How should I make some sweet jerky? I have a dehydrator and I want to experiment around with different homemade marinades, does anyone have experience making billtong? If so how would I make it at home on a budget?

Don't need anything fancy for biltong, though some people uses vac sealer and special game bags for it.

Come to the fur auction next Saturday and I'll go e ya a sample of .my jerky

you have a dehydrator which is more than you actually need

it isn't rocket science at all , lots of recopies out there , you can go as simple as soak your meat in a freezer zipper bag for a day in soy sauce and the seasoning of your choice , bbq , teriyaki if you want heat add red pepper flake

Biltong roll it in coarse salt and ground pepper and get on about drying it

you can do a sandwich baggies worth at a time to test the flavors you like write them down and you will have yours the way you like it.

How do I dry billtong?

Thanks for the offer sniper but I need to run my dog in some woods

watch videos on dried meat but basically all of it is shoot for >120 degrees and dry till you get your desired amount of dryness dryer you get longer it lasts

the food safety people will probably say 140-165 but people have been successfully drying meat for many centuries before they had that kind of heat requirement

most anything that will harm you will be killed by >120 for longer than 4 hours , and the dry makes a hostile environment for bacteria to grow , add in that you started by salting it to also make a hostile environment for stuff you don't want to grow.

you are sort of half pickling it then drying it


last year to prove it worked I made a dehydrator with a cookie sheet , cooling rack , cardboard box and I used a couple old arrows to lay my skewers across set that on my wood stove and by changing the opening at the top of the box I changed the internal temp to where I wanted it and was getting good convection drying from it.

My dehydrator can go as low as room temp, I’m goin to hang it in there. So I watched some videos and I see the salt rolling and I see they make their own meat rub, could I use a store bought meat rub? Do I have to soak the billtong in anything?

Lot of biltong made with a cardboard box and a light bulb....biltong is thicker and while dried it's not as hard as jerky...

Alrighty, I found some videos and stuff showing how long to dehydrate, thanks for the help and I will let ya know how it turns out

Well we will be there from 9 am to at least 5 pm lol

Store bought is fine, just watch the salt and other chemical additives

Alrighty, what are some good marinades for jerky? I’m going to make some ground deer jerky

Where is the fur auction?

Kidron

ground jerky is a heresy so youll have to find some heretics to do that.

For real jerky, a simple marinade of 5 oz cider vinegar, you can really use any kind of vinegar other than white if you want to get fancy, 5 oz worcestershire sauce, 5 oz soy and 2 oz liquid smoke. 12-24 hr soak time.

What’s a heresay and what’s a heretic

That 2 hour away from me, I don’t think I can make it

Heresy in this usage: dissent or deviation from a dominant theory, opinion, or practice
Heretic...one that does the heresy.

Isn't ground Jerky called pemmican?

Pemmican is where you dry out meat and fruit, grind/chop it up then add beef/bear tarrow to it.

Ive got some jerky that has gotten over dry that I should probably turn into pemmican.

Guys who complain about ground meat jerky are using beautiful cuts of meat to make sliced jerky. I use trimmings, double ground, to make a great jerky, my 3 sons hoover it up. The finer cuts get made into finer dishes here. Back straps, sirloin, and round steak don't belong in jerky in my mind.

TrapperE I dehydrate mine at 155 degrees, takes longer on bigger batches than small ones, my recipe doesn't yse cure, just salt, 1 tsp per pound if meat is plenty. Salt, pepper, garlic salt, brow sugar or honey, soy sauce (adds salt too), and liquid smoke. Experiment and have fun!

Why would you want to use trimmings for the most popular form of venison? If you want good product, gotta use good ingredients.

I do make a good product, it is easy, fast, and it never lasts here. I find strip jerky requires more spices and a longer marinade too, ground jerky not so much. Cabelas Jerky Cannon, 3 to 4 hours in the dehydrator, done.

I cook a ton of venison on the grill, the steaks and back straps always go over well here. A nice chunk of sirloin made into philly cheese steak subs comes off the blackstone and gets devoured fast. Whole muscle venison is too good for jerky in my opinion, unless it is front shoulder. I cure whole hind quarter hams too, fantastic eating. Corned venison ruebens, venison osso bucco, pulked neck roast BBQ sandwiches, etc. etc.

If you are happy Sniper, I am happy for ya!

I use whole muscle meat. I used to do the jerky gun thing but using a slicer is much faster for me.

We’re usually lucky enough to kill a moose or elk so we don’t need those roasts etc from a deer so most of the deer meat became jerky. I also switched from the smoker to a dehydrator in last year and prefer the end product more now. I use a “peppered” cure and spice mix that I get locally. It’s dry, I just sprinkle on layers of sliced meat over and over until I’ve filled a container. I let it sit like that for three days before drying.

Sliced jerky a lot less labor intensive...especially if you have a meat slicer :P

I don't have to marinade mine for any extended period, mix n go, done same day. I have 5 pound bags of double ground frozen, I can pull one out at spice and shoot, dehydrate and done. I guess whatever fits your program. We don't see a lot of moose here......I do slice goose breasts to make jerky, and marinate for 2 days though.

I just took a poll over breakfast, unscientific but the three boys say my grilled deer burgers are the number one deer meat meal they like. I cook over wood though, so they are not your average burger.