Welcome, welcome! I am so EXCITED to finally be able to share with you how to make jerky! I have been wanting to learn how to make jerky for some time now. Here I am sharing it with you but in honesty I didn't want to learn how to do it from a blog or off You Tube. I am weird like that sometimes. I don't like eating leftovers in the fridge after 2-3 days either. What does that have to do with anything? Well I am just paranoid when it comes to doing things with meat like canning it or making it into jerky, I don't want to do it wrong and get sick from it. So I wanted my father-in-law and his brother to show me, I trust them and know they are both incredibly knowledgeable. I kept hearing about uncle Lloyd's jerky from my husband how amazing it tasted and how good it looked...is that his way of saying it was pretty? I think so..hehehe. Last weekend we made a trip down to Southern NM and I made helped make a batch of Hamburger Jerky I had never heard of it before but it's dang good! Don't take my word for it make some yourself! Wouldn't this be good with part sausage? Have you ever heard of it before? We also made some venison jerky from a deer my brother-in-law shot a month or so ago.
It's easy! After helping once I feel totally confident that I can make my own.
Step one: Gather your supplies
This is the recipe for the hamburger jerky we made.
My father in laws modeling debut...with some of the ingredients, he could be the next Vanna White, watch out Vanna. Or maybe he could be a Price Is Right model???
Step two: Put all your ingredients into your mixing bowl. We used a Bosh there but I have a kitchen aide mixer that I imagine that will work just fine. You could also mix it by hand. Of course if you like things spicy like me then add more red pepper or red or green chile etc.
With the venison jerky we seasoned it with garlic powder, salt and pepper...generously.
What it should look like when it's done mixing
Lloyd likes to get as much air out as possible so he told me to really make sure I pack it in good especially into the corners. The reason; air left in the bag won't hurt anything but it will leave indentations in the meat keeping it from being perfectly smooth and pretty.
Step 3: Put meat into gallon bag and push all the air out that you can.
Step 4: Put your bag of meat in the freezer it will take about 7ish hours to freeze through.
Step 5: Cut your frozen bag of meat into 4 parts.
Step 6: Use a meat/deli slicer, electric knife or the hardest way do it with just a regular knife to slice your meat into the thickness you prefer. I personally like it pretty thin. TIP: it will not be the same thickness that it is raw after it's been dehydrated.
Tip : We also cut the venison when it was partially thawed out. We tried to cut it when it was totally frozen and the meat slicer had a tough time with it so we thawed it partially and it worked great.
Step 7: Put your jerky in a dehydrator for about 24hours give or take a little. You will have a nice pool of liquid fat at the bottom or your dehydrator when it's done. Store your jerky in paper bags. Moisture is jerky's enemy like all other foods that you want stored for long periods of time.
I asked my my father and law and Lloyd how long jerky will last, they said oh...about two days depending on how many people you have eating it.
I really had a great time down there visiting and learning to make some delicious jerky, did I mention it's one of my favorite snacks?
Next on the list: learn how to make jerky with out a dehydrator and learn to make Pemmican, which his uncle told us about while we were there. All this talk about jerky, I think I will have to grab some...if there's any left ;)
The finished product.
It's fun to see the guys doing this and having so much fun! I have had some of their jerky and it is delicious! That unfinished hamburger jerky does remind me of the facebook message I just read from you about MSM though!
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