Makin Jerkey

[twispcougarhunter]

A few tips on makin jerkey for ya. I've been making jerkey for about 30 years now and have learned something every year. I actually built a jerkey smoker into my fireplace so do it a lot.
I use to make up my own receipe but got to figureing it out and I was spending a ton of money on ingredients. I just tried an outfit www.midwesternresearch.com that sells all sorts of sausage, jerkey seasonings and anything that has to do with processing meat. I can buy any selection of about 8 different receipes from the for cheaper than I can make it myself. I use to mix and brine my meat first but they suggest just putting a layer of meat in and sprinkling the seasoning in then another layer till your pot is full. Let it set for at least 12 hrs. and put it in the smoker. A tip here is. I got a moose this year and the forearms are really big and meatey but have a lot of grissle. If you just slice it up you end up with a horribly grissley piece of jerkey you can't hardly eat. I first put the seasoning on it, let it sit for at least 12 hrs. then grind it up into hamburger. Then roll it out flat with a rolling pin real thin, cut it with a pie cutter about 2" x 2" and scoop it up with the pie cutter and put it on your rack. If your rolling pin sticks to the meat put a little veg. oil on it and it'll slide without sticking. The meat sticks together like bread dough and dries in one piece. Sure makes it easier to eat and you can use all those mostly unuseable grissley pieces you threw away or ground into hamburger. If you like really hot spicey, they sell a Waltons special mix and it's perty danged hot. I prefer the Colorado spicey or the Teriyaki both of which are a little hot too. If you don't like spicey get the BBQ jerkey mix. It's just plain with no heat to it at all. Make sure you cut the meat into small pieces although it don't have to be sliced thin like the really nice muscle cuts because your going to grind it up. Pieces like about 3" by no thicker than about 1/2". Watch it close in the smoker because if it gets too dry it's hard like a potato chip and you can't taste the flavor much. If you take it out too soon it will have too much moisture in it and will mold. If you get it too dry put some bread in a zip lok bag with it and leave it on t he counter for a few days and the jerkey will soak up the moisture from the bread. If it's too moist then just spread it out on the counter and it will dry from the room heat in a day or two. I store mine in the freezer so it don't dry out.
Don't buy the chips at the store it costs too much. Get a piece of any type of hardwood, alder,maple, apple, any type fruit tree, hickory, mesquite, but no softwoods like pine, fir, larch, . The softwoods will make it taste terrible with a creosote taste, not fit to eat. I spread out a tarp and commence to making a bunch of sawdust with my chainsaw and collect it on the tarp. You can make enough in about 30 minutes to make 200 pounds of jerkey. Otherwise you'll spend a fortune on store bought chips.
I've tried all sorts of meat in making jerkey and you really can't tell much difference in what type meat you use. The ingredients you use for the cure pretty much give all the flavor. I was thinking about trying some old shoe leather and see if it will work too, hadn't done that yet.
Jerkey makes great Christmas or special occasion presents. Also, is a big hit at any potluck or get together you attend.
gotta git. Hillbilly Bill

[POORBOY]

Hey Bill

That sounds really good.
Have not had any moose in the freezer for about ten years or I would try this.
Do have some ground chuck. Might have to give that a shot.

I lost that picture you sent me of your smoker. If you send it again, i will put it on here for people to be amazed at.

Jerry

[Candianblueboy]

I do the same as above but I have gotten lazy in my old age and now I add some liquid smoke to my brine and use my dehydrator. Hard to keep any around as they clean it up faster than I can make it.

[twispcougarhunter]

Ya no, I thank that liquid smoke is probably just as good. I can't tell a bit of difference in it -vs- the real stuff and it's probably a lot less headache. Let me tell ya one thang. Don't never, never take a big swaller of that liquid smoke. It don't taste nuthin like it smells. It'll danged near kill ya. They don't call me stupid fer nuthin.
Hillbilly Bill

[POORBOY]

Here are some pictures of Bills fireplace/smoker.
Beautiful.







Here's those two pictures of the jerkey smoker on the left. The wood stove that heats the house is on the right. The jerkey smoker has a steel 6" pipe at the top of the chamber that connects to the wood stove chimney. It drafts so good that you can actually leave the door open and the smoke still goes up the pipe.

The other picture I'm sending is on the second floor. I built in a warming oven into the fireplace. It has heat coming up from the wood stove but doesn't have a chimney so can't be used for a smoker. I put an elec. receptacle in it for a small hot plate we use when the wood stove is not being used. The smoker is directly below that warming oven in the basement.

Sorry Bill, The email went to junk mail!
Found it today.

Jerry