Beef Jerky


 
L

Lou Pederi

TVWBB Member
Okay so i am taking friday off this week so i can do an all night smoke of pulled pork. Since it will be done on friday i want to take a try at doing beef jerky. Problem is I have no idea what i am doing with this. Can someone please tell me what i should do in order to make jerky. Thanks
 
Lou,

There are countless jerky recipes here and all over the internet. Basically, with beef jerky, you want to slowly dry the meat to eliminate most of the moisture. With minimal moisture, you don't have a problem with bacteria. Your recipe can be straight beef, no flavorings added, to a complex marinade of herbs, spices and fluids (fruit juice, terijaki sauce, worcestershire sauce, etc.)

If this is your 1st time at jerky, I'd recommend selecting a lean cut of beef such as top sirloin or rump roast. Trim as much visible fat off as is practical. Slice your meat (or have your butcher do it) to about .25" and then marinade it for 24 hours. The marinade can be just about anything, but it should contain salt to inhibit bacteria. Use the find tool on this site to review jerky recipes. After 24 hours, drain your beef. The more moisture you can remove, the faster the meat will dry on the wsm. Recently I started using a 'salad spinner' to help with this step; it works! You'll want a low temp fire as you want to dry the meat rather than cook it. To help maintain a low temp a few things will help. 1) only light a few coals and use the Minion Method. 2) use your water pan and fill it with water or sand or a clay saucer to absorb some of the heat. 3) adjust your bottom vents (keep the top vent open 100%) accordingly to keep the temps down; most likely they will be about 50%-75% closed.

Add a few pieces of wood for smoke if you desire; it won't need a lot of wood. Check for progress after a few hours. Total drying time will depend on thickness of meat, percentage of moisture in meat and temperature of fire. Your jerky may take between 5 and 10 hours to dry. Again, don't get impatient and up your temps to get finished sooner; you'll just end up cooking the meat which may have a good flavor, but is not jerky. Your jerky is done when it bends and just starts to crack.

Good luck and report on your results!

Paul
 
i use maybe 4 or 5 lit briquettes at most with a wood chunk. on my 22" wsm i shoot for under 140 degrees. the jerky stays on for around 4 hours or so and i monitor the process every 30 minutes or so to make sure the heat isnt going too high. i usually have to add lit briqs every 45 minutes or so.

i keep the smoke going as much as possible the whole time witht he lid vent nearly closed.

i dont use the minion method for this and keep my smokey joe going just as a suply of lit the whole process. it is VERY difficult to run a wsm at such a low temp and keep it there. sometimes i use water and sometimes i add ice as a heat sink if the weather is hot.

i pull the jerky when it is all shriveled and rubbery. one last thing. the key to jerky isnt so much the smoker as the prep proccess. making sure the meat is as fat free and lean as you can get. this works REALLY well with elk moose deer or other wild game. wild game has little to no fat. when i use it for store beef i tend to use beef tenderloin.
 
Made jerky a couple of weeks ago on my 18 WSM. I have a slightly different approach than described above. For meat prep follow as Paul stated. For jerky I do not use water in the pan. Tried it once and it just puts out too much moisture to dry out the meat. I use the foiled pan (also for all my cooks except cheese – that’s for another discussion). Now I string the marinated meat pieces on metal skewers and work the meat down through the top grate openings (kinda a pain, but you sure can fit a lot of jerky on one rack).

For the smoking part I use “K” spread out in a single layer. Spread out a few chunks of apple wood and minion in the middle with only 4 or 5 lit briquettes. Assemble cooker and start closing vents when temps approach 100º. I usually completely close when just above 120º. You should be able to hold at 140º - 150º for most of the cook. You may have to add a few unlit briquettes periodically through the door. What I have found is that around the 5 hour mark it’s time to peek and the rush of air from lifting the lid gets the temp going upwards. Make sure you have some of the jerky hanging by the door for hand testing for doneness. Usually takes between 6 - 8 hours.

Good luck on your jerky project. I think you will find that you will never buy store bought jerky again.

Dan
 
Alright i took some pics of the sliced meat and marinade. It is in the fridge now and will be ready to cook Saturday afternoon. I will post pics and let you know my thoughts on how it turned out. In the meantime I will be up late annoying my neighbors with my pork butt smoke starting at around midnight.
 
This is a post from another jerkey thread that I follow and will therefore post for further reference:

The temperatre outside was around 35 and I used the Minion method with about 40 unlit coals and 12 hot coals. Then assembled the cooker with the meat hanging on tooth picks.

With all three vents open the temps climbed up to 160 then I closed all but one of the vents and the temperature hovered right around 160 for 3-4 hours, when they started to drop below 140, I just tossed in a handful of unlit charcoal and gave it a stir and they climbed back up to 160.

It took 6 hours for the full rack of jerky to cook.
 
I wonder if you tried to keep the temp at 140,would you get into a problem with bacteria build up? I know you want to dry out the jerky not cook it.Any comments?
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Chuck Dugas:
I wonder if you tried to keep the temp at 140,would you get into a problem with bacteria build up? I know you want to dry out the jerky not cook it.Any comments? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I think that's what the salt & smoke is for.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

 

Back
Top