I made some ground beef jerky yesterday.
I took some top round steaks and ground it up using an 1/8" plate size in my VillaWare grinder. I ended up with 3 lbs. of raw meat after trimming and grinding.
I used 3 seafood racks, and 2 regular racks in my smokette. I don't have the 5 slot rack holders, but there was enough space between the extruded jerky and the top of the slide just to put 2 of the racks on top of the slides. (I know that sounds confussing.)
Anyhow, here's the temps and times I experienced:
12:00 noon:
Put all 5 racks in, left door cracked, and cranked it to 170 for the 1st 45 minutes. No wood.
Added 2 oz. of hickory, cranked it upto 200, and closed the door for an hour. Shuffled the racks around for even cooking.
After that I left it on 200, and I checked it every 1/2 hour. Every 1/2 hour I would pull some finished strips off and rearranged the remaining ones until 3:30 when the last of them were pulled.
I tried to pull the jerky off while it was still pliable. I think I had about 4 strips that were left on too long and will turn into treats for my Sister's dog. (Dogs need Christmas gifts too ya know!)
The recipe I used tasted fine and is more than edible. I've definately tasted more flavorful, but I was testing the technigue. It was my 1st ground jerky in the Smokette.
I am happy with the texture and eye appeal. Now to add a lil sumthin' sumthin' to the flavor!
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