First Jerky; Now with pictures!

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smoketrax

Newbie
Original poster
Mar 18, 2012
12
10
Redmond Oregon USA
So for my first recipe with pictures I did some beef Jerky. This is something I have never smoked before but I got a great deal and bought 6.35 lbs of London broil for $18 so I could not turn it down.
I had then presliced at the store as I do not own my own slicer and I wanted some more consistency.

.
Here it is fresh from
the store
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I sliced it into fairly
uniformed strips
to smoke evenly
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Plateful sliced I did 3.8. lbs
basic and 2.55 lbs cajun/creole
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Marinating
Soy/Worcestershire/ pepper/garl&onion pow.

The spicy jerky got my homemade creole spice.

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Drying out for a few hours before smoking

Should have dried it out more it was very moist and I have to try it in the smoker at 120 for a couple hours before cranking up to 150.
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Took 10 hours to smoke but the day went from snowy to 60F to freezing rain and back to snow... welcome to central Oregon. Temp was 120-130 first 3 hours then 150-160 to finish up.
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The Cajun Recipe is in the smoker now and I held it at 150-160 the entire time it looks much better. Also moved my thermometer location I think it was reading high during the first batch temp is holding much more steady and uniform today.

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So it turned out very good I love the taste and it has plenty of bend and pliability without being to stiff or tough. The first batch was over smoked a bit and you can taste a little bitter as a result but I am lightening it up on the second batch.
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End result was great I might  use a little less Worcestershire in the 1:1 ratio to soy. It was a little strong for my taste but the spices were great for my taste. The bitterness from the over smoke is my only regret to be honest. I have some reservations about the spicy jerky, almost afraid the heat will be too much for me (I am a pussy when it comes to heat).

As far as advice, the second batch I let dry and has a better day so it smoked very evenly and smooth without any hiccups. It will be done in just about 4 hours if I can guess correctly.

As far as taste I consider them a good success for a first smoke but will use less hickory chunks in the future. I have a few more pictures I included in my profile. Glad to hear feedback. Oh and on a side note I know I did not use a cure or tender quick. I am comfortable with the risk and handling the meat properly but I would always encourage others to cure if they have and doubts or worries.

Thanks, Nick.


Will update on the Cajun jerky when it comes out.
 
It's an older brinkman (before the bullet style came out) They don't actually make it anymore but i just used about 7-10 pieces of coal with nothing in the water pan.  really just limiting the coal made keeping the low temp easy it was the constant attention that was a pain but my cajun batch just came out flavor is fantastic, not oversmoked. possibly a bit dry and I added more coals twice the whole time 4.5 hour smoke at 150.  It is a brinkman verticle smoker but my is the old school charcoal type. they still make the electric and gas styles. and actually when it was new I had to install my own charcoal pan the one it comes with makes it impossible to exceed 160. I now use a grilling wok to give me a wider temp range.
 
yea i'm using my WSM for jerky now so i know the small amount of coal trick, but i'm looking to get a propane smoker to ease that burden and maintain temp easier
 
Actually if i might make a recommendation. Rather then switch up smokers for jerky I am going to get a multi range hotplate and just top it with a small cast iron pan with my wood chips. I have a good feeling this will work as I am not in the market for a new smoker as I am moving to texas in 3 months.  Good luck though, Fortunately i had the time to monitor the coals but that is teh big downside of charcoal IMHO.
 
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