Dan’s Smokehouse Jerky – the Best Pt 2

INGREDIENTS

INSTRUCTIONS

solution left in the pan. The meat will have soaked up the brine and be
somewhat swelled up, as compared to the first turning.
Smokehousing the meat: The smoking process will require a smokehouse or
smoking unit that is capable of maintaining 80-90F. If there is a small
volume, piping the smoke from an external source will provide a cooler
smoke, and a hot plate or a few briquettes/lump charcoal could provide the
heat source. In a medium size unit (refrigerator size), a cast iron frying
pan with chips set on a hot plate will work - although it may be difficult
to maintain a constant temperature. The more volume, the easier it is to
control the temperature. I would recommend that a fire be built and
maintained throughout the smoking process, which will take from 48 to 70
hours - depending upon the thickness of the meat. The smokehouse that I use
is medium - large (350) cu.ft., it will maintain a good smoky 80-100F with
2-3 half gallon milk jug sized pieces of wood burning. Use seasoned,
barkless wood - your choice, I use red alder, apple, plum, cherry, oak,
pear and some of the best I've ever done was with some 75 year old grape
stumps. Citrus works good too. Get the smokehouse going and rack or hang
the meat while the temp becomes stabilized. If you rack the meat, place it
*without* the pieces touching each other - just enough room to run a finger
between the strips. Stainless 3/16" rod sharpened on both ends works good
for hanging - again, leave some space between the strips. As you place the
strips, run them through your thumb and index finger to squeegee off any
excess brine. Before placing the racks or skewers into the smokehouse,
coarse black pepper or additional red pepper flakes may be added - for
those who like lotsa zip. Load the smokehouse and leave the door cracked
open for the first couple hours, or until the surface of the meat has dried
to the touch. Close the doors, poke the fire and keep an eye on the temps
for a couple of days. Don't worry about the meat spoiling if the fire goes
out. The meat is cured. It's said that the old timers used to make their
jerky while they traveled. When they made camp at night they would hang the
jerky over the campfire until dawn, when they broke camp they simply packed
up the jerky and continued smoking the next night. This process takes about
4-5 days and is worth every minute. Probably the two most important items
would be too much salt and too much heat. If you decide to try this method,
I garr-own-tee you'll never find another piece of store bought jerky that
even comes close.
NOTES : I would like to share a jerky making process that  goes back a long
way, before refrigerators, before electricity.  To the best of my knowledge
it has never been written down, just passed along from one old timer to the
next - until now....Showing a person how to do something is one thing, but
putting it into words  is,......an incommodiously arduous task?
Recipe by: Dan Sawyer <dan813@aone.com>
Posted to bbq-digest V5 #489 by Glenn Manning <gmanning@ionet.net> on Aug
27, 1997

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