ground meat jerky

[Woods Dweller]

Any one make jerky from ground meat?


How do you go about doing this?

 

[Claude Mathis]

When jerky meat, you want to remove as much fat as possible before drying. You can use very lean meat, grind it yourself (store-bought meat has too much fat) and use something like Cabelas "jerky blaster" to squeeze onto rakes for drying.

I don't consider it "jerked meat", but it tastes good.

 

[omarick1948]

Claude is 100% right! I like to make little 2" meat balls and then smash the ball between two piece's of waxed paper or use a tortilla press (available at most Mexican groceries). Then into my dehydrator. Do a web search for all types of recipe idea's!

Rick

 

[shmrck1]

Claude & Horner,
How long will this keep unrefrigerated or
refrigerated?
Over the last 5/6years I have been using
turkey pastromi to make jerky when not using
venison.I have some turkey/jerky that is at least 3 years old and still very good.
I know about the fat issue,so how long will
the ground beef jerky keep??????
snake-eyes :hmm:

 

[Black Hand]

Any one make jerky from ground meat?

"Ground meat" and "jerky" should not ever be mentioned in the same sentence.... :shocked2:

 

[Muskeg Stomper]

Try using one of the jerky guns and then put the strips in your smoker instead of the dehydrator. You can also get the jerky seasoning packages and just mix sparingly into the ground beef or just mix up a herb/spice concoction of your own. Yummy.

 

[RJL]

I bought one of those jerky caulk guns when i worked for gander mountain(employee discount) came with the gun, oven racks and, two bags of seasoning. i used lean ground beef to make mine. turned out real good. once i started sharing it around the campfire never had to worry about it spoiling. :rotf: pretty simple to make even without all the fancy gee gaws. bake in the oven at the lowest temp,keep the door cracked to let out moisture. and check/taste often until dryish. just have to keep the leftovers in the fridge(right next to the beer!) :thumbsup:

 

[mikee51848]

Don't the strips crumble and fall apart?

 

[Muskeg Stomper]

Surprisingly not. I place my smoker racks on top of a cookie sheet while I squeeze meat sprips out of the jerky gun onto them and then simply carry everything out to the smoker where I transfer the racks inside. The ground meat is moist enough that it all stays together and it hasn't been a problem with it pulling apart as it drys. You would probably have to use either wire racks or a cookie sheet in an oven though since the rack spacing is much larger.

My dehydrator is even less of a problem because the tray mesh is small.

 

[whiskey]

For years I have been buying the leanest ground beef (some is very very lean) I then brown the stuff and pour off any fat( which there usually isn't any).
Then I spread on cookie sheet and dry in a warm oven or in a dehydrater. Looks like gravel when its done but once it is rehydrated it is great for stews, etc.
For me this has been a backpacking staple for many, many years.

 

[sparky911]

I followed the advice of the guys here last year about storing home made jerky and it worked out great

I wrap up three pieces at a time in wax paper and store in a brown paper bag in the cabinet at room temp

when I head out and want some, I just grab what I want and go

if it is dried right, it will last a long time that way

 

Any one make jerky from ground meat?


How do you go about doing this?

MIX Together:

Makes 5 LBS.Meat

5 lbs of extra lean ground beef or venison

11 tsp Mortons tender quick

2 tsp black pepper

3 tsp garlic powder

2 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

2 tsp ground cardamom

2 tsp marjoram

4 tsp accent

liquid smoke mix 1 tsp to 1/2 cup water then use 1 oz of mixture

Drying time 4 hours (a friend of mine drys his in 3 hours)

Set oven to lowest setting and leave the door cracked while drying jerky, to release moisture.

Method 1:
roll out onto waxed paper about 1/4 inch thick.
If you have 2 cookie sheets, spread meat mixture on the waxed paper and place on upsidedown cookie sheet. Place another sheet of waxed paper on top of it. Then place the other cookie sheet on top of it also upside down and push down on it until it spreads out evenly about 1/4 inch thickness. Remove the top sheet of waxed paper and place into oven on rack.
Allow to dry 2 hours or so on the one side then flip it over and discard wax paper.
Dry another 2 hours or until done, meat should be still a little flexible.
Remove from oven and cut into strips.Pizza cutter works fine to cut it with.

Method 2:
Press meat through a jerky gun onto waxed paper and follow above instructions in method 1.