View Full Version : best jerky?
The Phoenix
04-04-2009, 13:10
I love me some jerky. Anyone have some great brands I can stock up on for my trip. Never had any jerky other than beef jerky. What are some good local brands I can try throughout my trip. Sweet, spicy, don't matter... I love it all. Lemme know what you think...
Enjoy the weekend,
The Phoenix
Wise Old Owl
04-04-2009, 14:25
Fresh home made!
http://www.nesco.com/category_449f7f01f1ea/session_bb43c3a84e22/
Buy your own dryer from Walmart or on line,
Pick up favorite barbecue sauce, kikoman lite, Liquid smoke, Pepper Mill, brown sugar, & some recipes call for apple vinegar, (many recipes on line or food network)
Pick up London Broil or favorite inexpensive meat.
Slice it thin.
Marinade in the refrigerator overnight
Dry 8 hours the next day. Wrap in plastic & refrigerate what you are not using.
This is not work.... and it cuts the price by 2/3rd!
Kathfishes
04-04-2009, 15:48
I made my Jerky find of the month! The Dollar Tree store had Mr.Z's beef jerky. I bought 20 packs for $1.00 each. Sweet and hot. OH yeah..they had a dried fruit trail mix..no nuts in it, just pineapple, dates, rasins, papaya, coconut. It's really good too and again only a buck :-) I even made jerky gravy on toast and homefries for dinner here at home with some...mmmmmm good!
Kathfishes
Hikes in Rain
04-04-2009, 20:31
Second the homemade. Nothing as good on the market, because you know exactly what's in it because you made it yourself. It's really easy, and gosh-darn good!
Tennessee Viking
04-04-2009, 20:39
There was a store in Kingsport TN called Jerky Outlet, and you get your hands on any type of jerky you can imagine.
The jerky outlet is now next to bass pro shop on the way to pigion forge. Well, when you get off the exit. If its the same jerky outlet.
Tennessee Viking
04-04-2009, 20:50
The jerky outlet is now next to bass pro shop on the way to pigion forge. Well, when you get off the exit. If its the same jerky outlet.
They should have also opened a store either in Erwin or Hampton, or somewhere near the trail.
With a business like that, I'd say you have to go where the money is.
EverydayJourneyman
04-06-2009, 17:20
Primal Spirits Texas BBQ. yum.
ChinMusic
04-06-2009, 17:27
Mingua Beef Jerky out of Paris, KY is good stuff. The hot is my fave. I always try to get some when driving through the area, but I can be had online as well.
http://www.minguabeefjerky.com/
leeki pole
04-06-2009, 17:46
I'll second WOO's suggestion, but if you can get your hands on some venison, soak it overnight in brine, then marinate for 24 hours in the fridge, put in on a bacon rack in the oven for 8 hours at 275 degrees, you'll have you some fine eating. A little salty, but extremely lean. Don't forget the Tabasco.
leeki pole
04-06-2009, 17:49
I forgot to mention I put a pan of water in the oven while it's cooking. Adds just enough moisture, but check it every couple of hours.
bigcranky
04-06-2009, 20:43
Homemade is good. Trader Joe's beef and turkey jerky aren't bad.
Wise Old Owl
04-07-2009, 23:34
I'll second WOO's suggestion, but if you can get your hands on some venison, soak it overnight in brine, then marinate for 24 hours in the fridge, put in on a bacon rack in the oven for 8 hours at 275 degrees, you'll have you some fine eating. A little salty, but extremely lean. Don't forget the Tabasco.
Hmmm Tobasco..... YEA!
Make my own. Ground deer meat and the cheap cure from Rural King. Now I'm hungry
I'll definitely give a second nod to Mingua's.....good stuff. I'm also a fan of Jack Link's Beef Steak Nuggets. :banana
Beef, bison and salmon jerky from hawkvittles.com is good.
I had some Buffalo chicken nuggets from Jack Link's on my Superior Hiking Trail hike last summer that were just outstanding. I was sad when the bag was empty, they were good on their own or tossed in with ramen or whatever.
Wesley Russelburg
04-08-2009, 12:41
Does anyone have a good recipe for homemade jerky?
There's this restaurant a few miles down the road from me;found it a couple weeks ago. It's like a Pacific Rim style restaurant. The lady is from Hawaii. Anyways, she sells some really really good jerky with those types of Pacific Rim spices and flavors. I just got myself 2 pounds.
She sells them for $20 a pound, but she'll do discounts if you get more than one.
If anyone is interested her name is Jin and her e-mail address is the1galley at yahoo dot com.
P.S. she's a fellow hiker also
catfishrivers
04-10-2009, 22:43
Does anyone have a good recipe for homemade jerky?
When I have no pre-made jerky seasonings, I use Worcestershire sauce, McCormick's Montreal Steak Seasoning, and garlic salt, all to taste (be careful with the garlic salt). Let the sliced meat strips marinate in that mixture overnight and then dehydrate about 7-8 hours at 160 degrees F.
Wise Old Owl
04-10-2009, 23:42
My overnight soak is,
1/4 cup Kikoman Light Soy,
1/4 cup or a little less L&P Worchestershire
1/4 cup of your favorite BBQ sauce - avoid Kraft.
teaspoon of liquid smoke.
When racking the next day then I add the fresh crack pepper so it sticks to the outside.
Other ingredients folks use (experiment)
Red Wine Vinegar
Cider Vinegar
Brown Sugar
Mollasses
cayenne
onion bits or powder
garlic powder
catsup
accent msg
Tobasco
mesquite liquid - you have to make that on your own.
kosher salt
Honey.
One item I tried,
Jamacian Sauce
One item- try to avoid - corn syrup it causes it to be a stick goo on the outside of the jerky.
rigidpsycho
04-11-2009, 17:36
Mingua Brothers is by far the best jerky, I'm not just syaong because I know the owners. It really is the best.
YoungMoose
04-11-2009, 17:54
the backpacker magazine just came out with some recipes. i cant wait to try it.
Chaco Taco
04-13-2009, 17:37
My overnight soak is,
1/4 cup Kikoman Light Soy,
1/4 cup or a little less L&P Worchestershire
1/4 cup of your favorite BBQ sauce - avoid Kraft.
teaspoon of liquid smoke.
When racking the next day then I add the fresh crack pepper so it sticks to the outside.
Other ingredients folks use (experiment)
Red Wine Vinegar
Cider Vinegar
Brown Sugar
Mollasses
cayenne
onion bits or powder
garlic powder
catsup
accent msg
Tobasco
mesquite liquid - you have to make that on your own.
kosher salt
Honey.
One item I tried,
Jamacian Sauce
One item- try to avoid - corn syrup it causes it to be a stick goo on the outside of the jerky.
Nice recipe. Liquid smoke is key!!!
Jeepocachers
04-13-2009, 19:41
Here's another for Mingua. It's so good, I buy in bulk...just for me.
CampGirl
04-15-2009, 09:31
I LOVE the Gourmet Meat's of Texas jerky and sausage - so now we have it up on the site :)
I usually like whatever is local though. It's always fresh and has a bit of the local flavor to it.
I'm quite sure that making it yourself is the best way to go, but some of us either can't or don't want to get involved with more projects than we're already involved with. Yeah, it means spending money, but that's a choice, and I think the heart of the original question is, "what are my choices".
As far as something that is widely available, Pemmican is my favorite. Kroger brand is spotty, but sometimes very good for the price. A customer of mine runs this little online shop and this stuff is very, very tasty! Its a moist version of jerky...
http://www.runninwildfoods.com/STEAK-N-A-BAG_c_2.html
Corrigan
04-16-2009, 21:16
Oscars Adirondack Mountain Smoke House in Warrensberg, NY. If you haven't ever had some, go get some! or check out their website http://www.oscarssmokedmeats.com/jerkys.htm
If you ever get tired of the "chew" try Landjaeger sausages.
https://www.bavariasausage.com/shop/products.php?product_id=272&storecategory_id=54
comes in cajun and pepper also.
I'm going to try just plain dried beef first. Cheap stuff like for stewing. Then after that I might try rubbing a little salt and spice rubbed in. Then I might try drying it in the backyard with a small fire of maple. I think I'll avoid the marinating as I understand it slows down drying. I might try a little honey or mollasses though. Maybe soaking it and flambaying it quickly with some sort of alcohol before drying it, to give it some flavour and kill any surface bugs. Something 80 proof or better. Or maybe just drink that first and then wing it.
Two Tents
04-17-2009, 13:54
Oscars Adirondack Mountain Smoke House in Warrensberg, NY. If you haven't ever had some, go get some! or check out their website http://www.oscarssmokedmeats.com/jerkys.htm
I agree with that Oscars is a must stop when in the Dacs. Smoked porkchops-YUM!!---Two Tents
Hey this is something I can mess around with on my diet. Cool.
What is the best way to heat the meat up quickly to 160F without cooking it?
Could you microwave it first, then pop it in the convection oven at 160F?
I was thinking also of flambe-ing it on both side first, to kill surface bugs ???
0. Cut up into strips.
1. Rub/shake with salt/spice.
2. Microwave to get to 160F, with some honey or mollasses and salt/spice.
3. Flambe on both sides in pan.
4. Pop into convection over at 160F.
???
It's hard to beat homegrown, jerky that is.
I just had some store bought which wasn't bad but rather salty.
Low in fat, but 1000mg of sodium in 30g, which is pretty excessive.
Some have half that or less. Homemade can have alot less.
The big advantage of home jerky is you don't need as much salt. Most days hiking we only need 1500mg of sodium per day, perhaps less. I think 100g of jerky per day is a good amount, for 50g of animal protien. 1000mg of sodium in that should be plenty, about 1/3 of store bought. That would leave some room for salt in rest of diet but not much. I think it makes sense to use the salt as a preservative, but not to the point of exceeding your daily salt requirement. Not sure though how to figure out how much is in once your done unless you do some sort of dry rub. For a small 500g batch for 5 days that would be 5g of sodium, or about 2 teaspoons of table salt.
You can use less than that, or none at all, as drying meat is sufficient especially on a short trip.
I just think since you need some salt, though not much, you might put it there.
I might try a trip this summer with more meat that usually and less of the usual carbs, just to see what that sort of diet might be like for hiking, as it might be sort of like what a hunter gatherer diet might be like. In that case I would use less salt, spreading the same amount of salt over more meat. I'm not really sure how much salt is really needed, but up here it is probably not much, and I have the entire Bay of Fundy if I ever got low on salt, which I doubt I ever would.
I don't think I would want to go more than half a pound of jerky every day on such a hike, for about 100g of protien from that alone. Maybe more with some practice and as an experiment but I think it would be really hard on kidneys even without too much salt and no other preservatives. It can be done but I think its better not to use protien for conversion to energy. Protien to build and replace muscle. Carbs and Fats for energy. Fats can come from body fat if your losing weight. I wouldn't mind eating a rabbit or squirrel each day though if I could catch them. I will try a high meat diet for a hike some time and see what it feels like, but without too much salt.
Does anyone have a good recipe for homemade jerky?I made my first homemade jerky Friday night.
I'm not saying its a good recipe, but it was good enough to eat.
I used 4 thin cut sirloin tip steaks. About 450g total.
Dried in convection oven set at 170F for about 4 hours.
Used 4 different 'recipes'
1. Rubbed on both sides with Salt.
2. Rubbed on both sides with Cajun Spice.
3. Covered on both sides with Mollasses.
4. Covered on both sided with Kentucky Bourbon.
Final weight was only 150g, which is fairly dry I think, or meat was saturated with water to sell for more money. Do they do this?
I think I liked the mollasses the best. Will experiment more with combinations.
Can't vouch for safety or shelf life, but it was easy and tastey enough.
For improved taste, safety, shelf life, I will try this next...
1. Rub with salt and spices.
2. Coat with 50/50 mix of mollasses and 171 proof rum and more spices.
3. Flambe on both sides in frying pan.
4. Microwave to bring temperature to 170F.
5. Dry in Convection oven until 1/3 of original weight.
I have no idea what I am doing really but its fun to make it up as you go.
borntobeoutdoors
04-29-2009, 16:58
I'm selling Great Range Jerky (http://greatrangejerky.com/) along with HawK VittleS (http://hawkvittles.com) now.
It's homemade, uses little or no salt or preservatives. And it's great tasting. 4 beef flavors, Peppered, Teriyaki, Buffalo Wing, and Pizza.
Plus Wild (not farm raised) Salmon and Bison.
Hawk
I absolutely love the BBQ jerky from http://damngoodjerky.com/ I've been buying that stuff for years -- awesome if you like sweeter/moister jerky.
I'm selling Great Range Jerky (http://greatrangejerky.com/) along with HawK VittleS (http://hawkvittles.com) now.
It's homemade, uses little or no salt or preservatives. And it's great tasting. 4 beef flavors, Peppered, Teriyaki, Buffalo Wing, and Pizza.
Plus Wild (not farm raised) Salmon and Bison.
Hawk
I absolutely love the BBQ jerky from http://damngoodjerky.com/ I've been buying that stuff for years -- awesome if you like sweeter/moister jerky.
Hawk pointed me here, mentioning this thread. I wasn't going to post anything until I saw the mention of Damn Good Jerky.
A few years ago hawk approached me about making jerky for him (one less thing he had to do, and I was already proficient at it). With some help from a foodie/creative partner I came up with some new recipes, lots trial and error, and voila! Great range beef jerky was formed.
Now, going back a bit further, my original inspiration for making my own jerky was the subpar quality of what was available, and this included Damn Good... which is about as poor as I've had. I've tried several flavors over the years and eventually stopped wasting my time trying to find a flavor they could make that wasn't gritty, bland, or otherwise stale tasting. The $5 /bag pepper stuff they sell at Walmart is higher quality, and that's junk by my standards. Pemmicans isn't that great either, the processing and their choices in poor meat grade are apparent to my taste buds.
So my picky ways forced me to buy one of those Nebsco dehydrators (they fall apart after a short time, you've been warned). I crawled around on the internet and asked around for some starter recipes, and the rest is history as they say.
One advantage to making your own is cost savings and getting the flavor you like (top round is likely going to be your most cost effective grade unless you buy huge quantities). But if you don't have the time or willingness then by all means buy a homemade style like what I'm selling or something comparable from a few other online vendors. There's also a beef jerky review site (haven't submitted mine yet, but will soon). http://www.bestbeefjerky.org/ I can't vouch for their accuracy, but there seems to be some consistency between brands I've tried and their opinions of them. FWIW, this site gives Damn Good Jerky Fair-Good ratings of (only) three flavors, none of the three rated are flavors I've tried. But I think I've tried all the rest. Pemmicans only has one flavor reviewed and it got a fair rating.
mweinstone
05-07-2009, 16:25
best jerkey is made by placeing strips of kobi beef between me and bearpaw and letting the heat of us getting layed do the jerking.
Big Red 68
05-08-2009, 12:02
Home Made is the best, espeacially deer jerky. Anways, if your looking to buy some, Ollies had some beef jerky for a real good price. Only problem there is that their stock of items changes often because they buy surplus items.