Quote:
Originally Posted by Northendzone
chris - when you make your jerky do you get the meat sliced at the butcher shop?
i have always sliced it at home myself, and found that to the the most painful part of the process cook.
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no - i slice it myself. i can't remember where i read this trick but it works great....
i buy roasts (inside round, outside round, eye of the round, etc - whatever is least expensive) and then cut the roasts into 1.25"-1.5" thick steaks. put the steaks on a cookie tray and throw them into the freezer for 30-45 minutes... enough time for them to stiffen up but not frozen solid. then i use a meat slicer to slice up the steaks into 1/4" thick strips - it works fantastic - but the key is to freeze the steaks for a bit before slicing (even with the meat slicer)!
i don't have a crazy fancy meat slicer or anything. i think i got it on sale at princess auto for something like $50 4-5 years ago.
i'm sure a good sharp knife would work fine, but i like how with the meat slicer if makes the strips a very consistent thickness which makes the smoking time easier (if you have thin and thick strips then the thin ones are done waaaay before the thicker ones).
another thing i do is i usually take the jerky out of the smoker after about an hour and 15 minutes to an hour and a half and finish the dehydration process on cookie sheets in the oven. this way the meat already has tons of smoke flavour and i can get the next batch in the smoker sooner!