I have a Cookshack 360 and would like a hint on the process to make different Jerkies!
Time, Temp, smoke, finish, recipes - any input would be greatly received.
I do have the rods also
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The way I got started was reading previous posts about Jerky in the forums. Lots of tips and tricks from very good people here willing to share. One of the best ways to learn is to start simple and use a premade cure. I use Hi Mountain jerky cures. They are simple with easy to follow directions and recipes. Some say they are a bit salty. I tried their low sodium cures and they are good too. After you have made a batch using the cure, you will be amazed how simple it is. Then you can start tinkering with flavors and tastes and different meats and different cuts. My favorite cut of beef to use is eye of round. It's nice and lean with very little fat running through it. Which is my preference. Fat doesn't make good jerky in my opinion. My temp for smoke is nice and low at about 180 degrees. You want to dry the meat out while also adding smoke flavor. It usually only takes a couple of hours to finish but I am going for a nice bite and chew. I like my jaw to hurt after one or two pieces. It's all preference. I don't sell my jerky but my friends and family love it. Good luck! Post pictures of your results.
I also like the Hi Mtn product and use their Cajun blend all the time. I use eye of round as well and use a slicing board to cut them lengthwise to about 5/16 thick making long slices. I leave them as slices and then apply the seasoning & cure, put them in a zip lock bag and let them cure for a day or two. After they're cured I set my FEC to 170 and let them cook for 4 - 5 hours. I don't like mine as dry as a lot of folks so this produces what I'm looking for. When they're done I cut the planks across the grain into about 2' wide strips. Last step is vac seal them in 4 oz bags and start passing out to friends/family with the balance going in the fridge. I'll add that since I don't dry mine out as most do you might want to freeze them if you're not going to use in about a month.
I forgot to add that I bought some of the wire mesh screens they use to drain fried foods on from a local restaurant supply stores. The ones I got are for full size sheet pans and I had to trim them a little to fit the fec. I place the meat on these and then stack on top of each other. I usually don't stack any more then 3 at one time. When done I give them a coat of PAM and just leave them in the cooker