Jerky Pics

Nice job! Looks really good
How do you like the High Mountain?
Did you use the original mix?

That just looks plain nice. I'm doing another batch soon. My brother wanted to know when he's getting more jerky.

Mine has tasted great but not looked as nice as yours. Going to have to try and get that nice glossy look.

GREAT photos

That looks wonderful! This will be my next project. Love good jerky. What do you use to slice your meat? I've been looking at slicers but having difficulty finding much. I find inexpensive (cheap) or very expensive (quality) slicers. No middle ground?

Until you get the slicer, ask your butcher to slice the meat with the grain 1/8" thick. He'll be happy to help you. I've got a decent slicer and still ask the butcher to slice it.

I'll try to answer some of the questions. The meat is pre-sliced: it is bugolgi-sliced about 1/16th inch. That's what makes it so easy. Bugolgi is used for Korean dishes, a bbq thing I think. It cost me 2.62 a pound at the Commissary on Post here on my Military Base, but I’ve seen whole unsliced Knuckle Roasts at Sam’s for similar prices. If you slightly freeze the roast, it is easier to slice. Yes, I have a slicer, but use it mostly for bacon.
As I've said before, I love the Hi Mtn. You can't go wrong if you follow the directions. I've tried several flavors and all have been a hit. I only sprinkle one side of the meat. Yield is about 2.2 to 2.6, that is it takes 2.2-2.6 Lbs of meat to make a pound of jerky. The High mtn cost about a dollar a finished pound unless you buy it in bulk, then it figures to be about fourteen cents a raw pound, so about30-40 cents per finished pound. I've experimented with letting it cure overnight, two nights and three nights and I like the three nights best.

By the way, I made some of their snack sticks also. The cure and seasoning is exactly the same, they just include 21mm collagen casings (about the size of breakfast sausage. the kit comes with two cure packets, two seasoning packets and four half-strands of casings. I made them out of Sirloin Tip Roast which had no fat at all. Ground it up with a course plate and Smoked them on the FEC at 180 until an internal temp of 160 and they were great. My eight pound roast made about 37 feet (6 Lbs) of finished snack sticks. The yield was about 75 percent. And remember, these ain't slim jims.

As far as the 'look' and color goes, it is a product of the cure and the nitrates in the FEC. I did some in my SM66 and they didn't turn out quite so purdy!

My friends encourage me to sell the Jerky, but I don't know how to get started on the internet or farmer's market. We don't have a separate kitchen, so probably would not work.

I have often thought about selling my jerky also. What do any of you charge for your jerky?

merrell,

i plan on selling jerky at my Q joint in colorado [ the smoque shack]. in stores they sell it for $3.95 for a 1.5oz. package, $7.25 for a 3.25oz. package.
the cost for the meat i will be useing is $2.62 a pound, for a finished product cost of around $5.25 lb. i will be selling my jerky in 3.0 oz. packages @ $3.25. thats about a 30-35% food cost.
i buy from US FOODS and i will be useing a very lean cut called [special trim lifter meat] there are 6/14lb. clods per case...80lb. aver. that aught to fill my FEC500!...lol. luck.......jeff,

quote:

Originally posted by BingMan:
That looks wonderful! This will be my next project. Love good jerky. What do you use to slice your meat? I've been looking at slicers but having difficulty finding much. I find inexpensive (cheap) or very expensive (quality) slicers. No middle ground?

try this I have this model http://www.cabelas.com/product...BSearch-All+Products

I did a little research here in S.C. and the entire selling jerky process has me all kinds of confused. First of all, I called DHEC and they told me that they don't govern jerky because is is a meat processing and that I should go to the SC Dep of Agriculture. So I called there and talked to the boss who send me some paperwork. You have to have a plant!!!! Drains! Waterworks! Certian types of floors and walls. Then the required process is enough to make one sick. They seem to be overly concerned with what they call lethality, which is actually killing germs in the meat before or during cooking. They want you to steam the meat first, or nearly boil it, or dip it in some solution that I would'nt use to leach the tar off my car. I told them I was buying pre-sliced roast at the grocery store, but it didn't matter, still have to build a blessed meat plant to make your jerky if you want to sell it. What an absolute Goat Rope!!!! I am an advocate of safety, but tell me that smoking sliced meats at 170 for four hours does not kill germs! Can someone help me with this. I'm a little frustrated, as you can probally tell. Anyone out there sell the stuff legally and have some pointers?

Just drifting around on here and found this post. We have a BBQ concession trailer and I sell about $150 per week of different beef jerky I make and package. I use the High Mountain kits for the seasoning and like the results.

I am curious how preparing, cooking and packaging jerky would be any different than selling the smoked brisket, pulled pork and breaded tenderloins to the public?? I know there are some funky rules and sometimes it comes down the the "opinions" of the people regulating them.

Anyone else ever heard of all the regulations he is talking about? I am all about doing things "by the book" but that seems a bit ridiculous to me. It's not like I am butchering my own animals or anything. I am using eye of round that was inspected during the butchering process at the packing plant.

Some of the stupidity, I'm sure, related to a 'wholesale' business where you would sell pre-packaged to outlets for distribution. I talked to the DHEC MGR here and I thought The Rules in South Carolina, were overbearing.

MB, do you have your FEC in your vending trailer? How does that work out? What cuts of meat do you used for jerky, do you have any pics of your finished product and packaged product?

I will see what I can do as far as pics. We have a BBQ style with a 8' porch and a removable back. I picked up an aluminum ramp that folds in half for easy storage to load and unload things off the back. We do most of the smoking in the garage but I will occasionally take the FEC 100 with us if we are doing baby back ribs that day.

I debated going with the vacmaster chamber machine for around $650. Decided to start with the $49 Rival model at Walmart to see if it sells. The bags are a little more expensive but I get quart size off of fleabay for about $0.22 each. I did find that I needed a 3.5 mil thickness bag as I was puncturing several of the 2 mil bags. Just using a brother label printer that I already had for labeling.

Also I just use choice eye of round for now ($2.27 per/lb last week). Partly because I am still perfecting my french dip sandwich and I think that cut would allow me to do jerky as well. I don't have a very big/fancy meat slicer so my size is kind of limited to what I can handle. So far I am using High Mountain kits for the seasoning. Can get them for $4.00 for a 15# kit. A little disappointed in the Cajun (not much heat) and the teriyaki is not very strong either. I plan to "jack these up a little" in the future. Really like the Hickory and the Original though.

Man, where are you getting the kits for 4 bucks, that's a deal. They are 7.00 retail here. I've considered buying bulk from thier website, about 20-30 percent price break. I really need to find a flavor profile I like and let AC Legg mix it up for me, A guy could get rich selling this stuff if he knew what he was doing. I landed a bunch of foodsaver bags/rolls cheap (12.9 cents a foot for 8'' bags.). Also, I get the FS ziptop quart bags for jerky.

I know what you mean about the mandarin teriyaki. I tried the Inferno and it had good heat that kinda soaked in. Really good flavor though.

It's amazing the persistant demand for jerky is everywhere. You crack open a bag at work and folks come running with money in hand. It is NOTHING like any store-bought I've every tried.

Snack Sticks for me are also very easy to make, but don't disapear as fast as the jerky.

I haven't had enough time to mess with the sticks to much. More interested in doing them with the high temp cheese in them if we get going.

I get my kits just east of where I live in a small town of Cantril, IA. There is a place called Dutchman's Old Time Country Store and let me tell you, it has a little bit of everything! My wife sells them a couple of items and they only mark her stuff up about 8-10%. They also sell a boat load of the seasoning so I am sure they are getting it bought right.

If you are ever going through SE IA you should stop by. It's a really cool store.