So last winter Hoss and I had some success making jerky on the kettle. Since beef went on sale today I grabbed two 4lb red grill outside round chunks to trim and cut up for jerky. My favorite jerky is at a local weekend market and goes for $20/lb so I figured its to my benefit to start trying to replicate that flavor on my own now that I have the kettle and WSM. This jerky has a peppery sweet heat going on and the flavor intensifies as you chew from the marination process. As Hoss prefers a dry rub and glazed finish on his jerky im kind of taking a shot in the dark on this one but I thought I'd share with the board as I go....
Free Image HostingI trimmed off the fat and sliced it up before putting it in a ziplock bag filled with:
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup saracha hot sauce
3 tbs maple sugar
3 tbs montreal steak spice
1 tbs black pepper
1/2 tbs paprika
1/2 tbs onion powder
1/2 tbs garlic powder
2 tbs moonshine bbq sauce
1/4 cup of water
and a pinch of chipotle powder.
Free Image Hosting now into the fridge for 20 hours before being patted dry and loaded on the wsm. Will update as I go.
Suggestions welcome as this is my first marinated jerky attempt. I see some recipes saying 4 to 6 hours max on the marinade while others are 3-4 days so I feel 20 hours will let me know for next time if the meat needs more or less time. I only cut up one of the two slabs for this weekend in case I totally screw this up.
20 hours later......
Free Image HostingFree Image Hosting patted dry before placing on two racks.
Free Image Hosting foiled the empty water pan.
Free Image Hosting small snake with some leftover coals from my last cook. with 2 pieces of pecan and one piece of white oak.
Free Image Hosting ring loaded and its been going for around 20 minutes. more pics as I go....
Free Image HostingFree Image HostingFree Image HostingHappy with the smoke flavor so I pulled them off after 3 hours on the WSM. Now into the oven on cooling racks for 4-6 hours (im hoping. may be longer)
after 6 hours on cooling racks in the over at 175 some of the smaller pieces are done. the rest are being left for another hour or so.
Free Image HostingFree Image HostingI accomplished the sweet heat I was looking for. next time i wont add the water as the saltiness wasn't an issue which i had feared. No more expensive jerky from the market for me