First time making jerky

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meatball

Smoking Fanatic
Original poster
OTBS Member
Apr 6, 2009
455
12
Gainesville, FL
Hey Y'all..
I've been wanting to make beef jerky for months, but the summer is so damn hot here. So, I used the summer to get some cheap cuts of beef - all bottom round on sale - and finally got around to making it. It's fun and pretty easy, but I think I need to get a slicer for the future. I could have made about double this batch, but hand slicing just didn't do the trick so we used the other half of the meat for some stew. Anyway, here's the Q..

Meat sliced up was nearly 2 lbs.



Used the packaged HI-MOUNTAIN but next time I'll try some different flavors, I think...



Gave the meat a little smoke with some red oak, then my smoker just chugged along at 140ish for the day...



This is about a third of the beef after it was done. Because of my non-uniform slicing, I took the jerky out in thirds and it all eventually got done.



I definitely learned a few things along the way. The jerky tastes really good! But, it could be an easier smoke if I get the meat slicing right and my thermometer gets fixed (it was reading about 30 degrees higher than it should have been and it drove me a little crazy all day). Other than that, I'll definitely do it again, especially if I can find cheap beef. It was fun to make.
 
looks great! points for trying something new!
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That is some good looking jerky there Meatball. You used a seasoning from I take it Grander so what as wrong with it. I have made alot of jerky in the past but I just use a liquid marinades that way you can make it any flavor or as hot as you want it. I have never smoked it thou I have always but it in the dhydrater and dried it that way. The smoker sounds good and you would get some smokey flavor.
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GO GATORS
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Thanks... it tastes fantastic! It's gotten rave reviews from the women in my life (wife and daughters) and I let my wife take a few pieces to work and she said somebody there thinks we should be selling it. The smoke really added a nice flavor to it and the Hi-mountain seasoning seems to be good quality. Now that I've tried it, I'd like to experiment with some new flavors, but all things considered, this was really good!
 
A meat slicer is really handy to have for jerky, and I have one, but the Albertson's near me has a professional meat slicer in their meat dept. They slice it for me for free, I just select a package of top round and hand if off to them to slice it. I could slice it myself, but it takes me 20-30 minutes to clean the slicer afterwards. Now I just let Albertson's do the clean up.
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Your jerky looks great, BTW.
 
I had thought about asking at the grocery store if they'd be willing to slice it for me. We have one butcher in particular that is really helpful and he might do it, especially if I went during a less busy time of day.

Thanks for pointing out that thread, that's an interesting method and one I had never thought about - I may give it a try, definitely looks easier than slicing all that meat by hand while it's raw - even though I did leave it partially frozen to slice. Thanks guys.
 
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