When you cut meat thin for jerky should one go with the grain or across the grain of the meat. The latter would seem to be easier to eat, right ??
Just picked up a new smoker and am going to give it a try. Any good jerky advice or sights would also be appreciated. Come to think of it, if you want to throw in any smoker (electric stand-up type) "you gotta try" tricks, they would be appreciated also 🙂
We've had great success for newbies, can't wait what good eats will come out when we learn a bit more.
When you cut meat thin for jerky should one go with the grain or across the grain of the meat. The latter would seem to be easier to eat, right ??
Just picked up a new smoker and am going to give it a try. Any good jerky advice or sights would also be appreciated. Come to think of it, if you want to throw in any smoker (electric stand-up type) "you gotta try" tricks, they would be appreciated also 🙂
We've had great success for newbies, can't wait what good eats will come out when we learn a bit more.
Thanx much in advance ....
Bruce San Antonio TX
If you cut it across the grain, it's tough. If you cut it with the grain, it's *really* tough. If I can, I cut it diagonal to the grain ("on the bias"😉 so it's really tough but now quite as stringy.
Most jerky recipes are overly complicated, with way too many ingredients. I usually use 1 tsp salt and 1 tsp brown sugar and about 1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper for each pound of trimmed and sliced meat. Sometimes I add a little cayenne pepper. Mix well and refrigerate overnight for the salt to begin penetrating the meat. Then dry it in your smoker or dehydrator. Don't let it get too hot; at least until it is mostly dried out -- you don't want the meat to drip.
On 01/22/2004 2:40 PM, in article [email hidden], "Bruce Wilson" <[email hidden]> opined:
Quoted message said:
When you cut meat thin for jerky should one go with the grain or across the grain of the meat. The latter would seem to be easier to eat, right ??
Just picked up a new smoker and am going to give it a try. Any good jerky advice or sights would also be appreciated. Come to think of it, if you want to throw in any smoker (electric stand-up type) "you gotta try" tricks, they would be appreciated also 🙂
We've had great success for newbies, can't wait what good eats will come out when we learn a bit more.
Thanx much in advance ....
Bruce San Antonio TX
Ask your butcher to slice a beef knuckle about 3/16"-1/4" good way to start. -- ======================================= Whiskey for my men, beer for my horses. =======================================
On Thu, 22 Jan 2004 16:52:37 -0600, zxcvbob <[email hidden]> wrote:
[snip]
Quoted message said:
Don't let it get too hot; at least until it is mostly dried out -- you don't want the meat to drip.
Good luck, and best regards, Bob
This is very important. When I got my first dehydrator, I didn't think about it, and it dripped so much when I wasn't paying attention that the liquid got into the innards and fried the circuitry. I was able to fix it by opening the thing up (and thus, I'm sure, voiding whatever warranty it may have had) and hand cleaning everything I could get to, then letting it dry out completely. I was lucky. By all rights, it should never have worked again. Now I put my jerky on the little plastic shelves and let them dry out over the sink for a while before putting the shelves on the dehydrator (this requires much supervision if you have as many cats as I do).
zxcvbob <[email hidden]> wrote in :"]news:[email hidden]:
Quoted message said:
Bruce Wilson said:
When you cut meat thin for jerky should one go with the grain or across the grain of the meat. The latter would seem to be easier to eat, right ??
Just picked up a new smoker and am going to give it a try. Any good jerky advice or sights would also be appreciated. Come to think of it, if you want to throw in any smoker (electric stand-up type) "you gotta try" tricks, they would be appreciated also 🙂
We've had great success for newbies, can't wait what good eats will come out when we learn a bit more.
Thanx much in advance ....
Bruce San Antonio TX
If you cut it across the grain, it's tough. If you cut it with the grain, it's *really* tough. If I can, I cut it diagonal to the grain ("on the bias"😉 so it's really tough but now quite as stringy.
Most jerky recipes are overly complicated, with way too many ingredients. I usually use 1 tsp salt and 1 tsp brown sugar and about 1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper for each pound of trimmed and sliced meat. Sometimes I add a little cayenne pepper. Mix well and refrigerate overnight for the salt to begin penetrating the meat. Then dry it in your smoker or dehydrator. Don't let it get too hot; at least until it is mostly dried out -- you don't want the meat to drip.
Good luck, and best regards, Bob
Question for you....
If you were to smoke it what kind of wood should you use? say you were smoking beef? or wild game like venison? I've smoked pork with apple that worked GREAT! tried it with oak and had Good results. used other woods and it sucked! pairing the right wood with what you are smoking is essential to success/failure. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
zxcvbob <[email hidden]> wrote in :"]news:[email hidden]:
Quoted message said:
Bruce Wilson said:
When you cut meat thin for jerky should one go with the grain or across the grain of the meat. The latter would seem to be easier to eat, right ??
Just picked up a new smoker and am going to give it a try. Any good jerky advice or sights would also be appreciated. Come to think of it, if you want to throw in any smoker (electric stand-up type) "you gotta try" tricks, they would be appreciated also 🙂
We've had great success for newbies, can't wait what good eats will come out when we learn a bit more.
Thanx much in advance ....
Bruce San Antonio TX
If you cut it across the grain, it's tough. If you cut it with the grain, it's *really* tough. If I can, I cut it diagonal to the grain ("on the bias"😉 so it's really tough but now quite as stringy.
Most jerky recipes are overly complicated, with way too many ingredients. I usually use 1 tsp salt and 1 tsp brown sugar and about 1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper for each pound of trimmed and sliced meat. Sometimes I add a little cayenne pepper. Mix well and refrigerate overnight for the salt to begin penetrating the meat. Then dry it in your smoker or dehydrator. Don't let it get too hot; at least until it is mostly dried out -- you don't want the meat to drip.
Good luck, and best regards, Bob
Question for you....
If you were to smoke it what kind of wood should you use? say you were smoking beef? or wild game like venison? I've smoked pork with apple that worked GREAT! tried it with oak and had Good results. used other woods and it sucked! pairing the right wood with what you are smoking is essential to success/failure. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks, Robert
I usually don't smoke jerky because it's so easy to use a food dehydrator. (it does taste better smoked.) I like to use a mixture of oak sawdust and pecan shells or hickory chunks when I smoke beef.
I have a bunch of apple tree trimming that I use when smoking chicken.
Mesquite is horrible for smoking just about anything. Mesquite is for grilling meat because it burns as hot as charcoal.
zxcvbob <[email hidden]> wrote in :"]news:[email hidden]:
Quoted message said:
Robert said:
zxcvbob <[email hidden]> wrote in :"]news:[email hidden]:
Quoted message said:
Bruce Wilson wrote:
>When you cut meat thin for jerky should one go with the grain or across the grain of the meat. >The latter would seem to be easier to eat, right ?? > >Just picked up a new smoker and am going to give it a try. Any good jerky advice or sights would >also be appreciated. Come to think of it, if you want to throw in any smoker (electric stand-up >type) "you gotta try" tricks, they would be appreciated also 🙂 > >We've had great success for newbies, can't wait what good eats will come out when we learn a >bit more. > >Thanx much in advance .... > >Bruce San Antonio TX >
If you cut it across the grain, it's tough. If you cut it with the grain, it's *really* tough. If I can, I cut it diagonal to the grain ("on the bias"😉 so it's really tough but now quite as stringy.
Most jerky recipes are overly complicated, with way too many ingredients. I usually use 1 tsp salt and 1 tsp brown sugar and about 1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper for each pound of trimmed and sliced meat. Sometimes I add a little cayenne pepper. Mix well and refrigerate overnight for the salt to begin penetrating the meat. Then dry it in your smoker or dehydrator. Don't let it get too hot; at least until it is mostly dried out -- you don't want the meat to drip.
Good luck, and best regards, Bob
Question for you....
If you were to smoke it what kind of wood should you use? say you were smoking beef? or wild game like venison? I've smoked pork with apple that worked GREAT! tried it with oak and had Good results. used other woods and it sucked! pairing the right wood with what you are smoking is essential to success/failure. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks, Robert
I usually don't smoke jerky because it's so easy to use a food dehydrator. (it does taste better smoked.) I like to use a mixture of oak sawdust and pecan shells or hickory chunks when I smoke beef.
I have a bunch of apple tree trimming that I use when smoking chicken.
Mesquite is horrible for smoking just about anything. Mesquite is for grilling meat because it burns as hot as charcoal.
Bob
Yea, I agree about mesquite. It's the most over-rated wood of all time.
Thanks for the tip about the pecan shells. I never thought of that. I would think you'd have to eat alot of pecans to have enough to use in a smoker though. 🙂
Apple also goes great with pork Oak is a pretty universal wood. Seems to go well with just about everything. Not the best for smoking fish though. I heard Alder is good for fish.
When you cut meat thin for jerky should one go with the grain or across the grain of the meat. The latter would seem to be easier to eat, right ??
On the cutting the meat thin side of the OP, has anyone used an electric knife to cut the meat thin? If the meat is semi-frozen a regular knife is fine, but I like to let it thoroughly thaw and sit for a few days, and then it is a bit flexible. I don't marinate, so I'm just cutting and drying meat. But I've never had an electric knife to know how they are.
