G'Day Bruces! :becky:
Some of you will remember I've made a few attempts at Jerky, with some success and a failure or two. Since I last posted Jerky, I've made several smaller batches. Now I've got the technique right and I think I can start giving some away for taste testing etc.
Making this Jerky is different from the way it is commonly done in the US. This is really "biltong" which is more common in South Africa and Australia, where the meat is dried as whole slices over a greater time rather than drying slivers of ground and spiced meat in a dehydrator....
I think this process is better. Hope you like it too..
I started by getting the spices, salts and sugar ready...
And here is the whole topside I had for the job...
First I removed the more fatty muscle that wraps around almost the entire topside. (this went on the Weber that night as a fantastic medium rare bef roast.. almost like a flank!)
And that left me with the main muscle... about 12 pounds
This was sliced into large strips.
Ready for dusting in the Jerky cure..
All coated and then into the fridge covered for 4 days!
4 Days Later, here they are.
The steaks were rinsed well in a mix of 1 Gallon of water and 1 Quart Malt vinegar
In a small aluminium basket, I put 1 small lit chunk of lump and added a block of pure compressed oak sawdust. This came from a factory that cuts French oak down to make flooring. He sells this stuff on eBay! The smell is awesome, the smoke is blue, and it burns long and cool!
Note the temp.. well under 100F... all night!:thumb:
Next morning, I had ash...
and I had some WONDERFUL smelling cold smoked jerky, still moist, for the next part of the process.
Then the jerky was hung in my Redneck Jerky drying cabinet with a decent fan to blow the moisture out of it for the next few days.
Day 2...
Day 3
Day 4... Done:
Nice and glossy!
Here's the best part... the slice. Note the colour and the transluscent texture... that's what I'm looking for:thumb:
And the flavour??? Really good. Nice amount of smoke. The fact is that biltong is not generally cold smoked, so this is an addition to the process which I think has really worked well here.
The smaller pieces were a little salty, but really not overly salty... that just makes you drink more beer!. Also, nice and chewy, but not hard.
Really, the best result so far!
Thanks for looking.
Cheers!
Bill
Some of you will remember I've made a few attempts at Jerky, with some success and a failure or two. Since I last posted Jerky, I've made several smaller batches. Now I've got the technique right and I think I can start giving some away for taste testing etc.
Making this Jerky is different from the way it is commonly done in the US. This is really "biltong" which is more common in South Africa and Australia, where the meat is dried as whole slices over a greater time rather than drying slivers of ground and spiced meat in a dehydrator....
I think this process is better. Hope you like it too..
I started by getting the spices, salts and sugar ready...
And here is the whole topside I had for the job...
First I removed the more fatty muscle that wraps around almost the entire topside. (this went on the Weber that night as a fantastic medium rare bef roast.. almost like a flank!)
And that left me with the main muscle... about 12 pounds
This was sliced into large strips.
Ready for dusting in the Jerky cure..
All coated and then into the fridge covered for 4 days!
4 Days Later, here they are.
The steaks were rinsed well in a mix of 1 Gallon of water and 1 Quart Malt vinegar
In a small aluminium basket, I put 1 small lit chunk of lump and added a block of pure compressed oak sawdust. This came from a factory that cuts French oak down to make flooring. He sells this stuff on eBay! The smell is awesome, the smoke is blue, and it burns long and cool!
Note the temp.. well under 100F... all night!:thumb:
Next morning, I had ash...
and I had some WONDERFUL smelling cold smoked jerky, still moist, for the next part of the process.
Then the jerky was hung in my Redneck Jerky drying cabinet with a decent fan to blow the moisture out of it for the next few days.
Day 2...
Day 3
Day 4... Done:
Nice and glossy!
Here's the best part... the slice. Note the colour and the transluscent texture... that's what I'm looking for:thumb:
And the flavour??? Really good. Nice amount of smoke. The fact is that biltong is not generally cold smoked, so this is an addition to the process which I think has really worked well here.
The smaller pieces were a little salty, but really not overly salty... that just makes you drink more beer!. Also, nice and chewy, but not hard.
Really, the best result so far!
Thanks for looking.
Cheers!
Bill