Dehydrator, bacon, five spice, pork jerky stuff

[curious aardvark]

I was processing a pork shoulder last night.
Most of it's to go for a new bbq thing I'm trying - dry cured pork, cubed, marinated in honey, garlic and ginger and then quick cooked on the grill on skewers.
Took a couple of pound for this stuff.

Bacon-five spice jerky.

2 lb lean pork shoulder, rough cut
15g cure salt (or whatever your's recommends)
15g seasalt
15g brown sugar
1 heaped tsp chinese five spice powder
1/2 tsp smoked/unsmoked ginger powder (whatever you have)
1/2 tsp cbp
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp celery powder
1 tbs honey
handful oats (optional for you, essential for me ;-)

Mix up all ingredients in bowl and grind with a coarse grid.
Mix well and leave overnight.

Press flat about 1/4 inch(ish), score with pizza cutter into strips and transfer to dehydrator/smoker.
Cook at 155 for 4 hours.
Cut along lines to form strips. Eat :-)

have to say that the smell from this stuff is driving me mad, it's awesome.
I tore a piece off to try at 3 hours and it was near enough done.
Must be because it's pork as beef jerkies take around 6 hours plus for this thickness.
Pic below of it after 3 hours in the dehydrator.
It filled the whole tray when it started.

This could be a winner - also could be something I can sell :-)
When I've got a working smoker, I reckon a little smoke would make this stuff world class :-)

[doctor phreak]

i never had have any luck with ground meat jerky but this sounds and looks good , just might have to try it one more time and see if i can nail it....good job

[Slanted88]

I'll ask my resident Jerky eater's...Mitch & Matt my son's. They are always trying something with the Big Chief. They do like the Scoville unit high. They also like for me to buy the meat. Maybe thats why I have to drink Natty!

[Bassman]

For years I made ground elk and venison jerky. It was always trial and error til I got the salt and seasonings right. Since I found out I have to cure it before drying, I haven't made any.

[curious aardvark]

well you don't HAVE to cure ground jerky.
But with wild game I'm with rich and it's better to be safe than sorry.
Plus grinding mixes all the surface bacteria into the body of the meat so you need to be fairly draconian in your prevention. generally there's sufficient salt in any spice mix to do the job.
But with ground jerky i try and season for the final weight rather than the wet weight. So don't overdo the salt.

But for pork jerky - curing it gives it the colour and bacon taste/texture.
Got some more pics somewhere - post them up later.

but this stuff is great :-)