Venision Jerky

Homemade beef jerky is less expensive and tastier than any store bought jerky you will find. Jerky is very easy to make and is also very rewarding. Jerky can be made from either london broil, top round, or flank steak. I choose to use a 3lb venison roast. Many very good jerky recipes can be found by searching Google, ordering from Hi Mountain or by searching here. I decided to make my own marinade for the venison jerky.

• 1 part worcestershire sauce
• 1 part soy sauce
• 1 part teriyaki sauce
• garlic, salt, pepper
• crushed red pepper
• tabasco sauce
• honey

To prepare the meat I find it easiest to place it in the freezer until it firms up and ice crystals begin to form. This will allow trimming and slicing to be much easier. Once the meat is firm remove it from the freezer and trim off all visible fat and slice the meat as thinly as possible. It is very import to remove all visible fat from the meat. The fat will become rancid after cooking if not removed properly. Combine all of the ingredients with the sliced meat and refrigerate the meat overnight or as long as 2 days.

After a full day in the refrigerator I took the jerky out and fired up the Peoria Custom Cooker Backyard Cooker. Jerky is best cooked at very low temps for a long period of time. My target temps were between 200-220 degrees. I started the cooker using The Minion Method and added a hickory log and a cherry log. I added the the jerky to the cooker and let it cook for 6 hours. I checked for doneness at 4, 5, and 6 hours. Jerky is finished when you can bend a piece of the jerky and it cracks but not breaks. There should also be no moisture left in the meat. My jerky was finished at 6 hours. I removed the jerky and placed it on a wire rack to cool.

Once finished I had about 1.5 pounds of delicious jerky. Jerky will keep for a very long time properly sealed and kept in a cool dark place. The jerky was the best I have made to date and is the perfect snack to take on road trips.