Oven Jerky

[EYJONAS!]

I'm not one for making much jerky but me and my family eat a LOT of it. Anymore with the price of the stuff I wanted to start making some to try and save some coin. I don't have a smoker or a dehydrator so a friend of mine gave me his recipe for making jerky in the oven.

This is pretty much a test run with some guess and check so we'll see how it goes.

I started with 5.5 pounds after trimming it out of my wife's elk from this season. I used High Mountain Big Game Blend and added a little extra pepper to it while mixing. Placed in bag and let it cure about 20hrs.

Preheat oven to 175 and pierce strips with toothpicks to hang them from rack. Doing this allows for space savings vs. Laying across racks. Also cover bottom with foil to catch drippings.


After its loaded prop oven door open with a wooden spoon to allow air flow.


I'll check them in a couple hours abs set where things are. This recipe can take around 3.5hrs up to 5 if you have bigger slices. Fingers crossed.

 

[Dave N]

That's the way I do it.

 

[Deleted member 38069]

Thats a great way to do it. The toothpick trick is ingenious and I might steal it!

 

[sbhooper]

That looks great! We make GOBS of jerky, but do it in a big dehydrator. The stuff that I did in the oven, was usually too dry, as the oven temp would not go low enough. That was a good move, adding extra pepper to the mix. My experience with that company has been that the mix is good, but needs more spice to it. A kit for 15 pounds, should be used on more like 10-12 pounds.

I have made a lot of jerky for a friend of mine. I told him that I would charge him $4.50-5.50 per dry pound, depending on how much he prepped the meat. He did the math and figured out that was a deal. If you figure the per pound price, jerky is at least $17/pound and most is higher.

 

[nrpate05]

Sweet! Cool idea to hang them like that. I may have to give it a try!

 

[Dave N]

The toothpick thing really helps with increasing the amount done in a batch. The meat also doesn't "form" and stick to the racks this way. Nice and straight! I keep a jar of dedicated picks in the cupboard for the next batch so I don't have to keep buying more.

 

[el unit]

That's excellent! The toothpick idea looks like the way to go. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Hookedonelk]

Looks great, send a couple chunks to WI and I will tell you how you did. I like the tooth pick idea as well, think it would work with metal shishkabob skewers? I have a bunch of them or think it would be a pain to adjust meat between oven racks while on the skewer?

 

[Walkathon]

Great idea with the toothpicks.

 

[Stay Sharp]

Good start. I make about 100 pounds of jerky a year so I built a dehydrator that will do 30 pounds at a time and finish the task in 2 hours.

 

[Dave N]

Looks great, send a couple chunks to WI and I will tell you how you did. I like the tooth pick idea as well, think it would work with metal shishkabob skewers? I have a bunch of them or think it would be a pain to adjust meat between oven racks while on the skewer?

I tried that once. Yeah, it was a pain. Plus, when you go to take the jerky out it's HOT! Toothpicks just seem easier to me since they can be handled easily, put right where you want, can fit into the edges of the rack, and when taste-testing your jerky they come out one at a time.

 

[EYJONAS!]

3hrs and 20 min courtesy check. I gotta say I am liking where this is going. It's still a little on the chewy side i do like it a little chewy but not soft.

I don't think the toothpick idea is that bad, sure it takes a little effort but worth it. I'd say that next time I do some I'd do 10lbs vs. 5.

Will report with the final product in a bit.

 

[duckhunt]

That looks great.

 

[devon deer]

Thats a great way to do it. The toothpick treat is ingenious and I might steal it!

Same here, great idea, otherwise it's the same way I do it as well, looks great.
Cheers
Richard

 

[duckhunt]

That looks great.

I will add that I prefer my dehydrator. Depending on how thick the cuts are it takes about 6 to 8 hours. I don't have to sit and babby sit it like the oven process. Just a little easier in my mind. Dehydrators are fairly cheap and easy to use.

 

[1eyedshooter]

A co-worker would bring some in to work once a week until he ran out, it was always very good !!!

 

[Gr8bawana]

Thats a great way to do it. The toothpick trick is ingenious and I might steal it!

I agree. This will allow me to do a much larger batch in my smoker.

 

[EYJONAS!]

Update 3. The jerky is complete a little surprising it took about 6hrs. The smaller pieces were done about 5 hr 30 min. We did bump it to 200 and close the door. I used some fairly large pieces in this batch so next time I'll halve those.

I encourage all to try if your interested in making jerky. Have a great finish to the weekend.

 

[Sask hunter]

Looks good! The tooth pick idea is neat. I should fire the smoker up and make a batch

 

[EYJONAS!]

Utilizing some left over elk roasts for a jerky mission today. Got about 12 lbs or so with the 4 roasts. Gonna do the oven method and ninja foodi dehydrator. Will report back later with a report.