Author Topic: Beef Jerky Advice Requested  (Read 404 times)

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Offline Smokerjunky

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Beef Jerky Advice Requested
« Reply #-1 on: October 24, 2014, 06:15:53 PM »
Hi everyone! 

I was noodling through the Cabela's sale today and saw a jerky kit. I have been wanting to try my hand at making jerky so I ordered it.  I will be using a pellet grill with a digital controller that starts at 160 degrees and goes in 5 degree increments up to 500.  I also want to make beef strips and not ground/formed jerky.

I have a couple of questions and would appreciate any advice/tips you all can offer:

1)  From what I have read on the site the kits generally suggest a higher temp for cooking/dehydrating the meat than what most of you use to make jerky.  What kind of temps and times have worked for you?

2)  I was thinking of using a very lean meat like a flank steak as it is pretty uniform in thickness and would make nice size strips.  Any thoughts/suggestions there?

3)  Does anyone have suggestions on the flavor/type of pellet to use?  I almost exclusively use BBQer's Delight pellets and was thinking of sticking with Hickory but certainly am open to suggestions.

4)  Is there any benefit to vaccuum sealing the meat while it cures?  It seems like it would pull the cure into the meat better than just leaving in a zip-loc.

5)  We have gotten some incredible salmon jerky here in the Northwest from local specialty salmon stores - have any of you tried to make salmon jerky?

Please chime in if there is anything you think I have left out.

My goal is to make outstanding jerky without making anyone sick!

Thanks in advance for any and all tips and advice - love this site!!!!
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