MH ground beef Jerky test under way

[Otis857]

Now that the Weekend is here, I got my MH Jerky test batch in the dehydrater now. Im used to being the odd man out, so mine is made with Ground beef. Mrs Otis had her front teeth crowned as a kid from a bicycle fall, and has since been leery of having to tear food with her front teeth. So, ground beef jerky is the jerky we have made here for a while now, and I really like it too. Thanks Rich for letting me try your test sample.

Here's the ingredients. The VO & Coke are going to the cook for "direct absorption", not in the jerky mix



Luckily, Safeway had 93% lean ground beef on sale and they usually have very good meat.



Not being a wine drinker, I relied on Google to rate this wine. They seemed to like it and it has a Kangaroo on the label (Cant be all bad). Actually, I heard Yellow Tail is a good, if mass produced wine. Tastes like wine to me very dry wine.



All mixed up! Better make another me VO & Coke to celebrate! In the Fridge for an overnight cure. Rich says you dont need to do that with GB, but the Hi Mountain mix and others I used state to do it, so I decided to do it anyway (plus it was a Friday night). Hope it doesnt change anything.



This morning, I grabbed the Jerky cannon and Im ready to get after it.



It worked out perfect! 5 lbs completely filled 4 dehydrater trays. Ready for the final step. 2 trays went straight into the dehydrator in the garage and 2 trays went into the ChinaMasterbuilt for 6 hrs of Hickory smoke with BBQ Island Hickory pellets in my AMNPS.




Its been in the Dehydrator for about 2 hrs now. Man I cant wait to try the first "chef's sample". Our garage is smelling pretty good about now.

I printed up some test report sheets using Merril's categories of Taste, spice level, smokiness, salt level, and overall impressions to pass out to my certifiable taste testers.
To Be Continued.....

[Doug S.]

Looks great so far.....

[SMOKE FREAK]

Nuttin wrong with ground meat jerky...

I like that yer doin smoked vs. non smoked...
Good job...

[Conumdrum]

Looking good, nice to see this type made for Rich's test. And you say you have certifiable testers. Is that certifiable by a psychologist type of certifiable?

Jus' wondering, thought it was pretty funny.

[Fishawn]

Looking good!

[Richtee]

I like that yer doin smoked vs. non smoked...
Good job...

I do too! Thank you for that Mr. Otis!

[jwbtulsa]

Looking good. I got positive feedback from my testers. Most agreed that it is a good base from which to expand personal tastes.

[Otis857]

And you say you have certifiable testers. Is that certifiable by a psychologist type of certifiable?

Jus' wondering, thought it was pretty funny.

With my group, I'd say by the psychologist definition.

[RowdyRay]

Glad you're trying the ground meat too. Like your thorough approach. Will be watching.

[BIGGLOPEZ]

Looks good from here...

[Otis857]

Both versions are done. My initial thoughts are the salt level is just a smidge light, but dont go too much more. Spice level is mild too, but the flavor is great! Mrs Otis likes it as is, as for me, a tad more heat would be great!

The hickory smoked version was the winner, hands down. The cold smoking for 6 hrs was spot on to give it a smoky flavor w/o too much smokiness.

This is the first time Ive made jerky with wine, but will definitely do it again. The wine taste comes through in a subtle, but noticeable way that compliments the spices. I'll post the scores when my brew crew comes by.

Rich, you're on the right track and the final product will surely be in my jerky kit when you're done. Thanks for the opportunity to give it a try.

[Richtee]

Great work Mike... I appreciate it! Mods to your specs have been made... as everyone else pretty much agreed on the same points.

I'll come up with some sort of special for you guys when it's done. One can't buy this kind of support...but one can support it.

[curious aardvark]

looks good.
And for a totally thorough test

One thing you could do rich, is to package a little spice boost with it, for sprinkling on afterwards.

I've done this a couple of times with whole muscle jerky and with the sausage crisps - which were deliberately made bland for exterior flavouring. A light dusting on the outside of the jerky really adds a solid hit of flavour - it's what i did to the pigeon I sent you.

That way you can make the original jerky recipe and then just spice up for those who want more bite.

You grind the boost ultra fine and 1 teaspoon does 2-3 lb cooked jerky.
In fact just use very finely ground hotwhang
You add it while the jerky's warm and that way it sticks to the fat and moisture that's still present on the surface.

It's a scaled down version of one of the jobs I used to have when I worked at the cookie/biscuit factory. Crackers are always backed healthy and dry - then the flavour is mixed with oil and sprayed on the crackers as they come out of the oven.

When I was on flavouring I used to flavour over 1,000,000 mini-chedars an hour.
That was actually one of the better jobs lol

[Otis857]

looks good.
And for a totally thorough test

One thing you could do rich, is to package a little spice boost with it, for sprinkling on afterwards.

I've done this a couple of times with whole muscle jerky and with the sausage crisps - which were deliberately made bland for exterior flavouring. A light dusting on the outside of the jerky really adds a solid hit of flavour - it's what i did to the pigeon I sent you.

That way you can make the original jerky recipe and then just spice up for those who want more bite.

You grind the boost ultra fine and 1 teaspoon does 2-3 lb cooked jerky.
In fact just use very finely ground hotwhang
You add it while the jerky's warm and that way it sticks to the fat and moisture that's still present on the surface.

It's a scaled down version of one of the jobs I used to have when I worked at the cookie/biscuit factory. Crackers are always backed healthy and dry - then the flavour is mixed with oil and sprayed on the crackers as they come out of the oven.

When I was on flavouring I used to flavour over 1,000,000 mini-chedars an hour.
That was actually one of the better jobs lol

Thanks for the points, CA.
Good idea on the flavor packet too. I think I'll give that a try with some Hot Whang on a few sticks and see how it comes out.

[Sam3]

Great write up!