Tony Ventura
TVWBB Member
Just smoked about 6 pounds of teryaki venison jerky last night and it turned out great thanks to all the great info at Randy's site. I did make a few mods to the recipe, nothing major though. I like a strong teriaki flavor so I added about a cup of teriaki sauce to the marinade. I also add about a quarter cup of Hoisin sauce. This is a very rich and thick sauce that you can get at most major food chains in the oriental section. Would make a great baste all by itself, but would have to be watered down a bit, it has an excellant oriental flavor and would do real well on pork. Anyways, the only thing I might do differently next time is to add a bit more pepper, but thats strictly my taste buds talkin'.
I was able to keep a steady 160* on the cooker using a variation of the standard method. I cut the bottom out of a large coffee can and set it in the middle of the charcoal grate. I filled the can to within about 3 inches of the top, and then put about a dozen lit coals on top. I then put mesquite chips on the top, packed firm, as I thought this would help restrict air flow and slow the burn rate down....it did! At two hours, the temp was starting to drop down to about 150*, and I started about 8 coals in the chimney. I lifted the middle section off the cooker and stirred the can to eliminate the ash, I then added unlit coal to the top of the remaining hot coals, tossed the chimney coals on top of that, and again leveled the top off with wood chips...got another two hours at 160*. Replenished the coals at four hours, no more wood chips this time, as now we just want to continue drying the jerky out.
The first of the jerky came off at 6 hours...these were the ones closest to the outside of the cooker, but I noticed that pieces near the center weren't yet dry enough, so I left those on for another hour, no need to replenish the coals, as the temp never dropped below 150*
On a final note, there's no water in the pan, and the top of the pan was lined with foil.
So if you've ever wanted to make jerky in the WSM, but were concerned about temp control, fuhgetabotit!!....this worked like a charm. I've got about 40# of venison left in the deep freeze from the 02/03 hunt that'll all be jerkynated before the end of the month!!
Thanks to all that supplied info through this website on jerky making....I wouldn't have been able to pull it off without yas!
Tony
I was able to keep a steady 160* on the cooker using a variation of the standard method. I cut the bottom out of a large coffee can and set it in the middle of the charcoal grate. I filled the can to within about 3 inches of the top, and then put about a dozen lit coals on top. I then put mesquite chips on the top, packed firm, as I thought this would help restrict air flow and slow the burn rate down....it did! At two hours, the temp was starting to drop down to about 150*, and I started about 8 coals in the chimney. I lifted the middle section off the cooker and stirred the can to eliminate the ash, I then added unlit coal to the top of the remaining hot coals, tossed the chimney coals on top of that, and again leveled the top off with wood chips...got another two hours at 160*. Replenished the coals at four hours, no more wood chips this time, as now we just want to continue drying the jerky out.
The first of the jerky came off at 6 hours...these were the ones closest to the outside of the cooker, but I noticed that pieces near the center weren't yet dry enough, so I left those on for another hour, no need to replenish the coals, as the temp never dropped below 150*
On a final note, there's no water in the pan, and the top of the pan was lined with foil.
So if you've ever wanted to make jerky in the WSM, but were concerned about temp control, fuhgetabotit!!....this worked like a charm. I've got about 40# of venison left in the deep freeze from the 02/03 hunt that'll all be jerkynated before the end of the month!!
Thanks to all that supplied info through this website on jerky making....I wouldn't have been able to pull it off without yas!
Tony
