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.