Jerky results 8-25-18

[neverkeepchangin11]

Smoked up a batch of beef and venison jerky yesterday. Getting closer to my goal.

There is a local fishery that smokes a bunch of lake fish and beef jerky. When I was in school I would wander down to the dock and get three pieces of jerky almost every day then go to soccer or basketball or my favorite, baseball. I have chased that jerky flavor for years. Different cuts, marinades, spices, wood. It is my white whale.

This time:

Bottom Round cut into 6x1x1 strips. Marinade in 1 part worcestershire, 1 part soy sauce, 1/2 a cup of whole peppercorns crushed by hand with a rolling pin, 1/4 cup of balsamic vinegar, and 2 tablespoons of fish sauce. 4 hour soak time.

50 gallon steel barrel smoker, lump charcoal as fuel, whole log apple wood as smoke source, and temp around 200 for 4 hours.

Closest I've come yet. Usually I am a cherry wood fan but the apple was slightly more subtle, will continue to use. Only trouble is I live on a cherry orchard, not an apple orchard. So securing quality apple wood is more difficult. Anyway, their jerky is very beefy, light on the marinade flavoring but solid smoke flavor with that hint of 100 years of smoking fish, hence the fish sauce and simple/quick marinade.

Biggest problem with this batch was I didn't keep a close enough eye on the temps. At one point I let it smoke at a cool temp for too long. So the meat stayed too wet for about an hour in the middle with heavy cool smoke. Leaves too strong an after taste. Next time I will stick by the smoker and keep the temp up and shoot for a 2-3 hour smoke instead of a 4 hour.

Overall, solid effort. Promising result.

[Raptorpat]

I never really knew or appreciated how much science goes into jerky, or cooking generally.

It really is an art.

[neverkeepchangin11]

1 hour ago, Admin_Raptorpat said:

I never really knew or appreciated how much science goes into jerky, or cooking generally.

It really is an art.

frustrating yet rewarding.

[Rogue_Alphonse]

I never thought about smoking jerky, usually I (or my stepdad) uses a drier.

[neverkeepchangin11]

54 minutes ago, Rogue_Alphonse said:

I never thought about smoking jerky, usually I (or my stepdad) uses a drier.

I dry jerky about once a year. But I use the ol' Alton Brown special, one box fan, natural fiber furnace filters, and a couple bungee cords. Works great and keeps heat out of the equation. 

[rpgamer]

Yess. The AB Special is how I used to do it. And damn, do I miss it. Haven't done that in years. But the results were pretty good. Mostly, I just loved being able to make jerky that's easier to consume than store-bought.