jerky

[ninny]

I love making jerky! Im looking for some recipes for seasonings and cures. I want to try and cut back the salt as much as possible. Also do you need casings for snack sticks?

 

[Wannabefree]

Casings are not necessary for snack sticks. I don't use casings with mine. It's going to be difficult to cut the salt. I just use a bunch of my favorite spices. You can make jerky any way you want, but it has to be well cured as that is how it is "cooked" via chemical reaction provided by the salt.

 

[Neko-chan]

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[sunsaver]

My dad would use any cheap cut of beef, and cut with the grain so that the long muscle fibers will hold the jerky together with no need for a casing. He would cut it in 1/4 inch slices, and brine it with? (salt, sugar, black pepper and water. Or soy sauce and A1 . Garlic and habenero with honey. Use your imagination. After brining for 24-48 hours, roast on a cookie sheet at 200*F for 4-6 hours, or until jerky is dark brown and fully dried. Store in zip lock bags or mason jars. I like it with salt, sugar, black pepper, oragano, and tobasco rubbed on before the dehydration. Real jerky is a far cry from the plastic wrapped cancer sticks at the gas station.

 

[Neko-chan]

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[sunsaver]

Well, i'm not a jerky expert, but with all brines and cooking in general, you should taste test regularly to get the end flavor you want and learn what flavors compliment each other. A brine should taste like sea water (if you've ever been to the coast). Or, slightly more salty tasting then you find "eatable". For raw meat, do all of your taste testing before you add the meat to the brine, as with all BBQ recipes. After brining, i like to pat dry with a clean towel and rub down the meat with all of the same seasonings used in the brine. Pepper helps to add water to the mouth when eating jerky, an old cowboy survival food.

 

[Neko-chan]

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[sunsaver]

Gosh! You're fast! It takes me 10 minutes to type each word! This has been almost like instant messaging. Sorry if i hijacked you're thread.
Sorry, i meant Ninny's thread.

 

[Boogity]

For beef jerky I used to use cheap cuts of meat. But someone told me that jerky (beef jerky) should be made from the best cuts of meat you can afford to use. So one time I tried a hunk of the best porterhouse I could find. Wow! What a difference. It was 10X better than the cheap stuff I was used to eating. Now I have to admit that I still use cheap cuts of beef but I don't like to end up with a big wad of gristle in my mouth. Come to think of it, I haven't made beef jerky in a while as I usually make venison every year. I experimented with wild hog many years ago and it turned out terrible.

 

[bama boy]

I use a dehydrater, and I make it with ground venison. You can get a jerky squirter,(dont laugh), on line, or a basspro type place and it works great. Its like a caulking gun. Season the ground up meat for 24 hrs, and then dehydrate. My dehydrater has 5 racks, and when full, it takes a good 8 hrs to cure up.