Ok, I have been making jerky for quite some time and usually make 4 lbs at a time. I usually do not make a whole lot of marinade, maybe adding all my ingrediants and about 1/4 cup water if that. My jerky turns out awesome! Now the other day I decided to do something a bit different and 1/2 cup of water to my ing. (I know...if its not broke....) I did this with 2 seperate batches of 4 pds each. I went through all the reg smoking drills, but the jerky turned out pretty hard and almost without taste. This was meat laid on racks. The next batch I thought maybe I should try hanging, and it turned out the same way.
I will go back to the way I was doing it, but you would think with more marinade the flavor would be better. Maybe I needed to add more ing. I'm not sure, but why would the jerky done in more marinade turn out worse? It was an expensive lesson, but my dogs will be real happy!!
Original Post