When you cut meat thin for jerky should one go with the grain or across the
grain of the meat. The latter would seem to be easier to eat, right ??

Just picked up a new smoker and am going to give it a try. Any good jerky
advice or sights would also be appreciated. Come to think of it, if you
want to throw in any smoker (electric stand-up type) "you gotta try" tricks,
they would be appreciated also

We've had great success for newbies, can't wait what good eats will come out
when we learn a bit more.

Thanx much in advance ....

Bruce
San Antonio TX

Bruce Wilson wrote:

> When you cut meat thin for jerky should one go with the grain or across the
> grain of the meat. The latter would seem to be easier to eat, right ??
>
> Just picked up a new smoker and am going to give it a try. Any good jerky
> advice or sights would also be appreciated. Come to think of it, if you
> want to throw in any smoker (electric stand-up type) "you gotta try" tricks,
> they would be appreciated also
>
> We've had great success for newbies, can't wait what good eats will come out
> when we learn a bit more.
>
> Thanx much in advance ....
>
> Bruce
> San Antonio TX
>


If you cut it across the grain, it's tough. If you cut it with the
grain, it's *really* tough. If I can, I cut it diagonal to the grain
("on the bias") so it's really tough but now quite as stringy.

Most jerky recipes are overly complicated, with way too many
ingredients. I usually use 1 tsp salt and 1 tsp brown sugar and about
1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper for each pound of trimmed and sliced
meat. Sometimes I add a little cayenne pepper. Mix well and
refrigerate overnight for the salt to begin penetrating the meat. Then
dry it in your smoker or dehydrator. Don't let it get too hot; at least
until it is mostly dried out -- you don't want the meat to drip.

Good luck, and best regards,
Bob

On 01/22/2004 2:40 PM, in article ,
"Bruce Wilson" > opined:

> When you cut meat thin for jerky should one go with the grain or across the
> grain of the meat. The latter would seem to be easier to eat, right ??
>
> Just picked up a new smoker and am going to give it a try. Any good jerky
> advice or sights would also be appreciated. Come to think of it, if you
> want to throw in any smoker (electric stand-up type) "you gotta try" tricks,
> they would be appreciated also
>
> We've had great success for newbies, can't wait what good eats will come out
> when we learn a bit more.
>
> Thanx much in advance ....
>
> Bruce
> San Antonio TX
>
>
Ask your butcher to slice a beef knuckle about 3/16"-1/4" good way to start.
--
=======================================
Whiskey for my men, beer for my horses.
=======================================

On Thu, 22 Jan 2004 16:52:37 -0600, zxcvbob >
wrote:

[snip]
> Don't let it get too hot; at least
>until it is mostly dried out -- you don't want the meat to drip.
>
>Good luck, and best regards,
>Bob

This is very important. When I got my first dehydrator, I didn't think
about it, and it dripped so much when I wasn't paying attention that
the liquid got into the innards and fried the circuitry. I was able
to fix it by opening the thing up (and thus, I'm sure, voiding
whatever warranty it may have had) and hand cleaning everything I
could get to, then letting it dry out completely. I was lucky. By all
rights, it should never have worked again. Now I put my jerky on the
little plastic shelves and let them dry out over the sink for a while
before putting the shelves on the dehydrator (this requires much
supervision if you have as many cats as I do).

-Sapphire (the occasionally careless...)

zxcvbob > wrote in
:

> Bruce Wilson wrote:
>
>> When you cut meat thin for jerky should one go with the grain or
>> across the grain of the meat. The latter would seem to be easier to
>> eat, right ??
>>
>> Just picked up a new smoker and am going to give it a try. Any good
>> jerky advice or sights would also be appreciated. Come to think of
>> it, if you want to throw in any smoker (electric stand-up type) "you
>> gotta try" tricks, they would be appreciated also
>>
>> We've had great success for newbies, can't wait what good eats will
>> come out when we learn a bit more.
>>
>> Thanx much in advance ....
>>
>> Bruce
>> San Antonio TX
>>
>
>
> If you cut it across the grain, it's tough. If you cut it with the
> grain, it's *really* tough. If I can, I cut it diagonal to the grain
> ("on the bias") so it's really tough but now quite as stringy.
>
> Most jerky recipes are overly complicated, with way too many
> ingredients. I usually use 1 tsp salt and 1 tsp brown sugar and about
> 1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper for each pound of trimmed and sliced
> meat. Sometimes I add a little cayenne pepper. Mix well and
> refrigerate overnight for the salt to begin penetrating the meat.
> Then dry it in your smoker or dehydrator. Don't let it get too hot;
> at least until it is mostly dried out -- you don't want the meat to
> drip.
>
> Good luck, and best regards,
> Bob

Question for you....

If you were to smoke it what kind of wood should you use?
say you were smoking beef? or wild game like venison? I've smoked pork with
apple that worked GREAT! tried it with oak and had Good results. used other
woods and it sucked! pairing the right wood with what you are smoking is
essential to success/failure. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Robert

Robert wrote:
> zxcvbob > wrote in
> :
>
>
>>Bruce Wilson wrote:
>>
>>
>>>When you cut meat thin for jerky should one go with the grain or
>>>across the grain of the meat. The latter would seem to be easier to
>>>eat, right ??
>>>
>>>Just picked up a new smoker and am going to give it a try. Any good
>>>jerky advice or sights would also be appreciated. Come to think of
>>>it, if you want to throw in any smoker (electric stand-up type) "you
>>>gotta try" tricks, they would be appreciated also
>>>
>>>We've had great success for newbies, can't wait what good eats will
>>>come out when we learn a bit more.
>>>
>>>Thanx much in advance ....
>>>
>>>Bruce
>>>San Antonio TX
>>>
>>
>>
>>If you cut it across the grain, it's tough. If you cut it with the
>>grain, it's *really* tough. If I can, I cut it diagonal to the grain
>>("on the bias") so it's really tough but now quite as stringy.
>>
>>Most jerky recipes are overly complicated, with way too many
>>ingredients. I usually use 1 tsp salt and 1 tsp brown sugar and about
>>1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper for each pound of trimmed and sliced
>>meat. Sometimes I add a little cayenne pepper. Mix well and
>>refrigerate overnight for the salt to begin penetrating the meat.
>>Then dry it in your smoker or dehydrator. Don't let it get too hot;
>>at least until it is mostly dried out -- you don't want the meat to
>>drip.
>>
>>Good luck, and best regards,
>>Bob
>
>
> Question for you....
>
> If you were to smoke it what kind of wood should you use?
> say you were smoking beef? or wild game like venison? I've smoked pork with
> apple that worked GREAT! tried it with oak and had Good results. used other
> woods and it sucked! pairing the right wood with what you are smoking is
> essential to success/failure. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
>
> Thanks,
> Robert


I usually don't smoke jerky because it's so easy to use a food
dehydrator. (it does taste better smoked.) I like to use a mixture of
oak sawdust and pecan shells or hickory chunks when I smoke beef.

I have a bunch of apple tree trimming that I use when smoking chicken.

Mesquite is horrible for smoking just about anything. Mesquite is for
grilling meat because it burns as hot as charcoal.

Bob

zxcvbob > wrote in
:

> Robert wrote:
>> zxcvbob > wrote in
>> :
>>
>>
>>>Bruce Wilson wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>>When you cut meat thin for jerky should one go with the grain or
>>>>across the grain of the meat. The latter would seem to be easier to
>>>>eat, right ??
>>>>
>>>>Just picked up a new smoker and am going to give it a try. Any good
>>>>jerky advice or sights would also be appreciated. Come to think of
>>>>it, if you want to throw in any smoker (electric stand-up type) "you
>>>>gotta try" tricks, they would be appreciated also
>>>>
>>>>We've had great success for newbies, can't wait what good eats will
>>>>come out when we learn a bit more.
>>>>
>>>>Thanx much in advance ....
>>>>
>>>>Bruce
>>>>San Antonio TX
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>If you cut it across the grain, it's tough. If you cut it with the
>>>grain, it's *really* tough. If I can, I cut it diagonal to the grain
>>>("on the bias") so it's really tough but now quite as stringy.
>>>
>>>Most jerky recipes are overly complicated, with way too many
>>>ingredients. I usually use 1 tsp salt and 1 tsp brown sugar and
>>>about 1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper for each pound of trimmed and
>>>sliced meat. Sometimes I add a little cayenne pepper. Mix well and
>>>refrigerate overnight for the salt to begin penetrating the meat.
>>>Then dry it in your smoker or dehydrator. Don't let it get too hot;
>>>at least until it is mostly dried out -- you don't want the meat to
>>>drip.
>>>
>>>Good luck, and best regards,
>>>Bob
>>
>>
>> Question for you....
>>
>> If you were to smoke it what kind of wood should you use?
>> say you were smoking beef? or wild game like venison? I've smoked
>> pork with apple that worked GREAT! tried it with oak and had Good
>> results. used other woods and it sucked! pairing the right wood with
>> what you are smoking is essential to success/failure. Any advice
>> would be greatly appreciated.
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Robert
>
>
> I usually don't smoke jerky because it's so easy to use a food
> dehydrator. (it does taste better smoked.) I like to use a mixture
> of oak sawdust and pecan shells or hickory chunks when I smoke beef.
>
> I have a bunch of apple tree trimming that I use when smoking chicken.
>
> Mesquite is horrible for smoking just about anything. Mesquite is for
> grilling meat because it burns as hot as charcoal.
>
> Bob
>

Yea, I agree about mesquite. It's the most over-rated wood of all time.

Thanks for the tip about the pecan shells. I never thought of that. I would
think you'd have to eat alot of pecans to have enough to use in a smoker
though.

Apple also goes great with pork
Oak is a pretty universal wood. Seems to go well with just about
everything. Not the best for smoking fish though. I heard Alder is good for
fish.

On Thu, 22 Jan 2004, Bruce Wilson > wrote:

>When you cut meat thin for jerky should one go with the grain or across the
>grain of the meat. The latter would seem to be easier to eat, right ??

On the cutting the meat thin side of the OP, has anyone used an electric
knife to cut the meat thin? If the meat is semi-frozen a regular knife is
fine, but I like to let it thoroughly thaw and sit for a few days, and then
it is a bit flexible. I don't marinate, so I'm just cutting and drying
meat. But I've never had an electric knife to know how they are.

Don <donwiss at panix.com>.