Today, our 4 year old asked me how jerky was made.... I have not had much time to make it lately, so we have been buying it at Costco, Rite-Aid, Safeway, etc & (the best place) Johnson's Smokehouse in Olympia (Plug for Ron & crew which put out an AWESOME,,, well everything) ....So we decided to make our own out of Ground Beef using the HI mountain jerky seasoning I got from Cabela's a while back.......EASY-EASY-EASY describes it. (I have done it several times before, so new or first time jerky makers take note it has never failed just follow the instructions)
My "assistant" & I first seasoned up 1# of regular hamburger from the grocery store with the ratio suggested on the HI mountain Jerky cure box & let stand about 24 hours in a plastic wrap roll. (I made him wash his hands a lot throughout the whole process)....Then we loaded up the Jerky Shooter with cured/seasoned hamburger "chunks" (wet hands will help loading the Jerky Shooter) so it was full. He was the "trigger" man & I was the guide hand on laying the soft jerky mix onto a mesh screen....
Then came a really neat part of the process for him, he got to pick out which wood chips we would use in the smoking process.....It was a big deal for him to tell mom that he selected Apple-AND-Hickory for the smoke on our Jerky & he put equal parts in the smoker pan & Into the smoker it went. About 5 minutes later, smoke came rolling out of the smoker & daddy & son were both smelling like Apple/Hickory smoke on their sweatshirts, loving a nice Spring evening on the patio. Dad had a little smell of beer mixed with smoke on his sweatshirt, as he accidentally spilled a little beer on his sweatshirt when he noticed his 4 year old son pulling the wood chip pan out of the BIG CHIEF.....My lack of supervision.
ANYWAY..........smoke got to the Jerky Shooter jerky on the racks, then it was transferred to the Weber grill in an offset location @ 200* for another hour to hour & 1/2. We then let it sit a few minutes & patted off the grease & had our first taste. He liked it & wanted to take some to bed with him, but dad said no.
My "assistant" & I first seasoned up 1# of regular hamburger from the grocery store with the ratio suggested on the HI mountain Jerky cure box & let stand about 24 hours in a plastic wrap roll. (I made him wash his hands a lot throughout the whole process)....Then we loaded up the Jerky Shooter with cured/seasoned hamburger "chunks" (wet hands will help loading the Jerky Shooter) so it was full. He was the "trigger" man & I was the guide hand on laying the soft jerky mix onto a mesh screen....
Then came a really neat part of the process for him, he got to pick out which wood chips we would use in the smoking process.....It was a big deal for him to tell mom that he selected Apple-AND-Hickory for the smoke on our Jerky & he put equal parts in the smoker pan & Into the smoker it went. About 5 minutes later, smoke came rolling out of the smoker & daddy & son were both smelling like Apple/Hickory smoke on their sweatshirts, loving a nice Spring evening on the patio. Dad had a little smell of beer mixed with smoke on his sweatshirt, as he accidentally spilled a little beer on his sweatshirt when he noticed his 4 year old son pulling the wood chip pan out of the BIG CHIEF.....My lack of supervision.
ANYWAY..........smoke got to the Jerky Shooter jerky on the racks, then it was transferred to the Weber grill in an offset location @ 200* for another hour to hour & 1/2. We then let it sit a few minutes & patted off the grease & had our first taste. He liked it & wanted to take some to bed with him, but dad said no.
