Anybody have any good jerky marinades and any tips about smoke flavores and smoking times? I have a Bradley smoker. I have tried to make jerky twice, but just doesnt taste like the stuff I have made at the butchers.

I visited the company that provides salmon to the queen and the former shaw of Iran...interesting set up. It was interesting due to the "primitivness" of it. The trick I think is a "slow and lazy" smoke. Not a heavy rolling smoke just one that slips by the meat and slowly kisses it on the way past.

I also worked at a restaruant that had a wood burning oven that we cooked mostly chickens in. We were importing apple wood at a cost of 300 bucks a cord, I brought an armload of poplar in and tried that--it was just as good in every way except that it burned a little faster.
A couple of companies that make smoked salmon actually use spruce wood. I know we're all told not to use softwood because of the resin, but it's the honest truth that's what they use.


The few times I've tried to make jerky in my sausage smoker it's not worked well. It's too small and confined, the smoke is too dense, the moisture doesn't evaporate correctly. I would suggest a building about the size of an outhouse with small holes (a couple inches or so) drilled a little ways down from the roof to let the smoke out a bit but not too much. The moisture from the jerky shouldn't drip off, it should slowly evaporate before it can drip.

This and sausage making are an art and very hard to actually describe, but if you can get the idea I'm trying to get across here you can get the "feel" for it.


hope this helps

the chef

The Chef has the idea!! I have tried it in a 55 gal barrel smoker I built and a Brinkman electric smoker and it is too smoky for me. I used to do salmon in Alaska with a Little Chief smoker with the door cracked about an inch or so to keep the smoke in check and not make it too smoky. We also smoked salmon eggs and fried them in bacon grease for breakfast...pretty good stuff!!

Last year I tried deer jerky in a gas grill with Jack Daniels smoking pellets for 1/2 hour and then put it on a dehydrator overnight. It turned out pretty good. I had soaked the meat in a soy sauce, brown sugar, onion powder garlic and cayanne pepper mix for 1/2 hour before it went on the grill. I have also done scrap beef the same way, but ground up and run thru a jerky shooter. Just make sure the meat is lean.

Hello;
I've got some Deer jerky I've just about finished feeding to the dog. I had it done by the local idiot in Olds and apparently they just sliced it and dried it in the oven. Any way a guy can salvage this shit and give it some flavor? Also, being a neophyte at this, How do you differentiate between hot and cold smoke?
Grizz

Hot smoke is hot enough to cook the meat--or coagulate the protein which causes the protein strands to shorten and bunch up squeezing the moisture out of the meat. 160 degrees is hot smoke for sure. Cold smoke is usually created in an exterior smoke chamber and redirected into the area where you have your meat.
I'm just guessing but I think cold would be under 100 degrees or so.

the chef

Cold smoke is never more than 120F and is usually 70-90F. Times can range up to about 72 hours for a ham so it depends on size and how much smokey flavor you want .Simple 55 gal drum smokers can be made , keep the fire pit 10-12 feet from the drum.Common chips are from hickory ,apple, black birch.Evergreens should not be used as they produce creosote flavors from the resins.

For flavor you could try a little Worcestershire sauce, and then throw them in the oven at lowest setting for a while to dry.

If you don't like it your dogs will get a kick out of it.