Deer Jerky, anyone?
 

I plan to make some deer jerky this fall with the first doe I take. I always take my deer to a local processor. Can somebody tell me what cut I need to get in order to make my own jerky? Is is stew meat & is it a particular part of the deer?

Also, any suggestions or " how to" ideas for jerky is appreciated.


Thank you, my fellow deer hunters.

RE: Deer Jerky, anyone?
 

I use the Jerky Cannon and have been very happy with it. The thing I like most about it is that you use ground mean instead of having to cut strips. it is available from BPS and others. Cost about 60 and comes with some seasonings for you to try.

RE: Deer Jerky, anyone?
 

My brothers and I always process our own deer.

The best cuts of meat we find for jerky come from the neck and shoulders. You wouldn' t want to use stew or other small pieces - the stuff shrinks A LOT in the smoker or dehydrator. Try to use meat with the grain oriented lengthwise... almost like a split piece of wood.

When we process our deer we normally get 4 cuts - steaks / chops / stir fry (whole muscle meat), burger (all the small stuff), stew meat (pieces too large / good to go in the burger bowl) and jerky (neck and sholders).

RE: Deer Jerky, anyone?
 

Wow - thank ya' ll for the quick info! Please do tell me how to make the jerky with ground venison, my friend. I have plenty of that left & would like the try it out - I did not know that was possible.

And thanks for the cuts of meat idea also. I will ask my processor to do that very thing.

RE: Deer Jerky, anyone?
 

You' re very welcome.

I forgot to mention the burger thing, but Brucelit covered it pretty well. Basically, this thing looks like a caulk gun that you can disassemble and fill with burger meat. You mix the burger meat with some dry jerky seasoning, set it in your fridge for a day or two, load your jerky gun, squirt it out on a cookie-sheet-like thing and put it in the oven at 350* or something like that. I have one of these setups but wasn' t particularly impressed with the jerky I made with it.

Honestly, I prefer using muscle meat. Hi Mountain (jerky cure) makes an awesome product available in quite a few flavors... my personal favorites are mesquite and hickory, but the cajun isn' t far behind. The kit includes two zip-lok baggies, one with a cream color mix, the other are darker color seasonings. Mix according to the chart provided in the package. Best if done in a dehydrator or smoker.

I also use beef. Go to the store and buy one of those huge roasts for about $1.89-2.19/lb when they' re on sale. Cut them up like I described before, season and dehydrate.

RE: Deer Jerky, anyone?
 

Also for moister jerky, you can marinate the strips of meat in soy, teriaki, or your favorite BBQ sauce with your seasonings for about 12-24 hours. Drain, add more seasoning and dehydrate or cook in a 200 oven for hours ;) (it varies depending on how you like your jerky.

RE: Deer Jerky, anyone?
 

Only meat I don' t use for jerky on a deer are backstraps and tenderloins (just because they are so good by themselves)...the rest is fair game. In most cases I do one full deer in jerky a year, sometimes more. However since I butcher all my own meat I can pick and choose cuts and freezing methods. This allows me to freeze big blocks for multiple uses or for grinding later. I especially like taking the rear hock(deboned) from the animal and making a batch or two of jerky. This meat is the nicest to deal with and I always remove all fat and silver skin for my table fair. Front shoulder roasts would be the second choice spot for a jerky batch. To do this you slice your muscle meat in 1/4" pieces then either wet or dry mix(with cure) let them marinate in the fridge covered for 24 hrs. Whole muscle meat takes about 5-6hr in a decent store bought dehydrator and will represent the least shrinkage(more bang for your buck or doe...lol) The fore mentioned are for whole muscle meat jerky, my favorite style. Then after that neck, flank and lower muscle meat(from both front and rear legs) is best suited to ground jerky. Same princple execpt grind first, the time for cooking vary from 4-8 hours depending on thickness, dehydrator, etc. I just roll mine with a rolling pin on a counter top (with parchement paper on top and bottom to prevent sticking) and keep it about 3/8" thick which will take about 6-7 hours in my dehydrator. In doing ground jerky I have found Hi Mountain cure and dry mix gives the best flavour(it can be bought at most sporting good stores and is very reasonable).

Tell your butcher to debone a rear hock whole or front shoulder roasts for jerky. You can always just use up the grinder pile as well.

Good luck and it does taste better than any store bought junk. I just finished a batch and it is near half done in a day of football games on the tube:D

RE: Deer Jerky, anyone?
 

I tried the oven method one time for making jerky and was dissapointed. Could have been that I left it in too long, or maybe too much heat - not really sure. I set the oven for 200 and left it slightly open. Didn' t work out too well, it was edible but too dry and quite tough. It was maybe me and not the method that was the problem, however if I try making some in the future I will buy a dehydrator first.

RE: Deer Jerky, anyone?
 

split-hoof , a dehydrator works better than the oven I have made it both ways The oven temp should not be higher than 170 degrees and the door should be open some to let the moisture out.At 170 degrees it takes between 5 and 6 hrs Your jerky should be @ 1/8 inch thick.

RE: Deer Jerky, anyone?
 

i use ground meat, and use the jerky shooter for myself. just like the cannon that brucelit uses, it is so easy and clean-up is a snap, good luck making them, i love making jerky, i make a new batch about once a week. who_else

RE: Deer Jerky, anyone?
 

I use the american harvest dehydrator, it can be bought at walmart for 35 bucks. In fact I have 2 plus my mom and sister have one each, so when i do jerky i have 4 going at once:D. Even just one will do about 4 pounds of muscle meat, which will equal a large ziploc full of jerky.

RE: Deer Jerky, anyone?
 

In case you or anyone here would like a recipe, here' s my favorite.

http://www.angelfire.com/bc/canuck2/jerky.html

RE: Deer Jerky, anyone?
 

With the Jerky cannon I use the oven like the directions said and am completely pleased. I gave some to people at work and family and everyone but one said it was great. One told me it was the best jerky they ever tasted. One that didn' t care for it said it wasn' t tough enough for his liking[:o]

RE: Deer Jerky, anyone?
 

I haven' t read all the posts above so I don' t know if how I do things is similar but here' s what I do.

1. go purchase a small household dehydrator from wal-mart or other local department store for $39.99

2. I use all scrap meat off the deer that I can' t use for stew, kabob, etc. the cuts I use are the calf (sp?) muscles, which have alot of tendons so what I do is freeze it then when I' m ready I partially thaw it cause it' s easier to cut half frozen and cut it short length (against grain). Also use the neck meat, same way as other, cut up half frozen against grain. Any other cuts of meat will work too, 1/4" thick in long strips

3. Here' s a recipe I' ve been using for years and all the non-hunters and hunters I give it to that eat it rave about it.
- For every 2-3 lbs. of meat use:
-4 tbs. soy sauce
-4 tbs. worchestershire sauce
-4 tbs. liquid smoke
- 2-3 tbs. sugar
- 1-2 tbs. black pepper
- 1-2 tbs. hot pepper seeds (depends how spicey you like it)
- you can add 1-3 tbs. seasoning salt if you like the taste, or leave it out
And I also add other things at times to see how it tastes, you can add or subtract ingredients to your taste, it' s all about what tastes good to you. But this recipe is a tried and true jerky recipe of mine (and my brothers!)

4. Marinate overnight in fridge then slap it in the dehydrator. check the meat after about 10-12 hours, I like to pull the thin pieces out at this time so it doesn' t get too dry. Then check the thicker pieces later. If it has a little pink in it, let it dry more, I like to take it out when it has just a little moisture left but not pink........if it snaps like dry twigs it' s too dry brother and won' t taste worth a shat.

Good luck and hope you like it...........it' s the family recipe so guard it close!!!:D I have to patent this so I can live off it.............hhmmmmm......good idea!!!

RE: Deer Jerky, anyone?
 

If possible its best to process yourself, You can jerk a lot of the deer. Best would be back strap. If you process it yourself you can take the steak meat from the hind quarters and debone (instead of cutting across the grain) it and it makes great jerky. Roasts work well. I also do neck muscles and obliques. Just watch for viens on the obliques.;)

RE: Deer Jerky, anyone?
 

i use worchestershire sauce, liquid smoke, brown sugar, onion powder, garlic powder, lowery' s seasoned salt and pepper, meat tenderizer, cyanne pepper and just a few drops of dave' s insanely hot, hot sauce. works great for sliced meat, and ground