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Homemaking Jerky

by Annette Codding
The Jerky Tradition
    It’s been a few years since I have made jerky, and that’s kind of sad because we love it so much. For many years it was a tradition to make it each time we went to the hunting camp for more than five days. Why five days? Because it’s not a short project. But all the time and work involved is SO worth it.
    Homemade jerky is quite a bit different from store-bought jerky. At least it's different from the stuff in the bag. Those are a moist meaty treat, and honestly, some of them remind me of dog treats. Homemade jerky is dry and pretty tough, and has a ton of real smoke flavor. It has no real preservatives other than the salt and smoke, so even though it's really smoky and strong, it has a clean flavor and doesn't make you wonder what kind of weird chemicals you're eating.
    This past week we had a couple of venison hind quarters brought home with the request of some venison jerky. The first step is to prepare the marinade in a small clean cooler. I suppose now is the time to tell you that this may not be a proper way to do this or store meat while it’s soaking up all the flavors, but I’ve yet to kill anyone by this method. For the marinade mixture I just add things by taste.
    Here’s a close estimation of what I used this time around: 1 bottle of soy sauce, 1 bottle of teriyaki, ½ bottle of worcestershire, 1 cup of brown sugar, 1 cup of salt, a few good splashes of apple cider vinegar, ¼ cup each of garlic powder and onion powder, plenty of fresh ground pepper, and a couple tablespoons of ground chipotle. Mix all of that up and give it a taste. It should be salty and flavorful. Adjust it as you wish.
    Now slice the meat into thin strips and toss in the cooler with the marinade. There are some parts of the deer that this just doesn’t work on, so I chunk those up and they can either be ground or frozen as is for stews or venison and gravy. Try to slice with the grain of the meat so that the jerky holds together later in the drying process. Give all of that a stir so that all of the meat is covered, then add some ice to the top to keep it cool.
    Let the meat soak in the marinade for at least 24 hours, and up to 2 days. I only did 24 hours because I was trying to get it done in time for Christmas. It could have gone longer, but is still plenty good. The easiest way to smoke the meat is on a big smoker, but for years I did it in a three-sided stone “oven” with a piece of expanded metal over the top. But this isn’t ideal as it’s open on one side and the dogs and critters will try to steal pieces. The fire built on the open side helps to deter them, but you’ll still lose some this way.
    This year I used my father-in-law's smoker and it was so much easier. Each piece is hung by a toothpick down through the grate. This is another tedious part of the process, but it allows each piece to have full airflow, both for drying and smoking. It helps to transfer your meat to a colander to drain just before you start hanging them. Put your toothpicks in a bowl so they are easier to grab and you aren't contaminating the whole box. And wear gloves so the dogs don't try to eat your fingers later.
    This smoker has a firebox on the end and it was pretty easy to just keep a low, smoky fire going once Brian had a bed of coals for me, especially since we were using wet wood from the hurricane. The low fire keeps the meat just warm enough to start drying out and will soak up all of that good smoke flavor. I kept it on the smoker for about 24 hours, but it wasn't drying enough and was already very smoky. So, I took it off and transferred it to my dehydrator in the house.
    I knew within just a few minutes of the dehydrator going that it was going to make the whole house smell like a smoke shed, but the back porch wasn’t an option. I pen the dogs up at night, so that would leave it fair game for coons. I let it dry in the dehydrator for another 24+ hours. It almost got too dry, if that is possible. It’s very brittle and crunches like a chip. But this is better for storage, even though it won’t last that long.
    We are headed back to Georgia soon and will get a couple more does. After making the jerky this time, I remembered how much we love it and I know this little bit won’t last long. I wonder if I could grind more of the deer and make an extruded jerky, or maybe pemmican. I might try that next time in addition to the old favorite we already know and love. It’s always fun to find new ways to use the harvest! Until next time, get outside and get back to those old, loved traditions.