My trial run went well on Thursday. I'm rather glad I ended up with the Cabela's jerky blaster. the brushes and stomper that came with it have proven to be very helpful. I have quite a lot of Cabela's brand commercial meat processing equipment, and it has really served me well, and this jerky shooter is going to get a workout, too. I'm with Joe on the seasoning. I added about 25% or so more seasoning than the recipe suggested to everything I made today. Better.
Yesterday when I got my squirrels put up I mixed up three one pound batches of different seasonings and two pounds of Cracked Pepper and Garlic and let them get happy overnight. I dried the one pound batches in the oven. The convection oven set at 175* does a marvelous job of drying this formed jerky in 2-3 hours. I used the Kitchen-Aid mixer to mix everything this time, and it does a better job in two or three minutes than I can do in ten minutes by hand. I use a large motorized mixer to mix 25lb batches of sausage, so I figured the stand mixer would also do better than by hand for these smaller amounts. I think it does, and it also smooths out the texture of the meat slightly if you let it go long enough, which I like, too.
The two pounds of cracked pepper and garlic went to the smoker. I dried the jerky for 1 hour at 180* to get a pellicle, then put smoke on it for about an hour and a half, then let it go for another hour without smoke. When the other three batches were done in the oven, I brought the smoked jerky in to finish it in the oven. After nearly 4 hours in the smoker, it was only about 75% done without the benefit of moving air to help dry it. 40 minutes in the convection oven and it was perfect. A little more smoke wouldn't hurt, but I would not want any less. This is just about perfect. The small amount of smoke flavor is quite nice with the cracked pepper and garlic. Tonight, Nancy and I will have a jerky tasting. might sample some liquor, too.
Making formed jerky this way is pretty dang easy and fun. Wish I had started doing it 25 years sooner. I really like jerky. now I can afford it, lol.
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