Anyone make jerky?

[Goin' Coastal]

We are looking for a good and SPICY jerky recipe. We have a recipe for a good basic jerky, but DH is looking for something with a real kick. We tried a recipe called spicy (had chili powder and cumin in it), but there was very little difference between it and the basic. I know jerky isn't something alot of people make, but hopefully someone out there has made it. BTW, we are using venison as the meat. Thanks

[chefjon]

I'm just starting to make my Christmas jerky I give to family, but unfortunately, while I can give you the ingredients, I'm not much on precise measuring. Here goes anyway....

2/3 cup soy sauce
1/3 cup lemon juic(or 2 parts soy sauce to 1 part lemon juice)

That's the base. Then I add:

liquid smoke
worcestershire sauce
garlic powder
onion flakes
Tiger sauce(which is the heat)
A-1 steak sauce(optional)

Other than the base, I basically eyeball the other ingredients, and put in what I think is enough of each for taste. It's difficult to tell when you've put enough of the hot stuff in by taste alone. You just have to experiment. I let the meat sit in this marinade a minimum of 4 hours, but you can do it overnight as well. After putting the meat on the dehydrator pans, I sprinkle coarsley ground black pepper on it and press into the meat. Only some of that will stick once the dehydration process is done.

Hope this helps--good luck.

[Goin' Coastal]

I am not familiar with Tiger sauce. Do you find it with other hot sauces in the grocery store?

[Goin' Coastal]

Another question - What kind of dehydrator do you use? I love mine, but don't use it too often. I used it more when the kids were little and I was a stay at home Mom. How they loved dehydrated apple slices!

[chefjon]

Tiger Sauce is with the other hot sauces(like Louisiana Hot Sauce) or it may also be in the oriental foods section of your store. If I had any on hand, I might have tried Frank's Hot Sauce this time, which is used in Bonnie's Buffalo Chicken Dip recipe that's been on this website many times. I have the good ol' Ronco Dehydrator that has been used to turn out many a year's Christmas jerky presents without fail. I must admit, however, that I don't make my jerky real spicey. I just like a little bite to it.

[swquilts]

DH puts dried red pepper flakes in his jerky. As written above, any kind of hot sauce will also "kick it up". You could also use that recipe you have with the chili powder, but leave out the cumin. Cumin is very strong and changes the flavor of your food. (But SOOO yummy...I love cumin! :D )

[Meganator]

DH makes jerky sometimes from a recipe we downloaded from greatjerky.com. This is modified, though, based on the ingredients we have available and our tastes. I remember it being pretty spicy. We use one of those dehydrators with the stacking round trays that we bought at a garage sale. We had the best results by rotating the trays periodically, as the heat is uneven if you are using several trays.

1/4 cup finely ground black pepper
1/4 cup coarsely ground black pepper
3-4 cloves minced garlic
1 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup A-1
1/4 cup worcestershire sauce
1/4 cup Tabasco or other pepper sauce
1 cup water
3-5 lbs beef or venison, sliced 1/8 to 1/4 inch (have the meat counter slice it)

Blend all ingredients but meat. Marinate meat overnight in refrigerator, making sure meat is thoroughly coated. Dehydrate in oven or dehydrator

Note: there is a 1/2 cup "Moore's Marinade" listed in the original recipe that is partly crossed out. I am quite sure we have never included that, because I have no idea what it is. But you may need to add a little more liquid (water or soy sauce) to compensate for leaving that out. It's not an exact science, at least not in our house!

[VegasDramaQueen]

Wow, this thread couldn't have come at a better time. My son bought our 13 yr. old, jerky loving grandson a jerky making machine (??). Haven't seen it yet but I was wondering what kind of meat to use. Obviously not a tender cut, but then what kind of beef? The "kit" comes with 3 bags of spices for making 3 different kind of jerky. Can you use pork? I can't stand the stuff, so I have no clue, so if anyone can answer this I would appreciate it.

[Meganator]

I think we have used round steak and london broil, and others, just depending on what's on sale. After removing all the moisture, you do end up with WAY less than you started with!

Nothing too high-quality. I haven't heard of pork jerky. That probably never got to be a thing because of the past problems with trichinosis, and the fact that jerky is made at low temp. Although trichinosis isn't a problem anymore, I probably still wouldn't make it. Beef and venison are the meats of choice for jerky, I believe.

[chefjon]

I also use the cheapest cuts of meat available, asking the butcher to slice it as thin as he can for jerky. I look for roasts that have as little fat as possible, then after it is sliced up, I do a further trimming of fat. If you buy 5 pounds of meat, you may get 1 pound of jerky out of it, if you're lucky.

[Gail]

I can be pretty jerky.

...oh. That wasn't the question.

Never mind.

[hollysmom]

Terrytx makes some awesome spicy jerky (now this is seriously "Texas spicy) - the recipe is on one of the Texas picnic threads. She marinades a minimum of 2 WEEKS and then smokes it. I have used the same recipe and dried it in my gas oven.

SSM

[Terrytx]

:o it isn't me. The Dh gets all the credit. He is going to finish his umpteenth batch tomorrow for the kids. I just noticed this thread-don't know how I missed it. The Dh uses the cheapest, lean roast he can find and slices it very thinly. Hollysmom has it right, he marinates it forever, in lots of soy sauce, worcestershire sauce, gobs of garlic, plenty of pepper and usually ground dried tabasco pepper or what ever he has on hand that is the hottest. Most of the time he smokes it, or at least gets some smoke on it, and then finishes it off in the oven at really low.

An aside-everyone of the DS has asked if they were getting some this year. One of them was at the house the other day, snooping around, looking for it :D Ha ha doubled bagged and already wrapped!

[hollysmom]

Terry,

I took some of my last batch - which had probably marinaded for 6 weeks- to Boston. BIL thinks we should market it. This from a Yankee!

SSM

[Goin' Coastal]

Can Terry post the jerky recipe please? I tried to do some searching in the Texas picnic threads, but couldn't find the jerky recipe..

PS Do you really marinate it for 2 weeks??!! Doesn't the meat spoil before the 2 weeks is up?

Thanks

[Terrytx]

Hollysmom-tell me if I left anything out....

There really isn't a recipe. He makes huge batches. Generally he does a large lean roast (or more) of several pounds, like a top round roast. He has 2 big plastic containers with lids that he uses for the marinating. He slices up the meat and divides it between the 2 contains (if he is making that much). Then uses a head of garlic per conatiner, which he smashes the cloves with a big knife. He puts about half soy sauce (the real stuff-not light) and half Worcestershire sauce, a generous amount (about a heavy tablespoon per container) of freshly ground pepper, and the same amount of ground hot red pepper (that he made from Tabasco peppers). Marinates a minimim of 2 weeks. And no the meat will not spoil with all that salt and stuff from the soy and worcestshire, and it sits in the refrigerator. After marinating, he smokes it all day or until it's dried. He has been known to smoke it just for a few hours and then finish it off in the oven, but it isn't as good as the stuff smoked all day (IMHO).