners, although all have gotten great reviews. I made sure to keep from getting the meat too dry, many of what I have tried from others has been stiff and dry you could stab a person with it and hurt them…seriously.
Most have commented that its really tender and moist, although “moist” is an odd term for dehydrated meat.

What I learned:
If you make it with this much care, it’s a TON of work, and NEVER, EVER let more than 2 friends try it, they all want more!
I have been instructed by the family that I need to get working on more, so I will be doing that for just them experimenting with different flavors, and eventually using all of my own seasoning creations.
 
That looks great! I ended up using Hi Mtn cure after years of experimenting with marinades and spices. I agree on the moist jerky theory, it's supposed to be dry-like Clint Eastwood ate in his old movies.
I end up "sharing" way too much of mine! But, I found I can swap some out for meat-because they know it'll end up being jerky. Oddly enough I just started curing 4 lbs about an hr ago.
The thing I see people do that irritates me the most is take a bite and chew it for about 5 seconds and swallow it. To me, it's meant to be savored!
Those are some mouthwatering pics!
 

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