First run at beef jerky


 
M

Mike Leiter

TVWBB Pro
Decided to give a try at making beef jerky since Krogers had eye of round on sale this week. I bought a few couple pound roasts and sliced a few up . The picture with them all sliced up I actually only used about 1/3 of it to just try a recipe and froze the rest for later. The ChefsChoice 615 slicer made this a breeze





Marinated it for 30 hrs with a recipe off the web that made it a bit spicier for the wife. Since I have not purchased any Pizza screens yet to be able to stack lots at one time for drying I had to resort to the toothpick method this time. Its not the easiest way but it works just the same



I was able to keep the WSM at about 170-175 at the grate the whole time and let it go about 6 hrs and then checked them and they were still a little soft but just starting to crack a little when one was cooled to room temp and bent. I took it to 7 hrs and they cracked really good when bent but didn't break in half. I like just a tad chewy and this was a hair past that so next time maybe 6 and half hours at this thickness and temp. It was real hard to not keep eating multiples every time I checked them for being ready or not. I did end up eating about 10 or so just tonight and they are so much better than store bought. Going to try a few different marinades next run and dry out more at one time. This is about 3/4 of them in the pic minus all the ones I ate and the few my wife sampled :)




First run at bacon this week and now Jerky and I'm glad I tried doing both as it was well worth it.
 
Nothin like home made jerky. It looks great! "Marinated it for 30 hrs with a recipe off the web" Mind sharing the link to the recipe?
 
Tony R said:
Nice job Mike.... How did you know when they were done?
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By eating them on a regular basis during the process...Just Kidding...
I kept looking for a answer that would tell me how long to do it and it seems that most agree on the following general rule on a site and web search. You take a piece off and let it sit about 10 minutes to get to room temp to get a better idea of how far along it is.. Take and bend the piece of jerky and if it bends and gets all sorts of cracks in the surface but doesn't snap apart its about where it should be. If it bends and its still soft and or liquid comes out, its got a ways to go. If it bends and instantly cracks in half you have gone too far and its dried out.
There is no real set time as drying temps and thickness of meat will vary causing different times. I personally thought it tasted good at all stages.. :)


Dwain Pannell said:
Nothin like home made jerky. It looks great! "Marinated it for 30 hrs with a recipe off the web" Mind sharing the link to the recipe?
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Unfortunately I didn't save the link as I thought I had BUT I did print out three copies of it first so I could make it !! It came off the food network site so should be easy to find:

It said to use flank but I used eye of round and I omitted liquid smoke since it was going on smoker.


Ingredients

1 1/2 to 2 pounds flank steak
2/3 cup Worcestershire sauce
2/3 cup soy sauce
1 tablespoon honey
2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
2 teaspoons onion powder
1 teaspoon liquid smoke
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes

Trim the flank steak of any excess fat, place in a zip-top bag, and place it in the freezer for 1 to 2 hours in order to firm up.

Remove the steak from the freezer and thinly slice the meat with the grain, into long strips.

Place the strips of meat along with all of the remaining ingredients into a large, 1-gallon plastic zip-top bag and move around to evenly distribute all of the ingredients. Place the bag into the refrigerator for 3 to 6 hours.

They then dry it some weird way with air filters and a box fan which I didnt do as once again it went on the WSM :)
 
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Jim Lampe said:
great lookin' jerky Mike... can you send me some to sample:D ?
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Make you a deal...If you can ship me a puppy we are looking at there, I will ship you some jerky..The puppy would be paid for and I wont charge you for the jerky..LOL Its costs way more to ship a dog than a person nowadays...
 
Ryan P.K. said:
Mike how did you keep the temps at 175?
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By using the snake method and starting it with about 5 lit coals. I opened the top vent about 3/4 and closed one bottom vent all the way and two half open. Once it got to temp I just adjusted the bottom two a bit more closed till it stayed in temp range.

NeilH said:
Looks great Mike. I was thinking you had sold your WSM, glad you didn't.
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Neil, I did sell the other one but family and friends decided they really missed the smoked foods after all. Did a bunch of rebuilding/remodeling at a close friends house and got paid cash and a they also surprised me with a brand new WSM. They had a few requests to be smoked on it when it got ready..LOL Got it 2 weeks ago and had the mods ready for it right away :)
 
Thanks for the compliments guys. Heading back to Krogers this afternoon to pick a few more eye of rounds up. Son at school wants me to send some his way as well as neighbors. I dont care for the spicier stuff but this stuff is really good.
Guess the smokers getting used again Saturday :)


Update:
Meat was popular sale at Krogers I guess. Went to two stores and was only able to find 2 smaller roasts available as both stores and meat guys said they are sold out... Picked up the two I could get and trimmed all the fat off. A fishing filet knife works wonders for doing this by the way and I have one just for cooking food.

Round two in the marinade and after trimming is about 7 lbs worth.
 
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