# Nesco seasonings



## buffalosmoke (Feb 21, 2010)

Anybody use 'em?

I have about 5 or 6 packs of their jerky cure/spice mixture that came with my dehydrator and jerky gun. 

I have some sliced up eye round, and some ground round that I'd like to use for jerky. In the past I've just mixed up my own spices, but if these are decent, I'll use 'em up. 

I opened one pack up, and it smells like there is dry liquid smoke in it....I plan on smoking the jerky anyways. 

Thanks!


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## jaxgatorz (Feb 21, 2010)

I got my gun and spices last weekend.. I used them on my first jerky and they seemed ok to me.. I did add some red pepper flakes for heat...Good luck..


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## buffalosmoke (Feb 21, 2010)

Thanks Jax.....did you smoke the jerky too?


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## rbranstner (Feb 21, 2010)

I also used the spices that came with my dehydrator/jerky gun. I would suggest letting it marinate for around 24 hours I did one batch with 12 hours and one with 20+ hours and the longer one was better.


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## buffalosmoke (Feb 21, 2010)

Will do....Thanks for the tip!


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## mballi3011 (Feb 22, 2010)

Now I have made jerky but I have never tried that seasoning packages.


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## buffalosmoke (Feb 22, 2010)

I've never used 'em before either. I got 8 of 'em tho....and being the "frugal" sob that I am.....I just hate to throw them out. 

I put the beef in the marinade last night....should be in the dehydrator later today. I'll let you know how it works out.


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## newb (Feb 22, 2010)

My kids love the 'original' flavor of those nesco seasonings.  I dont mind it either however I enjoy tinkering with my own marinades/seasonings.


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## buffalosmoke (Feb 23, 2010)

The jerky ended up pretty good. Not the best I've ever made, but certainly not the worst either. I'll use the rest of the packets just to use 'em up.


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## jaxgatorz (Feb 23, 2010)

Hey sorry, just saw the question.. No , i used the dehydrator....I used the packets of seasoning on ground beef and chuck.. Didint really like the texture of those ..The second batch i did i got the butcher to slice me up a pile of london broil..I marinated them over night and they turned out great ( not using the packets)... It seems as if it will be something to play with until u hit on just what u want..But it should be fun eating all the mistakes too


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## tjohnson (Feb 27, 2010)

NESCO seems to be a little light on flavor.  Got some and did not like the weak flavors.

I used TONES Southwest Chipotle Seasoning on some jerky, and it was awesome.  SAMS used to carry it, but no longer available.

Play around with some recipes and come up with your own.


Todd


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## engineco16 (Jul 25, 2014)

How do you use the seasonings? I have two packs of original jerky and one of the jerky sure. I don't have any instructions though.


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## sb59 (Jul 27, 2014)

Engineco16 said:


> How do you use the seasonings? I have two packs of original jerky and one of the jerky sure. I don't have any instructions though.


Here you go. You will only be able to use one pack of spice unless you add the correct amount of cure for the other. Each single pack of spice and cure are for one pound of meat.













img140.jpg



__ sb59
__ Jul 27, 2014


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## engineco16 (Jul 27, 2014)

Thanks!


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## engineco16 (Jul 30, 2014)

I made some more jerky yesterday using the Nesco original seasoning. I used two packs of it and one of the cure. Added probably 1-1/2 cups of water, some liquid smoke and a bunch of crushed black pepper. Even diluting the cure as much as I did it's a bit salty. Still edible though and I like the seasoning the way I made it. My other batch was with Yoshida's teriyaki, liquid smoke, garlic, garlic/red savina habanero concentrate, soy sauce, crushed red chilies and some water. I marinated it about 8 hours less this time and drying time reduced by 4-5 hours. I'll never buy jerky again!


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## brentex (Aug 4, 2014)

I just bought a Lem dehydrator and had ordered some of this Nesco seasoning. I seasoned it up per instruction 1 pk season 1 pk cure on a lb of sliced top round, I did hit it with the course pepper before drying. I dried for 4 hours and it came out what I would considered dry. (im use to cold smoking in the smokehouse and airing it out for 48 hrs.) We ate most of it, but then I am reading people dehydrating for 6 - 8 hours. read where you are suppose to put it in the oven at 225 for 30 mins after its dried. Good lord, I am not sure what I would have after all of that.

How long does everyone dehydrate for on here? and do you heat it afterwards?

What I did tasted great and I could tear it in half clean no moisture what so ever..Looks right, but dont want myself or anyone else sick by missing something.


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## engineco16 (Aug 5, 2014)

Brentex said:


> How long does everyone dehydrate for on here? and do you heat it afterwards?
> 
> What I did tasted great and I could tear it in half clean no moisture what so ever..Looks right, but dont want myself or anyone else sick by missing something.


I've only made three batches so far all using the same cut and thickness of meat. First batch I marinated for 24 hours. That took 13 hours to dry at 160 degrees. I think it was that long because I used Yoshida's teriyaki sauce as the base and it's pretty thick. Unfortunately I dehydrated it for 15 hours and was a bit tough, but still edible. 

Another batch I used the Nesco cure and seasoning. I noticed it dried the meat out more and made it flatter. It took about 5 hours. 

The other batch I used Yoshida's again, but watered it down and added some straight soy and teriyaki sauces, see recipe above. This time it took about 8 hours.


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## jlcnuke (Aug 7, 2014)

I've been u.sing Nesco spice and cure for years so I'll share my experiences. The cure can be a bit heavy at the recommended amount, especially if you just try to mix it with the spice and put it directly on meat without a shaker and a good eye for how much to put on each piece.

The spice can gice a decent flavor/heat but it really needs more than one packet per pound. Alone it is okay, used with a marinade and it can give a little extra kick and provide a cure salt to compliment other jerky flavors.

My personal favorite way to prepare it is to marinade beef in szechuan sauce overnight.  Remove the meat from the marinade and pat dry. Then, using a shaker, apply a 2 spice to 1 cure packet ratio of original Nesco to each side of all pieces of meat (evenly distributed with 1 cure pack worth of the mix per 1.25-1.5lbs of meat).  I like my jerky thin so I cut it between 1/16-1/8" slices. The jerky takes 3-5 hours at 160F to finish dehydrating. Thicker slices take longer. I also take the "misc" pieces that wouldn't make a decent sized slice and make about 1"×1" nuggets to round out a batch of jerky.

sent from here using science, without spell check...


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## kamguy (Aug 13, 2014)

I've never used packaged seasonings.  After marinading the meat, I place it on the trays and then sprinkle seasoning over it before starting the drying process.  I use a 1:1 blend of McCormicks' Mesquite and BBQ seasonings.  Now, my big question!  I used to use Reese's Mesquite Flavored Barbecue Seasoning (the blend I noted above is the closest I can make to this).  I haven't been able to find it for years.  Anybody know of a source?  Thanks.


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## brentex (Aug 13, 2014)

Kamguy, amazon.com has it


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## sb59 (Aug 14, 2014)

jlcnuke said:


> I've been u.sing Nesco spice and cure for years so I'll share my experiences. The cure can be a bit heavy at the recommended amount, especially if you just try to mix it with the spice and put it directly on meat without a shaker and a good eye for how much to put on each piece.
> 
> The spice can gice a decent flavor/heat but it really needs more than one packet per pound. Alone it is okay, used with a marinade and it can give a little extra kick and provide a cure salt to compliment other jerky flavors.
> 
> ...


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## engineco16 (Aug 15, 2014)

I just bought a 24 pack of Nesco's flavors including Original, Hot & Spicy, Teriyaki, and Cracked Pepper & Garlic It also comes with 24 cure packs. I think this will be a good addition to my jerky arsenal. I also just bought 5 pounds of sirloin, so it's just waiting to be used.

I'll probably use the packs in conjunction with my own recipes. Taste the marinade before adding the meat is my motto.


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