Dehydrator tips for jerky wanted

[lwingwatcher]

Just got my wife a dehydrator and we would like to make venison jerky for starters and progress from there. I don't know if it would work on waterfowl. Anybody got any marinade recipes or mixes that they can recommend?

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance

[Tom222]

There should be some stuff in the recipe forum. I know that I put in a good one about a year ago. Otherwise do a search here under the word "jerky"

[Salmonsmoker]

Iwingwatcher,

I have a batch of jerky in the dehydrator right now....started with a round roast and sliced it to about 1/8 in. (for consistency of thickness, I use a meat slicer however, if you put the meat in the freezer until it is slightly frozen, you will be able to get slices with much more consistent thickness with a knife.) with the grain, and cut the strips into 3/4 in. wide strips. (Consistent thickness makes for more consistent drying conditions and better jerky).

For a brine, I used an 8oz. package of prepared jerky seasoning and 8 ounces of Dextrose Sausasge Sweetining. (This gives the jerky a sweet and smokey flavor rather than the usual salty flavor.) I mixed the seasoning mixture 1:8 with water (1 cup of seasoning to 8 cups of water.)

Put the meat in a plastic container, add the brine and mix well. Put it in the frig (covered) and let it set for 24 hours - turning it over (remixing the meat to insure that all cut sides of each strip is exposed to fresh brine) every 4 to 6 hours, then I gave it a quick rinse and put it in the dehydrator.

The length of time that the meat is in the dehydrator determines how tough the final product will be.

As soon as the top side is dry, I turn it and rotate my dehydrator shelves (I have 10 shelves in mine, with a fan and temperature controle, but it still has spots that dry faster than others.) How long to leave it in the dehydrator has to be a personal decision. Most people that eat my jerky prefer a more tender (kippered steak) style. So when it is about 2/3 of the way toward being dried meat, I take it out and finish the process in my smoker.

I start the smoker going on 100 to 120 degrees for 4 or 5 hours, then bring the temp up to 180 for a half hour.

If the meat strips are put in the smoker and smoke-cooked (180 or more degrees without drying, it will be very tender but not much like jerky (more like smoked-steak strips that are chewy). If the meat is very dry when it goes in the smoker it will not have enough time to get a good smoke flavor before it becomes too dry.

To insure that your venison turns out the way you want it to, go to the store and get a round roast of beef. Experiment with that. If it turns out not-good - which many batches of my first experiments did - then it was beef, not prize venison, that was ruined.

Another tip, if the final product turns out too dry or too salty - dry it completely and then grind it into a powder and use it to flavor soups and gravies.

Hope this helps. Also, as Tom 222 stated, there were a lot of discussions about this last year. Just reset the time span at the bottom and go through some of the excellent postings from that time.

Let us know how it works out.

Enjoy.

Salmonsmoker

[lwingwatcher]

Thanks, my wife is thrilled.