Whole meat venison jerky

[guywhofishes]

I get it straight from Nesco. I have had a lot of people say it's the best jerky they've ever eaten. I'll use Hi Mountain and others mixed the same way when I get in a bind. Mix it the same way for the ground, just don't need to cure it for 24-48 hours. I put some smoke to it right away.

nesco original?

 

[sweeney]

If I found out Dale's tasted like zebra feces I'd move to Africa to farm for the scat and sex tourism. I'd be a damn zebra farmer and pimp.

I think you are missing a market not including hunting of elderly tribesman

 

[Bri-guy]

Nothing too scientific to what I do for the whole muscle jerky. Slice it around 1/8".............use a mixture that is about 3/4 cup soy, a little worcestshire, little liquid smoke, some garlic pepper, garlic salt, onion powder, little black pepper. Marinate it in a zip loc overnight.

Dehydrate it till good and dry, but not too brittle.

This is close to my recipe, but I add brown sugar and cayenne pepper. Perfect balance of sweet and spicy.

 

[guywhofishes]

This is close to my recipe, but I add brown sugar and cayenne pepper. Perfect balance of sweet and spicy.

so no "cure" eh? (not that anything could survive in soy for long)

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I got frustrated yesterday - ended up at Mills Fleet and decide to prowl the aisles and try to build my own meat slicer.

$9 cutting board, $5 license plate holder, $1 elevator bolts.

'merica!



Thanks for cluing me in to the jerky board concept musky. Works surprisingly well. Thickness is in the 3/16 range. Nice thing about this route vs. the wood one is I can trim in place, or off to the side, and even drop the hammer on thick leftovers to flatten them to jerky thickness. Maybe one can do this on the wood one too but plastic seems more trimmable/hammerable There was some initial friction on the plastic - that was instantly eliminated with a thin wipe of veg oil.

Sliced 15 lb in 30 minutes or so last night with an old school electric knife. Galwhofishes assisted me with holding the wobbly less frozen pieces. nitril gloves over thin winter gloves made it easy for my able assistant. Once pieces got small the laying of the hand worked great too.

 

[espringers]

Good job lycan.... uhhhh.... I mean guy.

 

[guywhofishes]

that stung, but it was pretty funny

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BTW that cutting board has nice grippy feet under it for secure cutting

 

[Account Deleted]

I know you guys like your consistent thickness but honestly I just eyeball it with a sharp fillet knife and I think that is consistent enough. I doubt Neanderthal man cared that all his jerky slices were exactly 3/16" thick.

 

[guywhofishes]

I have no big fear of thickness variability - in fact it seems everybody likes to hunt for the pieces that suit them anyway.

But I can tell you this approach sped things up by a factor of two or three. The consistency is just a bonus IMO.

Plus - even though I'm no slouch with a knife - there's no way I could have gotten nice 6"-8" maybe even 10" long strips (less individual strips equals less hassle I think) by hand with no guide.

p.s. that plate is threaded to 5/16" course and is bolted on from the back - so it's not like it's slipping around on the board. that would blow.

PM me for hack instructions

 

[johnr]

precision is the key to quality control and equal taste of each slice. I am thinking the Neanderthals didn't have the butt out system either...haha
'merica

 

[espringers]

I like guys hack. That board i linked to was relatively expensive. And since most folks have an electric knife already, the knife was probably unnecessary even though I like it and it's easy to keep an edge one it. So... thinking about his hack has me pondering the use of a router on a wood or plastic cutting board for similar results without the little groove under the license plate holder for collecting scraps or the metal that might dull the blade (s) as you run your knife over it. If the board was thick enough, you could router separate depths on each side.

 

[guywhofishes]

I like guys hack. That board i linked to was relatively expensive. And since most folks have an electric knife already, the knife was probably unnecessary even though I like it and it's easy to keep an edge one it. So... thinking about his hack has me pondering the use of a router on a wood or plastic cutting board for similar results without the little groove under the license plate holder for collecting scraps or the metal that might dull the blade (s) as you run your knife over it. If the board was thick enough, you could router separate depths on each side.

great idea with the router - wish I had bought a thick cutting board and just done that ;:;banghead

BTW - no metal is exposed to the knife. The bolt heads are underneath and I tapped the license plate holder with 5/16 coarse threading. The bolts were cut just long enough so that the bolt ends sit well below the riding surface of the knife but grabs all the threads. The license plate holder has recessed screw holes on the front so that worked great for hiding metal from blade.

The back side of the license plate holder is flat/solid/continuous unlike most pressed/formed plate holders, so there's just the seam where it fits flush with the cutting board. A guy can lever up a little bit on the non-bolted side of plate holder to wash out under it but I experienced no solid bits getting underneath it - just blood. I bet some Goop would make it seamless but I probably won't hassle with it.


back side view - bolts sit lower than cushions so they don't scratch counter
I tightened the bolts gingerly with a pliers so as not to strip out the license plate holder holes that I had tapped

an alternative to elevator bolts would have been tapered head machine screws but I don't have a taper bit at home to make them sit flush underneath - so bought the goofy elevator bolts with the wide (but low profile) heads

again - a router would have made quick work of this chore - dangit

 

[espringers]

So the license holder itself isn't metal? My bad.

 

[guywhofishes]

no - it's a solid clear plastic with a red/white/blue "decal" somehow bonded onto its flat bottom
had Mills had a clear, black, or white plastic version I maybe would have bought one - but they didn't
the 'merica pattern sort of grew on me anyway:;:rockit

 

[NodakBuckeye]

Nice DIY idea! I usually just cut it up frozen with a good serrated knife. Use instacure #1, 1 tsp per 5lbs meat. Soy sauce, brown sugar, minced garlic, worcestershire, black pepper, couple mashed up chipotles in adobo and cayenne. Marinate for 48 hours, drain and dry. Smoke for 4 hours then finish in dehydrator if need be. If you want to cold smoke, then you need instacure #2. I used to use the tenderquick from Morton but found it to be way to salty. If I were using the tenderquick now, I would brine with it in water, rinse and then into the flavor portion of the marinade and go from there.

 

[huntorride365]

Guy, Nesco original is fine, I tend to use the hot and spicy. Typically I'll work a roast out of a hind quarter, get all the crap off, and put it in the freezer for a half hour or so. With a fillet knife you'd be amazed at how perfectly precise you can cut; I try for an eighth inch or so for thickness if I've got the time and patience.

 

[MossyMO]

10 different flavor of jerky seasonings available from Owens BBQ!
www.owensbbq.com/sausage-seasonings-jerky-mixes.html
[FONT=&quot]- Original
- Cracked Black Pepper & Garlic
- Honey BBQ
- Teriyaki
- Hickory
- Mesquite
- Sweet & Spicy
- Maple Jalapeno
- Chipotle Lime
- Prime Rib[/FONT]

 

[Duckslayer100]

I always just buy the seasoning packs, either High Mountain or Shore Lunch. Both make equally yummy jerky cures. I've been leaning toward the latter lately, simply because I find the flavors more robust. But I think Shore Lunch quit making jerky seasonings a few years ago, so you might be out of luck (they clearances everything at Scheels in about 2010-11 and I cleared them out...were $1.50 a box).

 

[espringers]

Mossy, that stuff looks great. I forgot about you having jerky spices. Thanks for the reminder!