Jerky questions

Lawn Ranger · September 2003

I know there are plenty of posts on Jerky in the archives, but I'm wondering which method is most successful. I've seen pics with it hanging from an elevated grid, as well as, lying flat on the grid.[p]I'm going camping back in the mountains of New Mexico in a few weeks and want to have a good supply. Thought I'd get started early and explore some different recipes and methods.[p]Any help with techniques and recipes will be greatly appreciated.[p]Thanks,[p]Mike

Unknown · September 2003

Lawn Ranger,
Although I really haven't done a whole lot of jerky, I have a question for whoever and a comment.[p]The question is why is that people do hang it vs just laying it on a grid (although I know people do both). It just seems that hanging seems more gooder but I have no idea why.[p]
My comment is to you. If you are gonna be taking that jerky with you for a while, make sure that you used some tunderquick to kill the bugs.[p]Either way, here is a link to Randy's site that talks a little bit about jerky. the jerky section is near the bottom.[p]
[ul][li]Randy's Q[/ul]

Unknown · September 2003

Lawn Ranger,
I've tried a few different configurations for jerky.[p]Here's my pros and cons list:
Flat on the grid. Easiest to set up, but you can't make very much at once, even with two grids. If you do use two grids, you have to worry about one grid being done before the other.[p]Hanging with toothpicks. Better use of grid space, but a huge pain to set it up. [p]Pile it up and stir around. You get more jerky, but it takes more work to stir it up several times during the cook. The finished product ends up looking a bit *used*. It has a dusty kind of look from all that scootin' around on the grate.[p]My favorite method of all:
Hang it from a raised grate by simply draping long strips over two or three wires of the grate. The jery comes out in *U* shapes, but you get more on the grate, no dusty look, no stirring and it's it relatively easy to set up.[p]Of course any of these methods work, so go on and eggsperiment![p]Good jerky to ya,
bc

Unknown · September 2003

Lawn Ranger,
I recently made jerky for the first time and found it very easy and quite delicious... 1st I used the River city marinade (in recipe section) and used london broil. I had about 3.5lb meat that I trimmed and cut into strips (1/4 inch thick).... then marinated for about 18 hours. [p]I cooked on a raised grid indirect at 175 to 200 degrees. I used the mound method... spread out over most of the grid... I found with this amount of meat there was not that much overlapping with eachother... I used a little hickory smoke and turned the meat every two hours... The cook went on for about 8 hours and I ended up with some great Jerky![p]Some of the smaller peices were finished sooner but I left them on the egg anyway... in the end all of the pieces had about the same texture and flavor. If I were to do it again I would use the same method... even if I used more meat. I think I could have doubled the amount of meat I used and still had not added much cooking time.[p][p]

Lawn Ranger · September 2003

South O,
Thanks for the really good link! Much obliged. Think I'll start this weekend. I always hang it...guess I just thought it dried more consistently...maybe not. [p]Mike

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