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Should i add smoke to the entire drying process? If so, in all my research i have many varying temps at which to dry the jerky. I usually go with the average of the many recipes i find. I'd love anyones input.
Should i add smoke to the entire drying process? If so, in all my research i have many varying temps at which to dry the jerky. I usually go with the average of the many recipes i find. I'd love anyones input.
Yes as bama says jerky can be over smoked quite easily.
Mule is dead on.... keep notes.
You will get a million different answers on temps.
Some folks like a higher temp til the meat is 160 for a certain amount of time then dry.
I use cure and dry at lower temps.
I have even done biltong and dried for several days with a 40 watt bulb.
Whatever you choose... make sure its safe.
I'm a little late to the party here but i'll throw in my 2 cents.
I made my first batch on my WSM and put in about 4-5 chunks of hickory. It came out VERY smoky. Not bitter but still not where I wanted it.
My 2nd batch I only put in 1 large piece of apple (which was equit to MAYBE 2-3 of the smaller chunks). Seemed to be perfect. The apple was not as heavy a flavor either so it was nice.
I put the jerky on as it came up to temp along with the wood and smoked it between 140-160 for 6 hours.
Thats how I do mine. I'm still learning "proper" methods but that's what i was told to do when i learned and it seemed to work just fine.