[Scott James]

I have been using high mountains kits on whole muscle. I have smoked it in a a Bradley smoker and had good luck. Just wondering what or how you other guys are doing. Thinking of making some snack sticks in the furure for my kids too. Just digging for ideas.

 

[CliffinSouthLa]

Hi Scott

I have been having fairly good results by making a marinade of :

Soy Sauce or teriaki
Granulated Garlic
Lots of Hot sauce...Louisiana Hot sauce of course
Lea and Perrins sauce
Brown sugar

I mix this up and adjust the taste as needed. I slice my venison about this thick...maybe a little over 1/8 inch and soak in marinade overnight. Then I dehydrate it for about 10 to 12 hours. This next batch, I will cold smoke...less than 125 degrees for about three hours and then finish it in the dehydrator. I don't think that you can make a bad batch of it. Cliff

 

[T.Zimm]

Jerky Boys

I like to use some OJ in the marinade as well. Seems to help break down the fiber and make your Jerky a little more tender. Tastes good too. I put some liquid smoke and a little Kentucky Bourbon in there as well. It was so good it about made my head blow off.. Also if you Google Jerky recipes you can get some good ones

 

[Norm in Pa]

A lot of methods are out there...........

Tell ya what, you can make really tasty jerky and it never fails just by using the premade seasoning kits that are out there. We really like American Harvest which you can find everywhere including Wal-Mart and also LEM and I've attached a link. LEM has a nice snack stick kit that includes everything you need and it's pretty good.
You can dry your jerky in the oven but I would suggest you tell Santa that you'd like a dehydrator. They are so much faster and your product will be more evenly dried. Mine does not have a fan, just a heating element. A buddy of mine has one with a fan and heater in it and it really makes jerky fast.

Try this linkhttp://www.lemproducts.com/

http://www.lemproducts.com/

 

[Kentucky Fisherman]

Scott, I do pretty much exactly what you do, except I use an el cheapo Brinkman water smoker instead of that high-class Bradley. In my book Hi Mountain is definitely the best off-the-shelf jerky kit that's commonly found. There's one in a round cardboard can that I don't care for at all. I've just started using the LEM spices/cure and it looks like they work well.

I far prefer whole muscle jerky over the ground kind, although I do have a grinder and a "jerky shooter" and make up a little of the ground stuff every now and then for friends who swear they like it better. Go figure. FYI, most jerky shooters come with a flat tip and a round tip. The latter ought to be just right for snack sticks.

My jerky is ready in about 2 hours either in the smoker or the oven. Honestly, the stuff I make in the oven is very, very close to the smoked product. That's hard for me to admit because I love smoked meat, but it's true. I set the oven to 200 and stick a wooden spoon or something similar in the door to hold it open a bit and increase air circulation.

I'm currently taking the step up (?) from jerky to summer sausage. My first batch came out pretty well except that the final product came out a bit finer ground than I like, more like bologna rather than sausage. The taste is fine, though, and it would pass easily for a high grade beef stick.

 

[Godsdog]

Deer or Elk Jerkey

Hope this works for you. It is the one we use all the time.

3-5 lbs meat cut 1/4 inch thick
1 tsp onion powder
1 tbl Tabasco
1 tsp garlic powder
Dash cayenne pepper (Big or little depends on how hot you want)
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 tbl brown sugar or Honey
2 tbl liquid smoke
1/2 cup soy sauce
1-cup water (Enough to cover meat)

Marinate sliced meat 24 hours turning several times. Drain. You can use the marinate 3 or 4 times. Sprinkle each slice of meat with a little black pepper and drape over racks in oven. Dry at lowest oven temperature to desired dryness, usually overnight. Prop open the door on your oven an inch or so while the meat is drying.

This makes a mess in the bottom of the oven so put a piece of foil down.
Godsdog.

 

[James in]

Jerky

We use ground deer and use jerky mix we buy at the store mix well and put in a jerky shooter onto tray for the dehydrator and run it for about two hr. Sure is good.

 

[Jim n Iowa]

I use the Mountain Kit with the Pepper and Garlic. Let sit at least 24 in the fridge (strips meat 1/8"x3/4"). Before placing on my gas smoker I pound in some course pepper, spray with liquid smoke that I make, smoke over hickory chunks. I converted my lp smoker to nat gas, no worry about running out of fuel.
Jim

 

[Sidewinder]

I make a marinade of: 1/3 cup sugar, 1/8th cup of salt, 2 cups of soy sauce, 1 cup of water, 1 cup of red wine, 1/2 tsp onion granules, 1/2 tsp pepper, 1/2 tsp garlic granules, 1/2 tsp cayan and or cajun powder and a good shot of hot sauce. I cut the meat in 1/4 inch slices and let it marinade over night. Put in a shot of brandy if you have some wild game you want to take the twang off of. I dry it on paper towels and then add your favorite spices on both sides of the meat as I put it on the racks. I use a smoker. I use hickory, cherry and apple wood chips. You can vary the spices you put on it to adjust the spice levels so you can have a rack of mild and a rack of spicy going at the same time. I make sure the temperature gets over 155 degrees during the process to kill any chance of trichinosis on wild game, like bear. It takes about 12 hours, depending on how thick the slices are.