1st try at Jerky

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showlandy

Newbie
Original poster
Oct 24, 2009
20
10
I just tried out some jerky..... It came out good, except for the fact that it is REAL smokey... like you have a piece and an hour later you are still tasting the smoke!! I would like to try again but really dont need that super heavy smokey taste. Any advice you could give would be great... heres what i did

used about 5lbs of flank steak (0n sale)

marinated in recipe posted here, no liquid smoke used soaked for 2 days

small fire started with kingsford and then used small chunks of oak 3" x 4" soaked in water.

kept temp at about 155 average... never got above 175 or below 140

took about 8hrs to get the largest pieces to the "bend not break" test.

I need help from the experts!!!

PS the dog thinks its the greatest ever!!! so I got that going for me!!
biggrin.gif



thanks

Showlandy
 
What kind of wood did you use in your smoke? Maybe try using a lighter wood and maybe not so much. Where they chips or chunks of wood? Also did you have white billering smoke coming out of your smoker? You don't want white billering smoke you want thin blue smoke. As some refer to it as "Ninja Smoke" You don't need to see the smoke as long as you can smell it you will get a nice smokey flavore. In this case sometimes Less is More/Better. If you can give us some answers on these few questions we can probably give you a bunch of suggestions.
 
Sorry, I left out the type of wood, It was oak pieces cut from a seasoned log. I soaked them in water for about an hour or so before I put one at a time on the fire.

I saw billowing smoke once after I put the chunks on but it was only for a little bit.

I just realized that i didnt have the stack vent opened all the way.. i was focused on keeping that little fire at 150. Could that be it? What is the lightest flavored wood?

Thanks for the help rbranstner

Showlandy
 
Yea you want that stack to be all the way open so you can get that smoke flowing out of the smoker. You don't want the smoke just lingering around in there. You could try an apple or cherry type wood (anything fruit) and see what you think. Also try only applying smoke part of the time throughout the smoke.
 
Thanks for the info.... This may seem nuts but how do I turn the smoke on and off so to speak?
PDT_Armataz_01_05.gif
 
Now if you want a mellower and lighter wood I would use apple and maybe alder is lite too. Cherry is a little heavier to me but........
 
Take it out of the smoker and put it in the oven.

Really.

When I make jerky, I use my propane fired SnP so I can control exactly how much and for how long the jerky gets smoke. When I want the smoke to stop, I pull the wood chunks off the burner and finish with heat only. If I am doing multiple batches, I'll move the first batch to the oven set at 175° (as low as it will go) and prop the door open and put the second batch in the SnP for some smoke.

It usually only takes 3 or 4 hours of smoke for jerky since it is so thin. It usually takes another 3 or 4 hours to finish drying it.

Dave
 
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