Beef Jerky Pic

Hmmm......Looks awesome. I think I can smell it. No, wait...I am making some also.. Good job.

Boy. You nailed that one! Look great.

I took some to work and everyone is raving about how great it is! They want me to start selling jerky now. I do have to admit this stuff turned out awesome. The flavor is dead on!

The eye of round that I bought from Sam's was $3.79/lb, which is much more than I really want to pay, especially if I start selling this stuff. I saw some posts from back in August where guys were getting eye of round for as low as $2.26/lb. I guess I better find a better connection for eye of round.

Care to share your recipe?

Sure. I used the Hi Mountain "Hickory" Jerky Seasoning and Cure. Cured the meat for 48 hours. Smoked for 4 hours (2 @ 170, 2@ 180). That's it!

I tried smoking jerky in the SM055 a few years back and didn't like the results as much. I think it had to do with the moist envionment on the electrics. Based on my first test it seems like the FEC and jerky were made for one another!

That's some of the best looking jerky I've seen. When using the electrics, it's necessary to dump moisture 4 or 5 times.

Pags,
I'm assuming by "dump the moisture", you mean open the door. If that's correct, how long should I open the door each time?

Once the rush of initial smoke and heat escape, close the door again. Maybe 8-10 seconds. When we open the door and allow time for the smoke and hot air to escape so we can stick our faces into the smoker to test ribs, butt and brisket for doneness...that's how much time to allow moisture to escape for jerky. That process should be done every hour after sticking the jerky into the smoker.

Trucky, wow you have got my mouth watering.

How did you get the meat cut so evenly?

quote:

Originally posted by HAC111:
Trucky, wow you have got my mouth watering.

How did you get the meat cut so evenly?

I used my Cabelas Commercial meat slicer, it does a great job. The slicer can be a real pain to clean though.

I have the same one. Ten minutes of cutting one hour of cleaning. It also slings meat all over the place. P.I.A.

quote:

Originally posted by Trucky1008:
I took some to work and everyone is raving about how great it is! They want me to start selling jerky now. I do have to admit this stuff turned out awesome. The flavor is dead on!

The eye of round that I bought from Sam's was $3.79/lb, which is much more than I really want to pay, especially if I start selling this stuff. I saw some posts from back in August where guys were getting eye of round for as low as $2.26/lb. I guess I better find a better connection for eye of round.

Just a thought...Wouldn't it make sense to go to WinCo, Safeway, or some other store that sells select meat. We don't want fat in the jerky so the leaner the better. If buying select then the cost would be lower. I've only gotten choice in the past, but am rethinking this. Make sense?

Looks good! That is some hi-dollar meat. I've been using knuckle roast, which is bugolgi sliced. Tysons sells it, and last I checked it's 2.71 a pound. It has a tiny bit of fat, but I just snip it off with sissors when I'm done. it is so thin, I only get about a 3 to 1 yield, (three pounds of raw to a pound of finished jerky), but folks are lapping it up at 20.00 a pound faster than I can make it. What's your yield like on that meat? Might be worth switching if it was under 2 to 1. I also use the High Mountain. The FEC is the perfect enviornment for jerky, nitrates and airflow and clean smoke - can't beat it.

quote:

Originally posted by Pags:
Just a thought...Wouldn't it make sense to go to WinCo, Safeway, or some other store that sells select meat. We don't want fat in the jerky so the leaner the better. If buying select then the cost would be lower. I've only gotten choice in the past, but am rethinking this. Make sense?

I did contact one of our Hy-Vee stores and their price is $4.99/lb for eye or round, I'm sure it's choice. Your comment about choice vesus select does make sense. I'll do some further checking to see if I can pick up select somewhere. I've also got a restaurant owner cheking with his meat supplier for costs.

quote:

Originally posted by Chaplain Bill:
What's your yield like on that meat? Might be worth switching if it was under 2 to 1. I also use the High Mountain. The FEC is the perfect enviornment for jerky, nitrates and airflow and clean smoke - can't beat it.

My yield is just shy of 2 to 1, (8.5 lbs raw yielded 4 lbs finished product). Have you ever tried eye of round? Just wondering if you noticed any difference in the texture of the two meats? I'm going to do some further checking on price for eye of round to see what I can come up with. I'll look for knuckle roast as well and maybe give that a try.

BTW, it was your post on jerky with all the pics that inspired me to give this a try, thanks for sharing.

I called the butcher at Sam's that I normally work with and he can sell me Eye of Round for $2.79/lb when buying by the case. (60 to 80 lb cases). That helps to bring my cost down considerably. I also found a wholesle distributor of vacuum seal bags where I can get the quart-sized bags for 20 cents a piece shipped (3.5 mil bags).

For those of you that sell jerky are you required to use a certified scale since you sell by the pound?

Okay Don,

Between you and the Chaplain I made it to Cabelas and bought three different Hi Mountain flavors Pepper blend,Hickory blend, and Sweet&Spicy. My problem is no slicer, so I'll use a knife and practice my slicing skills.

Question...How thick are you setting your slicer and it looks like your running with the grain?

Thanks guys!

Slice with the grain and 1/8-1/4" thickness depending how thick you like it.

Next time you do some, try slicing on the diagonal. I kinda like it.

I slice just shy of 1/4". I've sliced against the grain in the past and it was also good, makes the jerky much easier to chew. I think when you eat jerky you should have to work at it, not have it fall apart when you chew it, so I prefer to slice with the grain.

Is the red color of the jerky a direct result of the cure in the HiMountain seasoning? When I use Tender Quick my meat gets a darker brown/black on the outside. Maybe due to Soy. Should it always be red?

The red color is a function of the cure. I'm not sure how the Hi Mountain cure differs from Tender Quick, but I suspect they contain very similar ingredients. The Hi Mountain cure contains salt, sugars, sodium nitrite, maple syrup and coloring. The dark color you are getting is probably coming from the soy.

As long as you're using the proper amount of TQ for the quantity of meat you should be okay. Also make sure you are curing for the proper length of time.

I think I'm going to look around at some different meat for jerky. I love the knuckle, but lots of fat. If I could get a consistent 2:1 ration, it'd be wroth it. Darned if it wouldn’t be a pain to slice. Have to partially freeze it first then clean the blessed slicer.

All of my jerky has not turned out red. Some of it does and some of it does not. When I used 100 percent hickory pellets, I got brown jerky that was a little over smoked for me. The more oak I have in the pellets the more of a smoke ring I get, which I think makes my paperthin slices redder. I'd be interested if anyone has prepared and cooked the hi mountain in a electric smoker or dehydrator or oven, is it still red. Keep in mind, the Bourbon and BBQ flavor has a red tint to it, must be the BBQ spice.

I've got a good meat slicer but try to avoid having to clean it for slicing jerky. I get my butcher to slice the London Broil or Eye of Round 1/4" thick with the grain on the wide bias. Then I take it home and cut the 5 or 6" wide 1/4" thick slices into 3 strips. Simple with a good knife. Less cuts for the butcher also.

If you get a nice lean cut of beef, there is minimal trimming of fat. Ratios should improve.

quote:

All of my jerky has not turned out red. Some of it does and some of it does not. When I used 100 percent hickory pellets, I got brown jerky that was a little over smoked for me. The more oak I have in the pellets the more of a smoke ring I get, which I think makes my paperthin slices redder. I'd be interested if anyone has prepared and cooked the hi mountain in a electric smoker or dehydrator or oven, is it still red. Keep in mind, the Bourbon and BBQ flavor has a red tint to it, must be the BBQ spice.

I think you'll find that the secret of red jerky is the proper use of a cure.... at least that is what I've found. I spent a lot of time talking to local meat shops asking how they did their jerky, but could never get red coloring until I started using TQ in the mix.