Texas Style Jerky

[wilded]

Here is the way my family does it.
The Best Jerky you ever made!
TEXAS STYLE

Cut lean strips of venison, beef, chicken or turkey. The pieces should be no more than ¾ inch thick at the most but as large as you want them. Trim off all fat as it will turn rancid as the meat dries.

Fill a large mixing bowl with water and stir in equal amounts of Brown Sugar and Salt until it starts to fall out, kind of like a glass of tea with to much sugar in it.
Stir in 1 Teaspoon of Garlic powder,
½ Teaspoon of Allspice
¼ Teaspoon of ground Cloves.

Add meat and soak in the brine for 24 hours in a refrigerator.
Remove meat from brine and rinse in cold water.
Roll or shake on coarse ground black pepper to taste.
Do not use table ground black pepper or it will have to strong a pepper taste. Remember course ground adds flavor fine ground adds heat.

Arrange meat on a smoker as far from the firebox as possible and slow smoke with your favorite wood keeping the heat under 170 degrees until fully smoked. I smoke mine overnight. I use very dry or seasoned mesquite with no green left in the wood.

If you do not have a smoker you can do this in your oven, just add liquid smoke to the original brine and dry on your ovens lowest setting or warm setting. Place a wood spoon in the oven door so moisture can escape and dry meat to the texture and hardness desired. You can then place jerky in a bowl in the refrigerator for up to a week to finish dehydrating. It never lasts that long at my place. Place any extra in a bag in the freezer and take out about 2 hours before you intend to eat it.

Enjoy. Ed Thomas

[Papa Tom]

Thanks Ed sounds good and simple enough.

[Rich777]

Gearing up to make a big batch of jerky. Ed's recipe will be in the mix. Thanks for sharing!

[antaean7]

ED, Thanks that sounds really good. I will be having a Beef Jerky making party SATURDAY NIGHT !!!!!

[wilded]

Let me know how you like it. I have a lot of people around the state that use that recipe. I made a whole axis deer into jerky hoping to have enough in the freezer to get me through most of the year. Yeah right!

[antaean7]

What is recommended to use for beef. Would a brisket be the best option?

[wilded]

The more lean the meat the better. I try to trim all the fat as it turns rancid on jerky.

[ChileFarmer]

Ant, I would think that eye of round would be a good choice. Not much fat, cut with the grain maybe 1/4" thick works for me. CF

[bigwheel]

Dittos on the Round. I usually just wind up trying to catch round steak on sale. They usually purty proud of the eye of round but it do work great for them who dont mind the added expense. Makes nice sized uniform type wafers. Like the man say venison works good too. Never tried it with brisket. Would be a lot of waste and defatting required. Jerky got to be super lean so dont think brisket would be that good of a choice.

bigwheel

[antaean7]

Wilded, the beef jerky was a HIT !!!!!!! I did not follow yours the the T, But mostly. I was a hard head and tried a brisket, ( it was VERY VERY lean) it was pretty good, I only had a few peices that ended up with fat on it. I look forward to cooking some more soon. I did not hang the peices, instead I layed them on the grates (being lazy).

[wilded]

Glad you like it. It sure doesn't last long around here. ET

[mel]

i think i need a sample of all the above to be sure whoms is the best

[antaean7]

Mel,
Everything is bigger and better in TEXAS !!!!!!!!!!!!

[bigwheel]

Thats true. Glad to hear you had a succesful venture into the world of jerky. Had a real interesting chap on one forum who I think was from Austrailia...always giving directions on how to make some stuff called "bitlong"...he even teach a person how to make a bitlong box. Sorta the Aussie version of jerky as far as I could tell..cept they cut it thick and leave it raw in the middle. Gag heave sputter huh?

bigwheel

[antaean7]

That sounds INTERESTING, I am thinking about doing some more jerky this weekend. Care to share his ideas?