Homemade Jerky



My Knight running the meat strips onto the dehydrator tray.
See the Meat & Sauce mixture on the left.

 If you like store bought Jerky or Slim Jims then you need to try you hand at making your own Jerky. We make jerky from venison, but you could also use beef. It is really not a hard process at all.

We first ground up the venison to the texture of hamburger meat. This makes the jerky more tender. Then we mixed brown sugar, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, salt, garlic powder, onion powder, and pepper together until we had a Teriyaki kinda of flavor. Please, don't ask me how much....it was all a guess. But there are lots of recipes on the Internet or recipe books, if you are looking for a specific flavor or guide.


Meat in the dehydrator ready for drying.
No to appetizing yet ~ But will soon be.

We then mixed the meat with the sauce and let it marinate covered overnight in the refrigerator. Then this evening we took this Caulk Gun type contraption that is made for jerky and filled it with the meat mixture. We then squeezed out long strips of meat onto the dehydrator trays.

We placed in the dehydrator at 145 degrees for 4 hours. This will protect it from spoiling. After drying for 4 hours the temperature is lowered to 130 degrees for slower drying and a higher quality of jerky. Which will take another 4 to 6 hours, depending on the thickness of your strips.

End result, delicious ~ NO Preservatives ~ Venison Jerky.  Which will not last very long in this house.

Happy Dehydrating!