Eye of round?

Best cut for jerkey. As long as you cut with the grain not against the grain there is no wrong way to break it down. I like long pieces so I cut it length wise then cut each half length wise again then slice 1/4 inch thick. I cut it by hand so you might have to cut it in half first against the grain so it will fit on your slicer before slicing with the grain. Tossing it into the freezer for an hour or so will make it easier to slice. If you are using your new jerky rods don't make your pieces to wide so they don't fold over on itself once the are hanging on the rods. I always use the smaller pointy end to skewer with the rod and let the wider end hang.

Make sure to get all the silver skin off before slicing. What kind of cure and seasoning are you going to use?

Wilber, I am using the Hi Mountain stuff for now. They seem to get good reviews. Once I get a handle on the flavor profiles of different seasonings they make, I can mix different seasonings,

Thanks for the reply. I haven't made my own Jerky for years, so I am just now getting back into the swing of things.

Hi Mountain is good stuff. I go a little heavy on the seasoning, more them they call for, That's my personal preference of course. I'm sure it will turn out great. As you know it's easy to over smoke things, I only use 2-3 oz of wood. Jerkey can handle extra smoke but to me it can cover the seasoning it your not careful.

Wilber: I went through that "if a little wood is good, more wood will be better" thing. I eventually realized that everything I smoked tasted the same. This is one of those hard lessons we all have to learn. Do you mix any of the different Hi Mountain seasoning, and if you do which ones?

I like the original mixed with the garlic pepper. Then I sprinkle fresh cracked black pepper before I smoke it. I like pepper

with Hi Mountain, I have found their garlic pepper flavor to be the best. Have tried the hickory and mesquite--not quite as good. But I have added the garlic pepper version to the hickory and it turned out better.

I use hi mountain exclusvilly on my jerky and snack sticks. This last time, I bought it in bulk 5 pound bags, it was a lot cheaper. I really like the low sodium hunter's blend. The hickory and mesquite are a little salty for me. The bourbon and bbq and mandarin teriyaki are very under powered at prescribed ration, so you have to use more seasoning, while maintaining the same amount of cure. I go a little less on the cure about 5 percent less than the recommended. While I don't care for blazing hot stuff, the Hi mountain inferno has a great flavor profile. Never tried the garlic or peperoni. Original is great.

By the way, I'm sure you know that the electric smokers are a very moist environment and you have to open the door once in a while and dump some moisture. Anything you can do to dry the meat a bit before putting it in would be great also.

I use a FEC which is considerably dryer and a perfect match for jerky.

Post some pics.

Thanks Bill. I screwed up yesterday when I cleaned up the eye of round. I cut it into 3 pieces. I should have done this differently. Then when I sliced it today I got one of the pieces turned the wrong way and cut it across the grain. By the time I got everything cut, I realized that I won't be using the jerky rods. I have right at 5 pounds of meat. I will get the cure on it tomorrow, and in the smoker Monday. Pictures to follow when it is done. Thanks for all the help.

I now have 5 pounds of meat seasoned using the Hi Mountain. I followed the instructions from the kits. I did Inferno, Sweet and Spicy, Teriyaki, Mesquite, and Pepper. I did go a little more with the Pepper and hit it with some Season pepper also. I can't wait to get this in the smoker and try it.

I am kind of disappointed in this batch of Jerky. Part of this is my fault. I used the directions from Hi-Mountain to mix the seasonings and cure. This was so I could get a knowledge of the flavor profiles. I put the seasoned meats into separate zip lock bags, and back into the fridge. I shook them all up several times during the 48 hours I let them sit. I started the SM066 with 2 chunks of Hickory, and while it was going through the start up process, got the meat on my jerky rods. I set the smoker temp for 225 degrees, and put the rods in the top slot of the side racks. I left the door cracked about an inch for the first hour, and then closed it for an hour, opened it for an hour and closed it for the final hour. All of the flavors except the cracked pepper had very little flavor, and picked up very little smoke. The jerky turned out just a little dryer than I like it. I will do this again, but this time I will add more of the seasoning, and keep the cure at the same amount. I will also keep the smoker door closed except to dump moisture. Anyway, here is the picture

Have you checked out Bill Vice from CS on youtube? Great tips from Bill on jerky. In my opinion 225 is to hot for jerky. I always stay around 160-170 even when I am drying with the door open I bump it to 190-200 so I stay around 160 inside. Takes longer but I have good results. More time to lay the smoke on as well. At 225 you may be cooking it too fast instead of drying. I always go heavy on the seasoning as well. Keep trying you will get it!

I also leave the door shut for the first 2-3 hours before checking then cracking the door. Some of my batches take 5+ hours depending on how thick I slice the meat.

Thanks Wilber. I watched the video again. Have you tried the recipe in the Video? If you have, how was it? That recipe actually sounds like the flavor profile I was looking for. Has anyone written this recipe down from the video? I looked for it on the cookshack site, but didn't see it. I will get the jerky where I want it eventually. I really appreciate all of the help.

I have used something similar but not that one exactly. I will give you one of my jerky secrets, as long as you don't tell anyone! High Mountain tells you to sprinkle seasoning and cure on dry then mix thoroughly. I always add between 1/4 cup to 1/2 cup of Dales steak seasoning depending on how much meat i am doing. It has a soy sauce base and I like it on my jerky. Some jerky seasoning tell you to mix the cure and spice with 1/4 cup or so of water then mix into the meat. Weather you use Dales or water to me that helps pull the seasoning into the meat instead of just laying on the surface. In my way of thinking why use water with no taste when you can use something with flavor. I prefer a strong flavor with jerky.

Thanks Wilber. I thought about adding water when I saw how dry things were with the seasoning. I think I will just sit and write down the recipe on the video, and give it a try on the next batch.

Mike, your jerky looks great.

Tis the season to start thinking about all things jerky. Beef has gotten so expensive, that I’ve hardly had a hamburger lately, let alone jerky. I’ve got to say that although it’s been a while since I’ve made a batch, my favorite cut was knuckle roast. I used to buy whole peeled knuckle roasts that were bugolgi sliced 1/8th inch thin. It was the best thing ever for jerky. I’d leave the slices whole, dry cure them with Hi Mountain, leave them in the fridge for 3 days then smoke them at 170ish until dry on the FEC 100. The FECs are dryer environments than electrics and therefore really good for jerky.

Amazing results. Did over 500 pounds raw between 2010 and 2012 and sold most of it for 20.00/pp. I more than paid for the smoker doing this along with the bacon and all other goodies. There were some pockets of fat in the knuckle roasts, but I just left it all on there and snipped it off with scissors after it was finished. Best stuff ever.

I’ve already got my tree stand and feeder set up, so hope to have some venison this season for snack stix and jerky. Also, not that I’ve got a good 12-inch slicer, I can slice my own roast just like I like em. Now that my son is in college, he wants me to send him jerky to sell to the other kids. he's quite a business man.

Here’s some pics of the jerky some time ago.

Wilber: Being here in Idaho, I am kind of in the Wilderness when it comes to some seasonings. I have never seen the Dale's Steak Seasoning in any of the stores. We basically have 1 BBQ store here where they talk BBQ, and know what they are talking about. I sent an email to Cookshack, and they sent me the recipe used in the video.

Deer Jerky

Ingredients:
5 lbs. Deer Meat cut into strips

Marinade:
1 c. Soy Sauce
½ c. Brown Sugar
¼ c. Molasses
¼ c. Worcestershire Sauce
2 Tbs. Garlic Powder
2 Tbs. Onion Powder
2 Tbs. Canning Salt
1 Tbs. Red Pepper Flakes
1 Tbs. Black Pepper
2 tsp. Morton Tender Quick
1 tsp. Powdered Cayenne Pepper

I am going to give this a shot.

Bill: That is some great looking Jerky. One of the things we do to cut out the middle man is to buy a Beef or Hog, and have it butchered out. We go to the County fairs, and bid on the 4H and FFA animals. We also know a number of the farmers that raise cattle. We also a restaurant supply store here that sells to the general public. I watch their sales, and buy things that I will use later. I am slowly expanding what I do in the smoker. Summer sausage, Salmon, Pastrami and now jerky. I want to try other sausage, Ham and Bacon.

Just stopped by Sams yesterday and scouted case prices on potential jerky meat. Eye of round was 3.33/LB case price and Sirloin Tip (knuckle) was about the same. Bottom round was a dime more.

I'll be picking up a case on Wed when I'm back close to a sam's club. My question is, does the Eye of round taste 'roasty' vs 'steakish'

My experience is with knuckle roast which I think is sirloin tip, which was definitely steakish. It has no real marbling, but a few isolated fat deposits, which I left on and trimmed off after smoking with scissors.

Any advice or am I making any sense with my roast/steak distinction.

Also, I have a 12-inch slicer which I plan to save time, and frustration by par-freezing the meat and slicing it with the silver skin on, the trimming the finished pieces as required with some sharp scissors. Any advice?

I had a good jerky recipe that ended up a combination sweet teriyaki, black pepper and had a mild bite. I lost the recipe, and am trying to recreate it. My second batch turned out much like the first. Not much flavor. I did get the second batch pretty dry. I used the hi-mountain for the first batch, and 2 other wet recipes for the second. I am about to give up.

Don't give up!!!!! Even my dog appreciates my mistakes when attempting jerky.

As for me, I've just become a wholesaler with High Mountain, so I'll stick with them. About to order four more 5 pound boxes of jerky cure in various flavors.

quote:

Originally posted by Idaho Mike:
I had a good jerky recipe that ended up a combination sweet teriyaki, black pepper and had a mild bite. I lost the recipe, and am trying to recreate it. My second batch turned out much like the first. Not much flavor. I did get the second batch pretty dry. I used the hi-mountain for the first batch, and 2 other wet recipes for the second. I am about to give up.

I ran across this recipe on a different forum a while back. I haven't made it, but it got good reviews from others who did.

Hot and Sweet Jerky
makes enough marinade for five pounds of sliced venison / beef.

1 cup of soy sauce
1/2 cup of brown sugar
1/4 cup of molasses
1/4 cup of Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons of garlic powder
2 tablespoons of onion powder
1 teaspoon of celery salt
1 tablespoon of red pepper flakes
1 tablespoon of black pepper
2 Tablespoons of Morton® Tender Quick®
1/2 teaspoon of powdered cayenne pepper

Make sure that the sugar and salt are completely dissolved before pouring the marinade over the venison.
Marinate at least one day or and up to two days. Remove from marinade and let air dry on racks until "Tacky" to the touch.
The finished product should be stiff but not break when folded in half. When folding it should create a distinct white line where it was folded without breaking in half.

Thanks Andyj:

This sounds a lot like the old recipe I had. I will copy it and let you know how it turns out.

quote:

Originally posted by Chaplain Bill:
Don't give up!!!!! Even my dog appreciates my mistakes when attempting jerky.

As for me, I've just become a wholesaler with High Mountain, so I'll stick with them. About to order four more 5 pound boxes of jerky cure in various flavors.

Chaplain Bill: First off, Thank you for your service. Now that you are a wholesaler for High Mountain, Maybe you can get them bump up some of the flavor profiles. This could be as simple as changing their instruction sheet to show a regular and bold recipe.

Yes, I talked to the salesman at length many times about the flavor profile issue in some of the varieties. They were pretty aloof to the need for more flavoring in some of the righties. They have had many people say it before however their take on it is that people will just use more of the flavoring if they want a stronger flavor profile. I even offered to help them with some of my bacon and sausage recipes, but they were not interested.

Chaplain Bill:

I have been messing with doing breakfast sausage. There used to be a little market here that actually had a butcher in the meat area. He made his own sausage. He has been gone around 30 years now, but his sausage is remembered as some of the best. It was fairly heavy in Sage, had a bite from red pepper flake, and had some sort of a seed in it. I think it was probably fennel. If you have a recipe for anything close to this I would love to have it. This stuff was a staple when I was younger, and it made the best sausage gravy.

Lots of Sausage makers us AC Legg products. They are the best for sausage. Their seasonings go by the numbers, with old #10 being my favorite. In my experience, their mix ration is right on, but have not tried all of their over 200 mixes. They also make BBQ seasoning, marinade. They will also mix and package custom mixes with your own label.

Chaplain Bill: Thanks. I am going to place an order for several of their seasonings including Polish sausage, and summer sausage.

Chaplin Bill: Thanks for the heads up. I just ordered several of the sausage mixes. The company where I ordered it from sent me a "Shipped" notification 45 minutes after they sent the order conformation notice. Can't beat that for fast service.

Chaplin Bill:

Thanks for the heads up on the AC Legg seasonings. I ordered it from a company that sells both the AC Legg, and has AC Legg do a custom blend for them. I did both the Legg #10, and one called Southern Bell. I liked the #10, and the Southern Bell is a variation of this flavor profile. We really liked the Southern Bell. I am about to put in a batch of Summer Sausage. I am using the Legg seasoning blend, but I add to it. The sample we fried up was very good.

Wow Mike. Great to hear it. A few weeks ago, I found my self 50 or so pounds long on Breakfast Sausage from one of our summer pig slaughters which yielded over 150 pounds of ground breakfast sausage. We sold most If it, but still had a lot left. I thawed out 10 of the 1-pound packages and made them into 1/4 pound patties with my hamburger press, then smoked them at 200 on the FEC until just done in the middle, careful not to break the fat. I vac sealed them and now we have heat and eat breakfast sausage. Best thing ever for a quick hot breakfast sandwich or to crumble in an omelet or gravy.

I've got 120 pounds of Bacon and Ham curing right now from Two Big Gilts that I put out of my misery last Monday. I gave the Butts and shoulders to my cousin but kept everything else.

I just finished a batch of jerky using Andy's recipe. I left out the Cayenne pepper. I gave it an extra dose of course ground black pepper while it was forming a pelical. I didn't weigh the wood, but it was equal parts Jack Daniels, and Mesquite. I did 2 hours at 180 degrees, and gave it a taste test. It was still not dry enough for me. I cracked the door and left it for another 45 minutes. It turned out just a little dryer than I wanted it. I am going to tweak the recipe next time to bring in more of the teriyaki, All I can say is yea, this recipe is right on point for me.

Sweet. Glad to hear. That's one of the recipes on my need to try list. Let us know what changes you make.

Andy:

I have given some of it away as a remote taste test. It got raves. They all said it had plenty of heat without the cayenne for them. It is a pleasant after bite of black and red pepper. If I do anything, I will add more teriyaki, and more of 1 of the sweet components.