Do you jerk your meat? If so, how and how often?

[090Freak090]

Now that I have you attention:

I was just wondering how many of you guys Jerk your own meat, how often do you do it, and what cuts and/or type of meat you use, yady yaduh...

Personally I tend to use brisket when it is on sale for under a dollar, trim off the fat and use the lean portion of it. Then i cut it to about an 1/8" marinate it over night in a 50/50 mix of soy/Worcestershire sauces with a fair amount garlic powder added in, as well as some ground black pepper.

Then I coat the bottom of the oven in foil (to catch all the juices during the drying/cooking part), set the oven on 150, place the slices of meat on the oven rack (sometimes I add some cracked pepper at this point) then place them in the oven for 5-6 hours.

So, how does the GGE Jerk their meat? wink


(all puns were intended)  

[Das Rabble Rouser]

I tried once with some roast beef I sliced thinly. Unfortunately it wasn't very lean so it came out a greasy abomination. I just prefer to buy from Costco. According to Fresnel the average price is about $1 an oz. Costco sells an 18 oz pack for about $12 which is less than 70 cents an oz which is a good price. It's Oberto jerky which is the brand I was raised on. biggrin It's good stuff. There's a guy who used to sell jerky on the side of the highway a few years ago. He had beef, salmon, elk, deer, and buffalo. Regardless of the type it's $10 for a 4oz pack. $2.50 an oz. When I complained about his prices all he said is it takes a pound of meat to make a 4oz bag and asked what I expect him to do. I expect him to charge a decent price.  

[090Freak090]

Das Rabble Rouser

I tried once with some roast beef I sliced thinly. Unfortunately it wasn't very lean so it came out a greasy abomination. I just prefer to buy from Costco. According to Fresnel the average price is about $1 an oz. Costco sells an 18 oz pack for about $12 which is less than 70 cents an oz which is a good price. It's Oberto jerky which is the brand I was raised on. biggrin It's good stuff. There's a guy who used to sell jerky on the side of the highway a few years ago. He had beef, salmon, elk, deer, and buffalo. Regardless of the type it's $10 for a 4oz pack. $2.50 an oz. When I complained about his prices all he said is it takes a pound of meat to make a 4oz bag and asked what I expect him to do. I expect him to charge a decent price.

ugh... i hate store brand jerky most of it has horrible texture (ground meat that was then pressed into shape) and doesn't have good flavor and then the only good stuff costs an arm and a leg... try eye of round or bottom round next time or even a whole sirloin wouldn't be too bad as long as your skilled enough to separate the the different muscles. Removing as much fat as possible is the most important part because even small bit of fat turn to grease which won't leave it as tough as is preferred not to mention it kills the shelf-life and texture.  

[Das Rabble Rouser]

Oberto is a good brand. They don't press their meat. You can actually notice the grain of the meat. The only bad pack I've gotten from them in my whole life was the last bag I got. It was really moist and over saturated with marinade. Other than that it's all been good.  

[090Freak090]

Das Rabble Rouser

Oberto is a good brand. They don't press their meat. You can actually notice the grain of the meat. The only bad pack I've gotten from them in my whole life was the last bag I got. It was really moist and over saturated with marinade. Other than that it's all been good.

The pressed meat is a generalization and yes Oberto is one of the better brands, but I still find my self wanting a piece of jerky that has more flavor and leaves my mouth watering, and I just can't find that in stores...  

[Das Rabble Rouser]

Sounds good. biggrin Dang now you made me want jerky. xd  

[090Freak090]

Das Rabble Rouser

Sounds good. biggrin Dang now you made me want jerky. xd

hell its so simple to do why not? beside you get a much better product in the end. The hardest part is the time it takes to cook.

Go to your local meat department and see i you can get a whole top sirloin, eye of round, or bottom round and get a discount for doing so, (they don't have to, but some people will if your nice to them) then take it home trim the fat off and then cut very thin slices 1/8 to a 1/4 works good (depends on how chewy you like it.)
I got everything I needed including a 5.5lbs bottom round for $20 so you can see how well it pays off.  

[Das Rabble Rouser]

I don't have a smoker though. The best I could do is set the oven to warm.  

[Recon_Ninja_985]

I use a jerky dehydrator

only problem...I keep ******** it up by making my jerky hard as a rock by over drying it

meh... help?  

[Fresnel]

Recon_Ninja_985

I use a jerky dehydrator

only problem...I keep ******** it up by making my jerky hard as a rock by over drying it

meh... help?

Zee chef next to me says soak it in brine for a couple days before dehydrating.

Personally, I just leave it outside for a couple hours.  

[Das Rabble Rouser]

Fresnel

Recon_Ninja_985

I use a jerky dehydrator

only problem...I keep ******** it up by making my jerky hard as a rock by over drying it

meh... help?

Zee chef next to me says soak it in brine for a couple days before dehydrating.

Personally, I just leave it outside for a couple hours.

Where you have the Az sun to dry it out that can work. With the Oregon clouds and rain that won't work.  

[090Freak090]

Rabble, Thats what I do. I set the oven to 150 and let it slowly dry for 4-6 hours depending on the thickness of the pieces. I prefer the taste of the cooked meat over dried meat anyways, I think it adds more to the flavor.  

[Recon_Ninja_985]

Fresnel

Recon_Ninja_985

I use a jerky dehydrator

only problem...I keep ******** it up by making my jerky hard as a rock by over drying it

meh... help?

Zee chef next to me says soak it in brine for a couple days before dehydrating.

Personally, I just leave it outside for a couple hours.

damn your sand jerky! scream

lul.

I usually just cut it up, put some salt on,leave it like that for a few hours and then soak it in like 4 different barbeque sauces,liquid smoke,worcestershire sauce
and add random stuff. me and a friend make it like that
but I think when I try to do it I dont know how long to keep it in ze dehydrator  

[Requiem ex Inferni]

GGE, I am disappoint. Not one of you has made a dirty joke about the title of this thread.

And I just buy jerky at the store, but I'm not that big of a fan of jerky anyways.  

[Das Rabble Rouser]

Requiem in Mortis

GGE, I am disappoint. Not one of you has made a dirty joke about the title of this thread.

And I just buy jerky at the store, but I'm not that big of a fan of jerky anyways.

This brings to mind an old thread in the early days of the GGE. Someone made a thread about a "hot girl stripping". It was a misleading thread of a 10 year old girl field stripping and reassembling an AR15 in under a minute and a half. Every reply was about OP being a ***** for calling a 10 year old girl hot.