Jerky Experts

Hoosker Doo

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
May 23, 2020
Messages
286
Location
Afton, WY
I hear what you guys are saying about slicing partial frozen meat, I'm trying to make it as easy as possible for my wife to do it since she seems enthusiastic about doing it.
Having said that has anyone tried this?

I slice mine and then freeze it in packages so I can thaw and make a fresh batch as I need. My slicer is an attachment you put on your meat grinder, but it is probably identical to the hand crank one in that video just the power version. This should work fine. I love the consistency and having it all sliced during the butchering process.
 

GSPHUNTER

WKR
Joined
Jun 30, 2020
Messages
4,600
Hi mountain jerky board best thing I have bought. We shot 27 geese and made them all into jerky yesterday. It took about an half hour with two boards going. Nice consistent slices

My High Mt. board is so old it's wood. Still works great.
 
Joined
Jul 20, 2014
Messages
1,283
Location
Kirtland, NM
If slicing a lot at a time then I freeze the whole muscles and slice partially frozen on a slicer. If just a few pounds,like maybe 10 lbs, then I just use my knife during the processing time. I slice thicker pieces as well and against the grain. Marinate in a vacuum bag with no vacuum on it. Then cook it in my commercial smoker. I have also made thousands and thousands of pounds of ground jerky over the years and much prefer this method. More tender, more flavors available, faster, consistent, etc. My machine attaches to my grinder and then presses it out in 3 strips at a time and then I cut to desired length. During wild game season I use to make about 200-500 lbs per week.
 

Wrench

WKR
Joined
Aug 23, 2018
Messages
6,307
Location
WA
I make 50lb batches. I use the jerky slicer blade in the weston meat cuber. It takes me about 5 minutes to turn 50lbs of 1" thick slabs into jerky slices.



 
Joined
Feb 12, 2022
Messages
2,081
I used to keep it slight froze and use a knife but once a guy gave me a piece of his and I played around to dial in my recipe which is 5lb Ground meat Cabelas hickory seasoning and about 5 ground up (food processor) jalapeño. I won’t make my jerky any other way now.
I read it the first time as 5# jalapeños...

And thought it has got to be the worst jerky ever!

I prefer sliced to ground and squeezed jerky, but I put a lot of jalapeños in the maranade/smoker/bags. I never remove them.
 

Sinko

FNG
Joined
Aug 29, 2021
Messages
16
Whether you use a slicer or knife, the trick is having the meat at least half frozen and cutting 45 degrees to the grain.
 

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AndrewD

FNG
Joined
Aug 25, 2023
Messages
36
Too cheap to buy a slicer or even a jerky board? I've designed an amazing device for this, and my comprehensive plans are free:

Place meat on cutting board. Place one bamboo skewer on the cutting board on the far side of the meat. Place another skewer on the close side of the meat (skewers should be parallel to each other). Press down on meat with one hand and run your sharp knife along the tops of the skewers, through the meat. The meat slice will be slightly thicker than the skewers, depending on how hard you press down on the meat (more pressure=thicker slices).

I've also created a training program for slicing jerky with just a knife and a cutting board: Buy some pork belly. Follow a recipe for curing the belly for bacon. When it is cured and ready to be sliced, cut the whole damn thing into bacon slices by hand. After doing this a few times, you will be able to slice meat like a machine. The downside is that you will have carpal tunnel syndrome and never want to cure bacon again, and you will probably just buy a slicer.
 

Wrench

WKR
Joined
Aug 23, 2018
Messages
6,307
Location
WA
I don't sweat the meat temperature nor grain direction. I just slice away three cranks is a typical steak and toss in another....repeat.
 

TaperPin

WKR
Joined
Jul 12, 2023
Messages
3,285
Whatever you do, don’t mix seasoning and meat in a metal bowl - maybe it was cheap stainless or all stainless does it, but one batch mixed in plastic containers tasted great and the other batch tasted like metal.
 
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